Warming up a car

[Raizinman]

I see no reason to warm up a fuel injected car.
Start it, drive it easy until the car is up to operational temperature before hammering it.


Warm up is so pre 1980.

First - it was not a fuel injected car

Second - the auto manufacturers have designed warming up into most every car, which they call remote start. If the manufacturers designed it into the car, obviously it is OK.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

First - it was not a fuel injected car

Second - the auto manufacturers have designed warming up into most every car, which they call remote start. If the manufacturers designed it into the car, obviously it is OK.

Remote start is to get the interior temperature up to a wifes-butt-compliant temperature, it's not really relevant to the engine's interests.

 

[mizzou]

Ugh...absolutely painful beta-male confrontation.

I think you totally ruined any logical conclusion to a simple problem. Just forget about it and stop bothering your neighbor. Hook up a carbonmonoxide detector for peace of mind.

I suggest you drop the issue and maybe even apologize to him for wasting his time.

 

[HarryLui]

Second - the auto manufacturers have designed warming up into most every car, which they call remote start. If the manufacturers designed it into the car, obviously it is OK.

Remote start is designed for human comfort. Any car can idle OK forever, you just burn money and not moving.

 

[mindless1]

First - it was not a fuel injected car

If it's the 4.3L V6, yes it has throttle body fuel injection which is not as fuel economical as multi-port injection but otherwise does still have the computer, measures airflow and temperature and doesn't have the choke issues of older vehicles. They start and run fine cold. Then again, vehicles I had before the one with a 4.3L V6, with carbs, also started and ran fine within a couple minutes. It is not really relevant to the discussion when talking about more than a couple minutes in weather that's not arctic cold.

Second - the auto manufacturers have designed warming up into most every car, which they call remote start. If the manufacturers designed it into the car, obviously it is OK.

Not at all. Being able to remote start a car doesn't make it legal or morally acceptable to do so even if it is running well which it seems not to be if the exhaust is this noticeable.

There are laws in many areas about not leaving a car idling unattended. Where Muse is in CA the legal limit is 5 minutes. That it's a feature from the factory doesn't change that. Most vehicles with factory remote start also turn themselves off after a period of time like 10 to 15 minutes. Maybe that time limit is reprogrammable but either way, illegal for 1/2 hour.

Most vehicles can also exceed 80MPH and that's usually not legal either. They'll go into gear without the seatbelt being used, also not legal in most areas. It's also not legal to circumvent emissions control devices in most areas, nor excessively pollute either way even if the vehicle is not subject to emissions testing on a routine basis unless it falls under a classic car exemption.

If it were a modern vehicle in good running order, so it idles quiet with minimal exhaust fumes, it might not even be noticeable outside.

 

[ibex333]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck? I can totally see how there would be demand for cars such as this if they existed today. There would certainly be demand from me!

https://cdn.athlonoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/10/IMG_8914feat-745x419.jpg

 

[Rifter]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck? I can totally see how there would be demand for cars such as this if they existed today. There would certainly be demand from me!

Its very simple, not enough payload IMO

 

[Yuriman]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck? I can totally see how there would be demand for cars such as this if they existed today. There would certainly be demand from me!

Seems to me an El Camino is the exact opposite of what people are buying. My interpretation, most don't want car seating position, and a truck is just one way to get a very large, heavy, tall vehicle with an upright seating position. SUVs are selling like hotcakes right now presumably because they're large and high like a truck but don't have all of that wasted bed in the back people don't use for anything but groceries, and you don't even need to buy a topper to keep the rain off of them. They can still tow too, though it's probably less than one in a hundred SUVs (or even trucks) that ever actually put a hitch on the back.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck? I can totally see how there would be demand for cars such as this if they existed today. There would certainly be demand from me!

https://cdn.athlonoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/10/IMG_8914feat-745x419.jpg

They weren't sedans, they were coupes. (2-door, 2-seat.) It would be an okay vehicle for a single handyman in a city without a lot of tools, but it's not "good" at anything.

Basically, they were low-riding light pickup trucks, and were replaced by S10s and Rangers in the '90s, which were cheaper because they were classified as light trucks so they didn't have be engineered to the same standards. (Crash safety, CAFE, etc.)

And most of the cars from the '70s and '80s were so terrible that we go out of our ways to forget them.

 

[nakedfrog]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck? I can totally see how there would be demand for cars such as this if they existed today. There would certainly be demand from me!

https://cdn.athlonoutdoors.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/10/IMG_8914feat-745x419.jpg

There was the Subaru Baja.

 

[dainthomas]

The only time I warm up my truck is when it's icy and I forgot to put on my frost blocker. Usually five minutes and everything is clear.

Other than that, I'll sit for as long as it takes to get my seatbelt on and everything settled then off I go.

 

[mindless1]

I am not trying to hijack the thread, but I want to have a discussion. Why do you guys think they stopped making cars like the El Camino? It's an awesome concept. A sedan, combined with a flatbed!

Yeah, I get it, there a trucks. But what if I don't want a truck?

Then you don't want an El Camino either. There was, and is now, nobody who could make a use case for an El Camino over a pickup.

A car combined with a flatbed is a terrible concept and it met its end when GM started transitioning its non-truck fleet to a unibody chassis.

 

[Pacfanweb]

The whole "don't need to warm up your car" thing is with newer cars running newer oils. Not an 85 El Camino. You're not running 0w20 in that motor. It needs to be warmed up. Not for 30 minutes, though.

It's funny how everyone is now finally getting on board with the not warming up cars thing....years back, right here in the Garage, I told people you really didn't need to warm cars up anymore, (unless you're in a VERY cold climate) just start it and drive. Had people blowing me out all over the thread....asking mechanics and reporting back how much of an idiot I was, etc.

Now it's common knowledge.

 

[BUTCH1]

I think you could get them with the 4.3 v6 Tbi, and depending on year the 305 TBI similar to the Monty Carlo / trans am / camaro. Throttle body injection is an in-between step of full fuel injection and a carb.

Correct, before TBI cars had "feedback carbs", these were just awful, makers were trying to keep a close 14:1 mix but FI was too expensive to implement back before '85. The FB carb had the metering rods controlled by the PCM, this worked badly and as soon as FI, (even TBI) was practical, FB carbs were ditched. My '82 Cutlass has a 2BBL FB Rochester, cost to replace with re-manufactured? $500.

 

[Asif Maqsoodi]

Well, I must agree that cars these days are made of advance and efficient auto parts. Gone are the days of carburetors so I don't think that warming up a car is really necessary.

 

[nosirrahx]

If its on the cold side neither of my rides like being driven without a warmup for a minute or two.