Re: warming up my car

[Jerry Chyo <jerryc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Murray (aren't you the cop on The Odd Couple?):^) wrote:
>My owner manual says NOT to run the engine a long time at idle just to
>warm up the car. I think it suggests a max of 30 seconds or something
>low like that. Obviously, no-one at BMW has had to wake up to a frigid
>car in frosty Calgary.
>
>Does the BMW caution against long idling (to warm up the car) arise more
>from an environmental concern, or is there a valid and important
>MECHANICAL reason for this?

Murray,

Bad (terrible?) humor aside, the main reason you don't let your car idle
for very long has a lot more to do with oil starvation (there's that line
again) than clean air.  Your engine is getting the least amount of oil at
low RPM that it can use.  Your motor (and drivetrain for that matter) will
warm up just as quickly, probably quicker, while driving it easily the
first few minutes.

The factory is right on with this one.

Hope this helps.

Jerry Chyo
'88 M5
'72 tii

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