Some initial warm up is required, or you'll just kill your valve guides. About 2-3 minutes should be sufficient to get oil to the top, and engine heat rising. After this, a slow running warm up trip would be good,getting the whole engine up to operating temps. As previously posted as well, take the truck for at least a 20-30 mile drive once a week to burn off engine contaminents. These not only include moisture, but also excess unburnt fuels that result from warming up, short trips and early shut-off prior to the engine warming up fully. 5 mile trips won't cut it. Another thing to remember....short trips = more oil changes. if you do 3000 miles every month, but most of these miles are short trips(under 10 miles) then you need to change your oil at half of this regular interval. If you do the same mileage, but most of the miles are highway, with over 20-30 miles, then you're fine with every 3000 miles. Part of your problem could simply come from all the short trips, and trying to do an average recommended oil change.

 

How about you go ahead and do that while I let mine warm up.

1. I can't think of any time warming up a car is bad. Summer or winter.
2. When you let one warm up, your heater and AC will be having an effect on the inside temp. Always a good thing.
3. When its cold the oil is down in the oil pan and not up in the motor where it needs to be. Revving the engine when the oil is downstairs is what wears a motor out.

 

You are gonna have to explain your line of thinking on this one. You have completely lost it somewhere along the way!
THE ENGINE does not care what you do with it to warm it up! It warms up the same one way or the other! How can you think there might be a difference in the way heat travels in metal or coolant? In extremely cold temps the bottom will have the extremely cold coolant coming in from the radiator and hence will have a lower temp than the top. This is the same in warmer temps but not so much temp difference. The warm up however is the same no matter what.
Big Jim

 

From what I was told by a CAT failure analysis guy for a CAT diesel. For the best wear he recommended warming for 5 minutes or so how ever long it required to check the vehicle over. Then drive it slowly using low RPM's for a while then just gradually get up to normal driving. This was because of the rate that the piston and block expand. This is way is better than letting it warm up to "operating temp" so the interior is warm. The coolant will warm up faster when you start driving it that when it is sitting there. If you have read your owners it states: "Warming up a vehicle on cold mornings is not required and may reduce fuel economy."

 

believe me i know what i'm talking about look on the internet and look up engine warm up and every single thing you find will say to drive it immediately. Cruising of course. don't run it hard just drive it. it wamrs everything up completely and atthe same time.

http://yarchive.net/car/warmup.html

this is a guy from m.i.t talking...........

this is exxon mobile and there are loads more but for some reason i can't cut and paste.

scroll down to engine warm up......

http://www.exxonmobil.com/corporate/..._nr_121202.asp

i know what i'm talking about ya'll don't

 

Off thread's topic, split out.

 

holiday 187, You failled to mention keep the RPM's down. Don't run it hard just drive it. I believe to be contradicting. What should have been said is take it easy til the water temp gauge starts climbing or gets into the normal range.
This is recommend because of the rate of which the piston expands to the rate at which the block expands. Most piston's are made partly of aluminum and the block is cast steel. So, if the piston expands too rapidly it would score the cylinder liners.
I would also not recommend taking of right away due to fogging of the windshield which could cause a TA. I'd say about 5 minutes would be the most to let idle. Then take it easy till the water temp raises sufficiently.

I do realize it is off topic and I apologize for not adding information helpful to the original topic.

 

well i feel i have a point to prove since they seem t othink i'm so crazy for warming my vehicle up the way the esigners told you to

 

All that advice is great but in places like northern Minnesota where we can see daytime highs below zero at least once every year, people wake up at 3AM to start their cars warm up the engine a little as while as make sure the battery is charged, and not frozen.

Usually what I see in mid winter when i start my truck is that it runs at 1500 to 2000 RPMs for the first minute or two, long enough to brush off snow and scrape ice/frost or run back inside for something. Once it drops to its normal idle between 500 to 1000 RPMs I'll start to drive.

Also as Jorlee said if you go right away your windshield will fog up, and in some cases will frost up

 

look up any artcle about engine warm up and and yoiu'll see i'm right. Put it in google and see if i'm right about this. I said don't drive it hard which means jsut cruise don't get in the car and flog it. As for windshield frosting i don't have that problem because i use rain-x on the outside and inside of my cars windows so tha'ts not a problem so sitting ther idling waiting for the engine temp to warm up isn't something i have to do. look it up. put "engine warm up" in your google search and see how many times I'm right. (about a couple thousand.) for some reason I can't cut and paste into this window which makes no sense.

 

"When starting a vehicle in cold weather allow the engine to idle for a few seconds before driving off to insure proper oil flow and lubrication."

It does not say "...crank it up and drive it right away..." it says "...allow the engine to idle for a few seconds before driving off..."

A few seconds can literally be a few seconds (count 1, 2, 3). It can also be like when your busy and you ask some one to give you a second, or a minute, you really mean wait until I am done with this, as aposed to that person waiting one second or 60 seconds (minute).

According to the Exxon mobile link this it what the suggest, now cold can mean a lot of things from 32 deg. F to 0 deg F, right now its 32 here if I left right now i would wait a couple seconds to allow it to warm up, how ever i was refering to below zero deg., you're in texas, according to your profile, texas doesn't see much below zero I assume.
If your car, when you started it without touching the gas, idled at 2000 RPM would you just start driving, knowing your engine is working twice as hard to idle, and it doesn't have much oil, or would you wait for it to normalize? Also the other part of my reply was idling the engine to charge the battery, as well as to make sure the battery doesn't freeze and crack.

 

please don't go there and try to nit pick. Every person in here was trying to say let it idle meant letting it warm up for a couple minutes. Compared to a couple minnutes waiting a couple seconds is getting in and driving off. Don't try to go there please. I wait for a couple seconds then drive off which if yo ucount 12345 tha's 5 seconds that's getting in the car and driving off why are you trying to diffrentiate between 5 seconds and getting in the car and driving off that to me shows you are grasping for straws....... The main thing is if you let it the car sit ther and warm up the transmission isn't getting hot and the cylinder head is warming at a diffrent rate than the bottom end. I mean please guy i know what i'm tlaking about. My cousin helped design many of these fords ya'll are driving so this is coming straight from the designers mouth. Don't worry i won't steer ya'll wrong. I've had 94,000 abosolutely trouble free miles on my 2001 sport trac. Except for the IAC but that happens on all of them. And a mechanic myself I and backed by MIT graduates in mechanical engeering most of the automotive world agrees with me and not you.

 

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...004/12/heater/

I could go on and on if i figure out how to cut and paste.

 

you maybe right but I'm not going to follow your instructions due to the fact you are giving enough specifics. Like cylinger head warming at a different rate than the bottom end. What's the bottom end? Are you not conserned about the piston's expansion rate compared to the block's expansion rate. I feel the piston to block expansion rate is a greater consern than the head and "bottom end". Actually the transmission is warming up in certain vehicles. Some automatics require the fluid to checked in Park when the fluid is circulating some in neutral. Does this mean that the transmission is not warming up? Even if fluid is circulating. The manual transmission may not be warming up but I don't know too much about single countershaft transmissions, but the twin countershafts transmission like the Roadranger that one would warm up sone because when the clutch is disengaged the countershafts are rotating.
I would just like to see more specifics than a general idea which leaves alot of blanks. Why? What happens? What can happen? Instead of do it this way cuz the auto manufactures said so.

Jordan

 

a cylinder head can warp. I would think it would take a cople years to happen but it can happen it's not guranteed, mind. It's jsut what he told me. Believe me I wouldn't know what i know if he didn't tell me. when i say bottom end and top end i'm saying the block and the cylinder head. it's even more likely with aluminum cylinder heads which are very heat sensitvive. And if you have the block 100 to 150 degrees cooler than the cylinder head then it could warp. But the thing is it will probably never happen BUT it could. Also if you sit there and let that engien warm up to operating temp then jump in and drive off what about the wheel bearings the transmission and everything that moves besides the engine those aren't warmed up butyet you ripping and every day speeds. Read up it's all over the web.