Adrian410225

How many of you guys let the car idle when you first start in the morning?
I have heard two different stories. First, you have to idle at least 2-5minutes for the oil to warm up.
Second, no need to idle the car and sometimes ldling gives negative effect on cars.

PaulW

Most importantly, it's what makes you feel best!

And that's about it.....unless it's something like 15F or lower....then idling the car is a good idea for a few minutes to get the viscosity of the ATF and engine oil (plus warm the components slightly) to a better flowing range.

If you park in a garage, it's probably not going to be that cold, so just pull out, but this will be my first winter with a garage.

But if it's 20F or above, I just drive away! Your car will warm up significantly faster, it will run rich for a shorter period of time, and it won't smell so bad from the rich mixture.

But most of all....do what feels good to you, I doubt you could hurt it if easy on the gas.

skiracer

Cold oil isn't necessairly a problem, as long as you don't race the engine right away. If you allow the engine to simply idle, there can be a bulid up of acidic compounds in the oil that can eventually damage the engine. The quicker you warm up the engine (within reason!), the less time these water based acids have to form and do damage. Once the oil gets hot, it drives the water off and these acidic compounds can no longer form. I park my car in a garage so it usually isn't very cold in the morning- warm up consists of 5-10 seconds of idling. If parked outside in the cold for all day, I'll let it warm up for around 30 seconds and then start driving very conservatively until the engine warms up. Sorry for the science lesson..... ;-)

PaulW

Like he says!

ryoung

I drive like an old man (never more than probably ~1/3 throttle) until the motor is up normal operating temperature, which takes 4-5 miles depending on ambient temp.

bowster

Tranny stays in lower gears till warm...

Several years ago (pre A8) .... I noticed this phenomena on my 99 A6. I thought it was a problem and asked my mechanic. He said (something to the effect) that the car is programmed to stay in lower gears, thus higher RPM (at low speeds) until the engine is warm. No need to wait, just start and go.... which most drivers do naturally.

Same behavior in my 01 A8L.

Comments?

ryoung

Sounds backwards to me.

ttuling

though I don't remember if it applied only to first gear or to others too. It's noticeable in first. You can observe one of the transmission display group with VAG-COM to see when it's in warm up mode. Not sure if it's really to warm up the engine, or just to get the catalysts working sooner.

Tom