OT: I grew up believing this myth about cars

avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
Miami, FL (or the nearest big-booty club)
Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Warm Up Your Car In The Winter

When it's frigid outside and you have to drive to some sort of destination, there's only one solution to fighting the ridiculous cold: Warm up the car. Just start it up a few minutes before hopping in, giving your cabin and your engine time to warm up before hitting the road. Plus, it's supposed to be good for the life of your engine, right?

Wrong! Warming up your car in winter before driving it is actually terrible for your engine. According to Popular Mechanics, driving your car right away is the fastest way to warm up your engine, and will actually prolong the life of your engine instead of letting it sit idly before driving. Answering the old question on whether you should warm up your car.

The reasoning has to do with how modern internal combustion engines work. By letting your car sit to warm up, it's actually putting extra fuel into the combustion chamber, which can get onto your cylinder walls. Because gasoline is an excellent solvent, too much on your cylinder walls can dissolve the oil that lubricates your cylinders, leading to shorter life on crucial components.

Of course, hopping into a cold car is never a fun task. Although driving your car will actually warm up your engine faster than idling, it still means driving for a period of time in a cold vehicle. And, it also means dealing with the frost on your car windows before they warm up. Fortunately, you can easily defrost your windows in 30 seconds with this simple car window defrosting trick.

Now if warming up your car in winter is actually terrible for your engine, why did people even do this in the first place? According to USA Today, this practices comes from the use of cars with carburetors fuel delivery system that preceded fuel injection that did require warming up beforehand. Some people would have to wait up to 10 minutes before even getting into a car, deeming it safe enough to drive with a warmed up engine. Nevertheless, cars and technology have drastically changed since the 1960s, which means this old practice is no longer required.

Instead, just give it a minute and start with an easy drive. Flooring it right away obviously isn't the solution, but easing yourself into a drive will help to warm your engine faster than you originally thought.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/ownershi…

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avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
6 years ago
This Easy Trick Will Defrost Your Car Window In Seconds

There’s nothing more frustrating than hopping into your car when you’re running late, and looking at a windshield covered in frost. It’s going to minutes, maybe even an hour, to make sure that car window is completely defrosted before having to head out—which is not what you want on a day that your alarm clock fails you. Is there a better way to clear off a car window?

Why, yes, there actually is. There’s a super easy trick on how to defrost your car window in mere seconds, decreasing your wait time and increasing your chances of getting where you need to go at a reasonable hour.

Thanks to a clever Ken Weathers, a meteorologist for WTAE, your prayers have been answered. Here’s what you do to learn how to defrost windows: Find an empty spray bottle that you can fill with this solution (great to keep in the car for later). Fill up a third of the bottle with water, and the other two-thirds with rubbing alcohol. That’s right—just water and rubbing alcohol. And it works like absolute magic.

Why does this work so well? Because rubbing alcohol actually has a freezing point of 128 degrees below freezing.

Now others have found clever solutions when it comes to knowing how to defrost windows, or keeping your car window from freezing altogether. 10Tv.com actually suggests to use kitty litter on your window. Experts suggest that if you fill up a sock with kitty litter and leave it in your car, it will suck up any moisture and avoid frost from attaching to your front windows. They also suggest using shaving cream when your car windows fog up, hand sanitizer to unfreeze your locks, and cooking spray on your doors. You could even cover your windshield wipers with socks to avoid freezing those out as well.

Frost is obviously not the only problem when it comes to keeping your front, and back, car windows clean for your drive. We have a few tips to help you out with other simple car window fixes, like how to repair your back window defogger and a windshield washer repair.

https://www.familyhandyman.com/automotiv…
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
Back in the bad old days cars had a thingy called a carburetor, if you tried driving when it was iced up you’d stall, bad thing to stall on an icy roadway, you can get killed, and remember we had no seatbelts, forget airbags and computer controlled engine timing, or any of the stuff you now take for granted.
avatar for flagooner
flagooner
6 years ago
Tell us about when you rode a chariot you old fucker.
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
Haha my chariot had spikes on the wheels and if you fucked with my chica I’d show you jus how I roll ;)
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
dougster you’re such a loser I own your pathetic gay stalker ass. Why don’t you do something useful like write a review. It’s ok if you your regular club Chippendales I won judge lol
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
Yeehaww ride em cowboy;)
avatar for TJ Lee
TJ Lee
6 years ago
There's no winter in S. Florida Chulo.
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
6 years ago
^ even then people used to let the car warm-up after starting it
avatar for Clubber
Clubber
6 years ago
Papi,

What the hell do you know about winter? Yeah, your 40 miles north of me! :)
avatar for Warrenboy75
Warrenboy75
6 years ago
I grew up not that far from Lake Erie when winters were a worse than today.....if you doubt that look up the Blizzard of 77 and then the Blizzard of 78.......I was worried more about my fingers and nuts than I was about the car.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
6 years ago
What do you do when you have a 1/4 inch of ice on the windshield and the freezing rain continues?
avatar for Uprightcitizen
Uprightcitizen
6 years ago
umm...yea warming up the car in Michigan only happens in the winters for me. It's about me and not my car.
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
6 years ago
The owner’s manual for my BMW says not to warm it up. It’s all computerized and smarter than I am.
avatar for minnow
minnow
6 years ago
Fyi, Miami actually got some snow in January 1977. Besides the reasons listed, if you're burning gas, you might as well be going somewhere. Just avoid jack rabbit starts, or too many Rpms. This isn't listed in any car manuals, but another type/application of internal combustion engine requires a minimum oil temperature of 120 degrees F prior to applying full (throttle) power. Very few cars have oil temp gauge, but on one that did (Corvette) it would take 5 to 7 minutes to get above 120 degrees F in the winter. (Normal fully warmed up temp ~ 200 degrees F). That's starting out from a garage.

Shadowcat, I get around that freezing rain scenario by buying a residence with a 2-car garage. Humor aside, I'm guessing that you encountered freezing rain on your drive home from ATL airport. I'll tell you about my late night arrival from business trip to find my car caked with ice sometime. That was a real bitch replete with me having to spray travel size cologne bottle on door locks to get key in lock, then warming up engine to run defrost enough to start to melt ice for useable scraping (deice spray was practically useless), then spinning out 2 times before I just stayed in hotel overnight rather than drive 20 plus miles in freezing rain. Fortunately, freezing rain changed to normal rain after sunrise.
avatar for Mate27
Mate27
6 years ago
I had a ‘76 Mustang growing up in the upper Midwest, and of course it had the carburetor. We had a cold snap where the thermometer never got above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, let alone above freezing. Once you flood out a carburetor it stays stuck and will not ungel/unfreeze until it gets to above single digits. I had to ride the bus to school for two weeks before the temperature warmed up enough for my Mustang to start, since nobody offered to tow my car into a garage to dethaw it. Hitching a ride everywhere for two weeks as a teen wage sucked major balls, and one of the reasons why I moved to warmer confines.
avatar for WILLYSGOTAWOMAN
WILLYSGOTAWOMAN
6 years ago
I put my car in drive right away but don't press the accelerator for a couple minutes.
avatar for WILLYSGOTAHUCOW
WILLYSGOTAHUCOW
6 years ago
Its a smart move to drive your car right away, but never and I repeat never slam your rod in a girl without let her idle for 15 minutes
avatar for JamesSD
JamesSD
6 years ago
I grew up somewhere fucking cold in winter. You warm you your car so it's less fucking cold when you get in. So your car can be tolerable half way to your destination instead of just as you arrive.
avatar for Papi_Chulo
Papi_Chulo
6 years ago
I remember in the news last winter a guy in Michigan getting a ticket for leaving his car running in his driveway to let it heat up - supposedly it was against the law in that jurisdiction in order to cut down on cars getting stolen
avatar for jackslash
jackslash
6 years ago
My car is already warm in my attached garage.
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
Years ago in the mid 1970s in upstate NY they used to sell a gadget called an engine block heater, it would prevent your oil and engine starter from freezing and allow you to be able to start your vehicle. It would plug into an electric outlet, there were two types one had a dipstick attached that you would insert in place of the vehicles oil dipstick, the other was like a blanket that you could place over the engine under the hood.
avatar for Mate27
Mate27
6 years ago
^^^ 25, most cars sold in cold weather climates had the engine heater factory installed on the block so all you had to do was plug it into an extension cord by the radiator.
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
^ I do remember that as well, I spent a year working on a construction site in Syracuse NY January and February we used to leave the motor running all night on the excavators, backhoes, and the tower crane, to keep them from freezing and seizing.
avatar for woodstock
woodstock
6 years ago
And don't do what some old PLs advocate; there really is no need to warm up your dancer with a front-room make out session. Just go directly to VIP, once you have selected your dancer.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
6 years ago
If letting your car heat up is so bad for it, why do so many cars, including my Mustang, have remote starting capability and if your car did not come so equipped you can but one at Best Buy.
avatar for flagooner
flagooner
6 years ago
^ @shadowcat
If cigarettes are bad for you, why can you buy them so easily?

Was yours a rhetorical question?
avatar for rockstar666
rockstar666
6 years ago
Italian cars are notorious for having narrow oil passages. It's imperative to have the oil and water temps up before revving in to the upper ranges or you'll have oil starvation. But like other cars, warming up at idle is harmful as you dilute the oil, so you need to drive around the block a few times in a mid gear and low revs.
avatar for BoringLoser
BoringLoser
6 years ago
I’ve been thinking about adding remote start to my vehicle, but maybe I’ll just learn to deal with the cold temps and frost. I could just wake up 15 minutes earlier in the winter.

I hear a real quick way to defrost the windshield is to throw some boiling water on it.
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
^ you are kidding right ;)
avatar for BoringLoser
BoringLoser
6 years ago
Haven’t had a chance to try it yet. Can someone give it a shot and tell me what happens?
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
^You first braniac
avatar for BoringLoser
BoringLoser
6 years ago
Maybe I’ll just use a hammer and chisel to chip the ice off
avatar for twentyfive
twentyfive
6 years ago
That’s a better plan ;)
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
6 years ago
I've always just started cars, scanned the gauges, and then go. I drive gently until it is warmed up. Actually I always drive gently. Never gone along with the idea of warming it up.

If it is cold and dark, head lights, heater fan, rear window defroster, all help it warm up via the alternator. Water warms up pretty fast no matter what. Exhaust port heat. Oil will follow.

If the car doesn't idle well until warm, that is a separate problem. Should fix it. But with modern fuel injected cars, not really a problem.

Stationary warm up is just senseless engine hours and fuel use.

Airplanes, heavy trucks, maybe different. But my car says not to warm it up in the owner's manual.

SJG
avatar for TheeOSU
TheeOSU
6 years ago
^
Who are you trying to fool creep of course there's no need to warm up a Huffy bike.
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
6 years ago
TheeOSU, be careful, gasoline can be used for more things besides just running a car.

SJG
avatar for skibum609
skibum609
6 years ago
To keep your bathroom mirror fog free after a shower, rub shaving cream on it and wipe off with newspaper.
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
6 years ago
^^^ Probably works. Leaves some soap there, breaks up the surface tension in the water.

SJG

Nicki Minaj
https://nrg.radio/hiphop/wp-content/uplo…
avatar for Jascoi
Jascoi
6 years ago
ditto.
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