Why do people idle their cars and why do they warm them up???????

Question

Live earth just reported the 10 second rule off of official studies. That means that you should turn off your car if your going to idle for more than 10 seconds. The Canadian government issues information on damaging your vehicle from idling when you are warming your car up. Site link is below. Study after study shows that idling damages cars, burns more gas, and is very damaging when warming up in cold weather. Why does everyone warm their car up then. Why have we all been told to warm them up?????
http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/idling/issues/why-idling-problem.cfm?attr=8

Answer 1

The idea is that when you start your car there's no oil running through the oil passages. Certain parts, like bearings, piston rings, etc. need oil. So before putting a load on the engine, you should let it run a few seconds so the oil gets warm and flows through the engine and lubricates everything. This used to be especially true in very cold weather because the oil would thicken up when it was cold, and didn't flow as well.

But that idea is old-fashioned. Modern oils don't get thicker when they're cold. Tolerances are tighter in modern cars so lubrication is not as important in those first few seconds. So warming up is not as necessary as it was 30 or 40 years ago.

I know warming up wastes a bit of gas, but I can't believe it could -damage- a car.

Here in California we were considering a law to not idle your car for more than THREE MINUTES! And it was decided that this would not be a good idea because of people waiting in lines at fast-food drive-throughs. 8^< Shows you the difference between Californians and Canadians, eh?

Answer 2

These people obviously have an agenda.
While I applaud the initiative to save fuel and decrease emissions, what they say about warming up is suspect. They are apt to be more willing to accept extra wear/damage to the engine than you would be.

1. Most engines today are made of different materials, (mostly steel and aluminum), with different expansion rates. The working clearances of the engine are based on the fully heated sizes of these components. (This is especially important in very cold weather).

2. If an engine has been sitting for hours, oil will have drained out of the upper parts of the engine.
A short period of idling before applying full stress to the engine is prudent.

That said, idling till the water temp. rises to the operating range is probably wasteful.
As soon as the temp. gauge begins to move, the thermostat is satisfied and the engine is in the operating range regardless of the water temp. reading.

If you're going to be stuck sitting still for more than a minute or two, shutting down and restarting a modern engine is a lot less wasteful of fuel than with the old carburated engines.

Answer 3

Because I want my car toasty warm when I get in it to leave. That article is biased/wrong on several levels. The fuel use of an idling engine is negligible. And Just because you can start your car and immediately drive off doesn't mean its safe to do so. Without warming your car up how is the heater and window defroster supposed to do its job? Also block heaters are not the savior to the environment like they say they are. They use gobs of electricity to run and where does that electricity come from? Mostly coal which is probably the worst co2 polluter of all the fossil fuels.

Answer 4

To annoy the heck out of people in any nearby houses. I have a "car guy" neighbor. Apparently, he is not much of a talent at cars, because he leaves his to idle for no less than 15 minutes to as long as an hour!

Answer 5

I'm gonna start to hand out cards that inform people of the dangers of idling. To educate the uneducated!
I also unplug cars who plug in all 8 hrs at work when 1 hr is sufficient.