I wait for it to idle down.

What is this start your car stuff? Leave that sum b*tch running!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
Do y'all drive old diesels, or carbureted cars? Never thought modern ones needed a warm up.

Perhaps read the owners manual?

My newest car, a 2017 Mazda, says wait until the fast idle drops to drive off. That takes about 3 to 5 seconds.
Then it says to drive gingerly until the blue light on the cluster go off. That time depends on the weather... from a few to several minuets.

Depends on the weather as much as anything else.

If in the garage, start and go. If outside and cold, start, scrape ice, then go

The manual says when the engine idle speed drops below 1000 RPM. So that's what I do.

I wait for it to idle down on its own and then take off. This is usually 15-20 seconds.

My fuel injected cars, I start and give them a minute or so, and then go into gear. My old carburated cars, I start and give them 4-5 minutes to warm up, and then go. I don't have to worry about real cold weather where I live.

I let it run long enough to come down off of high idle before putting it in gear. That can vary a lot depending on the weather. Winter time is a different story. Garage here at the house is heated and it generally does not take long for it to warm up. At work in the unheated parking garage; remote start from my phone from the break room and let the seats warm up and defroster run before I even think about going outside. When it gets down to single digits and below 0, it takes several minutes for it to come down off of high idle.

I wait until it's ready. When it feels and sounds right.

I also let them idle down a bit before I shut them off.

About 15 seconds or so.

Seat belt, radio, sunroof, window adjustments, etc...

I have a high volume transmission cooler and it takes a bit to build pressure anyway.

On my two cars ( Lexus and Jeep) I let the engine run for a couple minutes, In the cold weather a bit longer to let the oil warm and circulate a bit. I run synthetic oil in all my engines to aid the circulation when its cold.
On my Motorhome, I let the Cummings M11 diesel warm up and build 130# of air pressure for at least 10 minutes or longer. It also holds about 9 gallons of synthetic oil that takes awhile to warm up.I also wait to get the fluid in the Allison 4000 series trans warm.
I have never liked running cold steel on cold steel.

Discounting winter warmup and defrost, when it idles down the truck and I are ready to leave.

As soon as I see the temp gauge move just a little.

The Owner's Manual of my '93 4Runner says that for normal startup, wait 10 seconds. If below freezing, wait "several minutes".

This thread reminded me of a question.....

I have a 1997 Toyota Corolla DX. When it's even just a little chilly outside (doesn't have to be "cold"), it takes a pretty long time for the transmission to shift into the final OD gear. The shop I go to is VERY reputable and they say there's nothing wrong with the transmission. So why does it do that when it's colder outside?? TIA!

I wait for my Colorado to idle down as well. I know exactly where I want it. Takes about one minute.

Until the motor builds up oil pressure

I live in South Florida where it's warm, and my car is kept in a garage. I generally let it idle for a minute before putting it in gear. If it's exceptionally cold outside (under 60F), I'll let it idle 2 minutes or so. I also drive very easy for the first 5-10 minutes until it warms up a bit.

No more than 15sec; basically turn-on, seat-belt, sunglasses, check mirror and go.
Modern cars generally don't require any kind of warm-up like carbonated cars did; performance accessories may require some warm-up.
Winter conditions, perhaps a minute or two to get the heater core circulated and the defrost going.