Warming up your car or truck.

 Take a look at the picture of engine parts above,think of all those parts and pieces moving together without the chance to properly warm up.

Ya I know its been a few days since I've posted anything. Sometimes things get done a little slower when it hits -30 outside. Speaking of which,I was having a conversation at the office recently and the subject of warming up your engine came up. It seams to me that they're are a few so called "experts" out there that continue to say you only need to warm up your engine for 30 seconds then you can drive. Let me ask you something. Do you remember when you got into gym class in school and your gym teacher had you warm up to loosen up your muscles and joints prior to exercising? Wouldn't it stand to reason that any moving parts regardless of what it is..your body,heavy machinery,your vehicle's engine, would need the same?

  These experts are counting on you trusting them at their word. The most wear takes place inside the first 2 minutes that your engine is running. When its minus 30 outside internal engine parts are actually smaller than when they are at operating temperature. Before you start your car the inside of your engine`s cylinders is the same ambient temperature as it is outside. Then when the car starts,there is an air fuel mixture that causes internal combustion increases that temperature extremely fast. Now think of what happens when you put a load on that engine without giving anytime to allow the internal engine parts to expand. Would you walk into a gym and dead lift 600 lbs without warming up your muscles and joints first? If you are going to do that then be prepared to live with the results. Same goes for your engine. You'll drastically reduce the life and dependability of your car or truck.

  It boils down to this,let your vehicle warm up to whatever the normal operating temperature is for that vehicle. If you don't know what that is,then either check the gauge after you've driven the vehicle for a half hour or so or err on the side of caution and give it 15-20 minutes of warm up time. Of course there's no point in letting your vehicle idle for no reason and there are people that may complain about how long you let your vehicle warm up. Think of it this way, when their vehicle is broken down or they need to pay a costly repair bill because of premature wear and tear of their vehicle you can trust the fact that you are taking steps to insure you get the most out of your vehicles engine by taking proper care of it.