If you have to drive to somewhere during the winter, there's only one solution to fight the freezing temperatures: warm up the car first.
You just have to start up the vehicle a few minutes before hopping in. It will give your cabin and your engine some time to warm up before you hit the road. According to popular beliefs, this practice is supposed to be good for the life of your engine.
However, this popular belief is wrong. It is actually terrible for your engine to warm up your car before driving during winter.
Why You Should Not Warm Up Your Car in the Winter
According to Family Handyman, the fastest way to warm up your engine is to just drive it right away without the need to warm it up first. Moreover, driving right away will actually prolong the life of your engine instead of just letting it sit idly before driving.
It's never a fun task to hop into a cold car. While driving your car will actually warm it up eventually, it still means you have to ride in a cold vehicle for some period of time.
Moreover, it also means you have to deal with the frost on your car windows as it would take some time before they warm up.
But this is a small price that you have to pay to avoid causing damage to your engine.
The reason why you should no longer warm up your car before hitting the road during winter has to do with how modern internal combustion engines work.
When you let your car sit idle to warm up, it's actually putting extra fuel into the combustion chamber. And this extra fuel can get onto your cylinder walls.
Since gasoline is an excellent solvent, having too much of it on your cylinder walls can dissolve the oil that lubricates your cylinders. This shortens the life of crucial components.
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Warming Up the Car First Was a Practice a Few Decades Ago
A few decades ago, warming up a car used to be necessary because of the less sophisticated nature of both cars and motor oil, according to Cars.com.
Most cars back then had carburetors instead of fuel injectors. Carburetors are a fuel delivery system that preceded fuel injection, and it did require warming up beforehand.
Before, people would have to wait up to 10 minutes before even getting into a car, believing that it was safe enough to drive with a warmed-up engine.
Cars, decades ago, had an intake manifold that routed the air-fuel mixture to the cylinders that would allow liquid fuel to pool. The manifold had to warm up first until it became hot enough to vaporize the fuel. This problem was solved by fuel injection.
Oil now is better than it used to be, and it flows easier at colder temperatures. It is also better matched to the engine in which it's used.
Cars and technology have changed since the 1960s. Now, warming up the car before driving is no longer necessary.
Related Article: 5 Must-Know Tips for Driving During the Winter Season
