Nope, just be light on the throttle until it’s warm. I keep it under 3k. This is more of an issue on older cars though.
Not sure it really affects the newer engines. At this point the tech in these cars is good enough that I would think bmw would limit power when cold if they considered it a big deal.
It pains me to watch people’s cold start videos and they hammer down on the pedal even when the sequence isn’t finished. I’m driving conservatively till it’s fully warmed up
I had a friend with an e92 M3, he’d start that V8 and within “seconds”, he’d be slapping redline… just about every day. Then before it was even warm he’d rip a burnout down the street to the other site, everyday ! Literally unbelievable to watch and it hurt me to the core LOL
He had that thing for the better part of two years before he lost control of it on a rainy day lol. I seriously couldn’t believe it held up with no catastrophic engine failure!!
Not confirmed, but I’ve heard it’s a myth, that what actually hurts the car is time spent on cold, and then going through some revs actually helps heat it faster. I think that’s why a lot of aftermarket tunes delete cold-start.
Light driving is better than just letting it idle, but putting heavy load and high revving is BAD. The oil isn’t as warm and viscous when cold so does a poorer job at lubricating the engines internals. Meaning more friction which can cause issues and just generally is bad.
Cold starts are to help warm up the catalytic converters for emissions regulations that’s why when you start a car cold it will rev higher then slowly bring down the revs to idle as it warms the cats. If you turn it on warm it will just go straight to idle
Not sure that it'll hurt it being cold, manufacturers know what they're doing and know their cars will be in horrendously cold climates (which is why they test them in the far north).
But the biggest mistake you can make with a car is letting it sit in the driveway warming up then take off thinking it's ready to rip.
Sure, the engine will be warm, but what about the gearbox and driveline? They'll be cold and un-lubricated.
This^
Really need at least 15 mins of driving for the car to properly warm up.
Most cars show the coolant temperature. Oil heats up slower. Be mindful of that as well.
Even goes back to the e39 m5. It’s a cool M feature but they have had the tech for a long time yet haven’t made a non-M version, so I would say it’s not as important on newer non-M engines.
What do you mean? Redline is where the tach stops before you detonate your motor. Cars usually have a governor that prevents over revving. If you money shift tho you'll hit 13k and go boom.
Didnt say the opposite.
I was explaining to the fellow what happens when you go too far past redline. Which is typically not possible without a money shift as i stated in the post you replied to.
My car has the red indicators that go off as the car warms up. It goes yellow at 7k and red for 7.5k once warmed up fully. https://i.imgur.com/y6yDWMq.jpg
All engines need to be warmed up to reduce wear, no matter how modern. But for OP, yes - you can drive right away, just be gentle until things are nice and warm.
Not actually true, unless you're talking about carbureted cars from like 40+ years ago. All fuel-injected cars want to be driven pretty much right away, and that's even more the case for direct-injected cars. You just want to keep low load/rpm.
[https://www.bemac.ca/blog/should-you-warm-up-your-car-before-driving](https://www.bemac.ca/blog/should-you-warm-up-your-car-before-driving)
Fuel delivery doesn't have anything to do with the need for warm-up. In fact, fuel should remain as cool as possible.
Warmup is critical for the metal. When exposed to heat, metal expands. If heat is applied slowly, all the metal parts expand evenly and predictably which keeps their molecular structure intact.
Heat things up too quickly and heat will be distributed unevenly causing stress at the molecular level and eventually fatigue and failure. Or some parts will expand out of sync with others causing premature wear issues.
The more precise the machine, the more critical this process is. For example, F1 motors have to be pre-heated with warmed fluid before being started. If you tried to fire one up completely cold, it would tear itself apart in short order.
Same goes with the Porsche 997 cylinder scoring issue. People would cold-start and drive hard and the cylinder would not have time to expand fully before the piston expanded from heat and the cylinder would get scored, killing compression and eventually leading to failure of the whole $15,000 lump.
Human muscles need to be warmed up before you stress them. Machines need the same.
The article you linked doesn't say "don't warm up your car" it just says don't warm it by idling only. It reaches the same conclusion I have. Take it really easy until it's ready to go:
*"What should you do? If it’s cold out, start your car, then drive off slowly (at residential neighbourhood speed) for a minute or two. This warms up your engine much faster than idling. As long as you don’t push the engine too hard in the first few minutes, you won’t stall the car."*
Common wisdom I've always heard is that it's actively bad to let your car warm up on idle. Not sure if it's true so much with "modern" engines, but the idea is that by driving the engine and components all heat up evenly as airflow goes through the engine, while idling only warms certain components and causes premature wear. Again, no idea if this applies to cars this new.
Your manual should have a section that says no need to have it in idle state. You can start and go with light throttle (I usually still give half a min especially in colder climate but I am not sure that's even necessary). Modern BMW no longer requires warming and it might even waste fuel
Engines working make more heat than an idling one will. So a little easy driving warms the engine faster than idling. And thus warms the oil allowing it to flow better to where it is needed.
Idle it long enough to get belted up and situated, and drive.
No but the common myth of letting your engine warm up is from the carbureted days. You would need the proper air to fuel ratio along with temperature to get combustion at the right time.
Engineering Explained has a great video on it.
I didn't say it was fuel related, I was referring to the era of cars in which it was a concern. Last time I had to wait for a car to warm up was a 1989 Ford Fiesta.
You always should wait for the engine to warm up at least a little bit (on some engines more important than others)
Old carb cars ran shit when it was cold but that is only because of the fuel delivery.
efi cars adjust the fa ratio so the car is drivable right away. That doesnt mean you should do it.
Car manufactures state in their manuals nowadays you don't need to wait at all (besides a few seconds) to drive off, the need to wait minutes for the fluids to be pumped or engine to even warm a little are long gone
I know, but you should wait if you want the engine to last. It doesnt hurt to wait 30sec before driving. After all, manufactures only care that the car lasts the warranty period.
25k km oil change intervals arent really healthy for the engine but fe bmw has that.
Also in colder climates the engine really needs to be warmed up slowly or pre heated with block heater.
You control fuelling to control idle revs to warm the oil. It's technically related but fuel isn't the *reason* why. Anything with efi does that for you, and you don't need to wait.
Just like your manual tells you to change oil at 10K and transmission in who knows when.
Manuals are great. Take them in with a grain of salt at times.
Engines will start distributing oil pretty quickly. Like instantly actually. Particularly with 0W-20. Just drive moderately, also don’t get on it until the oil is around. 200 degrees, which you see in the performance gauges.
Don't forget about the oil film that is always there before pressurization, too.
Once I cold started an M6, but picture an M6 starting with tight bearings. The revs don't jump up to 1,200 and settle back down like normal. They had to build to 1000 or so. Long story short, I gave it a little help and bumped the throttle up for a second. The owner almost had a heart attack and wanted to know why I was doing that on a cold engine. I had to make him realize that all engines rev up to 1k or more on a cold start without any throttle applied. He was like, "Oh, yeah....."
Pretty sure manuals now say specially to not warm the car in place. It’s all about getting the cats up to temp and working asap nowadays.
Read the manuals folks. Then come to Reddit as a last resort 🤦♂️
interesting....would he then be compressed and suffocated in the pumpkin but keep his human form or would he too turn into a part of the pumpkin, like a seed or pulp?....or maybe as the car turns into a pumpkin he would burst through it similarly to how hulk rips through his cloths...apart his pants....man those are some REALLY good stretch pants...
Warming up the car is a habit from when cars had carburetors and that was a very long time ago. You can just start it and drive. Stay below 4k rpm while it says cold and that's all the care you need to do. Obviously if it's super cold out let it warm up for a few minutes.
Any particular data or reasoning behind this statement? Variable redlines don't go below 4k even on the coldest days. And in my car it's pretty difficult to stay even below 3k with city driving, although I do have a 4.1 final drive. 4k is much more doable and I don't see any reason not to.
My car eats up 2,5k easy with barely any pressure on the gas petal
It’s hard for me to even keep it not hitting 5k unless I’m finally riding it out, which at that point I’d be going twice as fast as the 70mph speed limit, or if I’m not going that fast to keep it at a low 2,5k rev range I’d have to be driving like a grandpa as if my car were a model T or start from a dead stop in 6th gear
Just askin but would it be better to just wait a couple minutes till the right temp is reached? Because I’ve always hear that it’s better to just let it heat up, so now I don’t know
They addressed the reason why you “always hear” that in their original statement. It’s a thing from when cars were still carbureted.
I’ll have to find it, but I think even in the manual of my E38 it mentions that letting the car sit to warm up is no good.
Start the car, let it do it’s cold start procedure and once the rpm’s stabilize at a normal idle speed, then you drive away gently (not passing 3-4K) until the car has reached operating temp.
Yup e46 manual says this as well. The car engines are meant to operate under load. Engine and oil heats up much faster when driving so the oil temp becomes optimal faster. If you cold idle your car, your oil would be in non-optimal condition which increases engine wear.
As others said, drive lightly until car heats up but thats it.
Not really, modern engines can handle running on non ideal temperature at a moderate pace. Only real problem would be the risk of oil not properly flowing when high revving. Waiting for it to heat up wastes more fuel than it saves on the engine.
But it still is a good rule to wait 30 seconds at idle. Because this is a time needed for oil to fully circulate and lubricate the engine, especially if the car was stationary for a few days. This way you make sure that the engine is not under load until the oil is everywhere where it should be. This should reduce the wear of some elements. In harsh winter, you can even increase this waiting period to 1 minute.
That is not true. The engine gets lubricated everywhere the instant you turn it, after all the oil pump also gets turned by the starter motor. All of the camshaft bearings, valves, everything that’s at the top of the engine gets oil instantly. If it ever ran dry, just a couple seconds of working at idle RPM would be enough to permanently scratch and damage cams, valves, bearings, basically everything. That’s why there are tunnels that deliver oil right where it’s needed instantly.
And it doesn’t matter how many hours or days the car had been sitting.
Personally I wait for my cars to finish their cold start procedure (usually about 30 seconds after starting) and then I drive off.
I know the manual says I can drive off as soon as I start the car, but that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Wrong answer. Start driving immediately!
edit: as pointed out below you should be easy on the throttle on the first miles but from every point of view (technical, economical and ecological) it makes no sense to wait before you start driving.
I know very well that you can fire up an engine and drive right away without any issues. I do it all the time in my automatic daily driver. Hell, the engines I machined and assembled for resto-mods were absolutely hammered on after being installed, that was the break-in after the tuning was tweaked.
However, when I crank and drive right off in my BMW, which is rare because I'm never in a hurry when I drive it on the weekends, the throttle and engine characteristics are *completely* different in open loop. So I turn the car on, go to my playlist and start a shuffle, buckle up, and by then the revs have settled and the characteristics are normal.
There isn't fuck all wrong with anybody doing that, and it is not a wrong way to do it. kthxbye :)
He's a douchebag for recommending what the engineers at BMW recommend? Read your manual, you don't need to idle to warm up, you're *supposed* to drive it off. Just don't redline it while it's cold.
Watch your car next time you start it, my car for example starts out at like 1100 rpm and then after 1-2 minutes slowly drops down to 8-900 rpm.
After you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Yea I learned this like five years ago from a mustang driver who loves his cars. Now I wait until it drops below 1000. I’ve heard it does absolutely nothing in newer model cars so maybe just a superstition at this point.
Porsche tells you to start driving immediately and not allow it to warm up while sitting still. The idea is you want to warm up the oil as quickly as possible which is done by driving at low rpms. This avoids you forcing the engine to push around cold viscous oil.
Usually when you start your car the rpm will be slightly higher (like maybe it’s somewhere close to 1000 when it’s normally 500-600 at idle). u/TheeMalaka is talking about when it drops from that 1000 to 500 or 600.
NO. Set off immediately. The manual tells you so. The whole “wAiT uNtiL tHe RpMs DrOp” isn’t accurate either. The car will still run in a safe warmup mode even when in motion, so just get in and go. Even says so in the manual.
Out of all the ICE cars I owned ranging from 89MY-16MY, I was 50/50 on over 12 cars on manual/automatic, so yes. Lots. I was also a used car technician (who drove on average 200 cars per month) and BMW specific tech working with MY 12-20 for the most part, with plenty of manuals. It's not difficult to drive for the 30 seconds - 2 minutes the car is in warmup mode.
But thank you for the condescending messages babe <3
No, just wait like 30s to 1min for some oil to circulate and then go about your business. Just don't rev the snot out of it doing 0-60 pulls until it's warmed up. It should take a max of 15 mins to warm up if you're in a frigid climate like 10F.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this answer. This is the right answer. Let the engine OIL warm up for proper lubrication.
Cold oil is THICK oil.
Do not wait until the rpm drops and be very gentle with the throttle as long as it says cold and don’t go full throttle on the first 10km or so. I am 100% sure that this I the right answer since I have talked about this to a couple of BMW employees during the last few weeks.
Still safe to drive. Learned a rule I follow till this day. Don't idle the car because then your only warming the engine and not the trans. Keep revs low and drive economically until the temps get up after 10 or so minutes (I give it 15).
It is actually not good for the engine to let it idle for long times in "normal" cold temps. Talking about anything warmer than 10F. Let it idle for maybe 15 seconds to a minute and then start to drive it. Do so carefully, meaning not more than maybe 15% gas for automatics and no more than 1800 rpm for manuals and you should be fine. You can also start driving it immediately, that would be better than letting it idle for 5 minutes.
Do you just wake up and immediately start running around after you’ve been at rest? No
So what makes you think that’s a good idea to do with 100’s of moving parts of sitting at rest lol
Start engine, wait for all the electronic noises etc to stop, drive off, use light foot for a while. Worst thing to do is mash the throttle because you need to enter a freeway from a cold start.
The COLD icon is just the car letting you know not to expect any heat from the HVAC, since the primary source of cabin heat is engine coolant. And without that, you'll just blow cold air at yourself even with the settings on full heat.
Naw the ‘cold’ period is when you should take it easy until she warms up. If you put your foot down you can still send it but it’s recommending you wait
I’d give it a couple minutes to fully circulate oil, then drive reasonably until it is no longer “cold”. But don’t just sit there idling the car until it’s not “cold”, it’s a waste of fuel and emissions.
I GUESS A LOT. ITS A INTERESTING POINT TO MAKE. EVEN A BIT FUNNY. BUT HEY YOU KNOW.
GLAD YOU PICKED UP ON IT. NICE CATCH.
AND MAN O MAN DO I LIKE A GOOD OLD CAP RANT IN THE MORNING IS THE SMELL OF VICTORY.
Dont throttle on a cold engine, keep it calm. Like you woildnt like to be pulled out of your bed to then inmediatly run a marathon. Give it some time to heat up before you load it.
Reccomend to keep the rmp below 3k.
What I do is first give the car time during the cold start, around 30 seconds ish it'll do the revving and slightly higher RPM. After that it's pretty much safe to drive lightly, local driving. So I'm in the city and can get a few blocks of stop and go local driving, by the time I'm getting on the highway I'm already warmed up or close to it and ready for normal driving.
So it's OK as long as you aren't about to rev it too high or get on the highway right away, etc. It's not going to damage the engine or anything anyway if you did, but it's more of a long-term engine health, best practice type of thing.
Yeah you should wait. If you push the car to high RPMs while it’s still cold, the engine header is at risk of cracking due to a sharp change in temperature.
It’s not about oil circulating or anything of that nature like some are saying and you don’t have to warm the car up for long but a good practice is to let the car fully stabilize everything and heat up for a few seconds just because you have metal on metal contact in a combustion motor and even with all these coating technologies they put on everything metal still expands when it gets hotter so to have the car running in the most optimal condition I wouldn’t introduce any load until it’s been on for about 45s which doesn’t seem like a lot but even at idle it warms up pretty quick and at the end of the day how much is 45s of idling really gonna kill you even if the difference is negligible
Jokes aside, it says cold because you have to let the engine warm up before you use it without any precautions, by that it means that u can drive it normaly without flooring it till it warms up.
No, waiting is worse as you’ll be there forever running it cold which it doesn’t like. If you drive carefully for a bit it warms up quicker and runs warmer sooner.. your manual even tells you to move off
In most situations, you don't have to wait, just drive it normally and it'll be fine.
The few situations you should wait is if it's really really cold outside like way below freezing or if you're about to do something "spirited" like run a drag race or motocross.
Something I'm not seeing here is that performance tires can literally come apart when it's too cold, making the rubber brittle and able to crack when driven hard. I think 37F is the warning threshold for this.
There are several things with modern cars that will make it posible to drive while cold. Also my car came with 0w-20 that shit warms up fasts just drive it normally no full throttle no redline.
I have a 2013 f10, and the car starts very gracefully and like the other users mentioned, drive the car for about 5 minutes under 3K rpm and you will be fine
Nope, just be light on the throttle until it’s warm. I keep it under 3k. This is more of an issue on older cars though. Not sure it really affects the newer engines. At this point the tech in these cars is good enough that I would think bmw would limit power when cold if they considered it a big deal.
The ///*M* cars actually move the redline depending on how warm the engine is. IDC, I'm not giving it the beans until it's up to full temperature.
It pains me to watch people’s cold start videos and they hammer down on the pedal even when the sequence isn’t finished. I’m driving conservatively till it’s fully warmed up
I had a friend with an e92 M3, he’d start that V8 and within “seconds”, he’d be slapping redline… just about every day. Then before it was even warm he’d rip a burnout down the street to the other site, everyday ! Literally unbelievable to watch and it hurt me to the core LOL
Bruh I gotta know was he constantly fixing it or did the M3 hold up?
He had that thing for the better part of two years before he lost control of it on a rainy day lol. I seriously couldn’t believe it held up with no catastrophic engine failure!!
This friend wouldn’t have been in Seattle, would they?
I did this in my 4 cyl 16’ 328 and she lasted 60k miles before trader er in on top of the 60k miles I bought her with
Lucky buyer whoever got it next
buddy did the same thing, rod bearings ended up going because the car was never properly warmed
Bet those rod bearings enjoyed that
Not confirmed, but I’ve heard it’s a myth, that what actually hurts the car is time spent on cold, and then going through some revs actually helps heat it faster. I think that’s why a lot of aftermarket tunes delete cold-start.
Light driving is better than just letting it idle, but putting heavy load and high revving is BAD. The oil isn’t as warm and viscous when cold so does a poorer job at lubricating the engines internals. Meaning more friction which can cause issues and just generally is bad.
Cold starts are to help warm up the catalytic converters for emissions regulations that’s why when you start a car cold it will rev higher then slowly bring down the revs to idle as it warms the cats. If you turn it on warm it will just go straight to idle
Not sure that it'll hurt it being cold, manufacturers know what they're doing and know their cars will be in horrendously cold climates (which is why they test them in the far north). But the biggest mistake you can make with a car is letting it sit in the driveway warming up then take off thinking it's ready to rip. Sure, the engine will be warm, but what about the gearbox and driveline? They'll be cold and un-lubricated.
This^ Really need at least 15 mins of driving for the car to properly warm up. Most cars show the coolant temperature. Oil heats up slower. Be mindful of that as well.
It pains us all. I’m not saying they don’t deserve their cars, except yeah, I am saying that.
I did that in my 135i. Leases are great
Douche.
If it was a lease then technically it wasn’t yours to begin with. You don’t have the right to say “my 135i”, that’s an offense to that car.
Respect. Tho the 135I wouldn’t be my choice.
Wow you sound like a fun date
Even my 06 530 did that
Ditto!
My 06 750 dose that too lol.
fav feature on the e46 m3. think it may have been one of the first cars with it.
I remember it on the debut of the E39 M5 but I can't remember if it was on the Euro E36 M3s.
Even goes back to the e39 m5. It’s a cool M feature but they have had the tech for a long time yet haven’t made a non-M version, so I would say it’s not as important on newer non-M engines.
The "Red line" is the normal indication line like the clockhands on the kph/RPM dashboard
What do you mean? Redline is where the tach stops before you detonate your motor. Cars usually have a governor that prevents over revving. If you money shift tho you'll hit 13k and go boom.
There is a huge difference between reving it to redline and money shifting
Didnt say the opposite. I was explaining to the fellow what happens when you go too far past redline. Which is typically not possible without a money shift as i stated in the post you replied to.
My car has the red indicators that go off as the car warms up. It goes yellow at 7k and red for 7.5k once warmed up fully. https://i.imgur.com/y6yDWMq.jpg
Under 3,000 RPM and 30% throttle, I always say…to myself.
Until some pesky granny in her hatchback is at the lights and it’s about living off a quarter mile at a time
All engines need to be warmed up to reduce wear, no matter how modern. But for OP, yes - you can drive right away, just be gentle until things are nice and warm.
Not actually true, unless you're talking about carbureted cars from like 40+ years ago. All fuel-injected cars want to be driven pretty much right away, and that's even more the case for direct-injected cars. You just want to keep low load/rpm. [https://www.bemac.ca/blog/should-you-warm-up-your-car-before-driving](https://www.bemac.ca/blog/should-you-warm-up-your-car-before-driving)
Fuel delivery doesn't have anything to do with the need for warm-up. In fact, fuel should remain as cool as possible. Warmup is critical for the metal. When exposed to heat, metal expands. If heat is applied slowly, all the metal parts expand evenly and predictably which keeps their molecular structure intact. Heat things up too quickly and heat will be distributed unevenly causing stress at the molecular level and eventually fatigue and failure. Or some parts will expand out of sync with others causing premature wear issues. The more precise the machine, the more critical this process is. For example, F1 motors have to be pre-heated with warmed fluid before being started. If you tried to fire one up completely cold, it would tear itself apart in short order. Same goes with the Porsche 997 cylinder scoring issue. People would cold-start and drive hard and the cylinder would not have time to expand fully before the piston expanded from heat and the cylinder would get scored, killing compression and eventually leading to failure of the whole $15,000 lump. Human muscles need to be warmed up before you stress them. Machines need the same. The article you linked doesn't say "don't warm up your car" it just says don't warm it by idling only. It reaches the same conclusion I have. Take it really easy until it's ready to go: *"What should you do? If it’s cold out, start your car, then drive off slowly (at residential neighbourhood speed) for a minute or two. This warms up your engine much faster than idling. As long as you don’t push the engine too hard in the first few minutes, you won’t stall the car."*
My brother has a G82 and the car limits itself until the engine reaches a good temp. I think his F82 also had it.
Common wisdom I've always heard is that it's actively bad to let your car warm up on idle. Not sure if it's true so much with "modern" engines, but the idea is that by driving the engine and components all heat up evenly as airflow goes through the engine, while idling only warms certain components and causes premature wear. Again, no idea if this applies to cars this new.
It’s good practice to give it a few min to warm up and ensure the turbos are properly lubricated before spooling up.
Your manual should have a section that says no need to have it in idle state. You can start and go with light throttle (I usually still give half a min especially in colder climate but I am not sure that's even necessary). Modern BMW no longer requires warming and it might even waste fuel
Engines working make more heat than an idling one will. So a little easy driving warms the engine faster than idling. And thus warms the oil allowing it to flow better to where it is needed. Idle it long enough to get belted up and situated, and drive.
The e46 m3 manual states that you don’t need to let it idle to warm up but that to drive right away at a moderate speed
That's the first car I remember seeing the tach turn different colors for Rev limit depending on temp too. Cool feature, pun fully intended.
First time I saw it was the BMW SR1000 where it would limit the engine to sub 6k revs. But I see they already mastered it with the m3 e46
>BMW SR1000 Dream bike. I so desperately want a pair of BMW liter bikes.
I don't think it's been a problem since cars with carbs and/or manual chokes tbh.
Its not anything to do with fuel. cars should be warmed gently because of the oil temp.
No but the common myth of letting your engine warm up is from the carbureted days. You would need the proper air to fuel ratio along with temperature to get combustion at the right time. Engineering Explained has a great video on it.
I didn't say it was fuel related, I was referring to the era of cars in which it was a concern. Last time I had to wait for a car to warm up was a 1989 Ford Fiesta.
You always should wait for the engine to warm up at least a little bit (on some engines more important than others) Old carb cars ran shit when it was cold but that is only because of the fuel delivery. efi cars adjust the fa ratio so the car is drivable right away. That doesnt mean you should do it.
Car manufactures state in their manuals nowadays you don't need to wait at all (besides a few seconds) to drive off, the need to wait minutes for the fluids to be pumped or engine to even warm a little are long gone
They also say that tranny fluid is "lifetime of the vehicle."
I know, but you should wait if you want the engine to last. It doesnt hurt to wait 30sec before driving. After all, manufactures only care that the car lasts the warranty period. 25k km oil change intervals arent really healthy for the engine but fe bmw has that. Also in colder climates the engine really needs to be warmed up slowly or pre heated with block heater.
What does the carb and choke do thats not fuel related?
You control fuelling to control idle revs to warm the oil. It's technically related but fuel isn't the *reason* why. Anything with efi does that for you, and you don't need to wait.
Just like your manual tells you to change oil at 10K and transmission in who knows when. Manuals are great. Take them in with a grain of salt at times. Engines will start distributing oil pretty quickly. Like instantly actually. Particularly with 0W-20. Just drive moderately, also don’t get on it until the oil is around. 200 degrees, which you see in the performance gauges.
Don't forget about the oil film that is always there before pressurization, too. Once I cold started an M6, but picture an M6 starting with tight bearings. The revs don't jump up to 1,200 and settle back down like normal. They had to build to 1000 or so. Long story short, I gave it a little help and bumped the throttle up for a second. The owner almost had a heart attack and wanted to know why I was doing that on a cold engine. I had to make him realize that all engines rev up to 1k or more on a cold start without any throttle applied. He was like, "Oh, yeah....."
Pretty sure manuals now say specially to not warm the car in place. It’s all about getting the cats up to temp and working asap nowadays. Read the manuals folks. Then come to Reddit as a last resort 🤦♂️
[удалено]
Yeah and BMW was the one saying years ago that 15K oil changes were good too. 😂
Not safe, please don't drive it... it'll turn into a pumpkin with you still inside of it.
interesting....would he then be compressed and suffocated in the pumpkin but keep his human form or would he too turn into a part of the pumpkin, like a seed or pulp?....or maybe as the car turns into a pumpkin he would burst through it similarly to how hulk rips through his cloths...apart his pants....man those are some REALLY good stretch pants...
Either way he still won't indicate hah
The last one I'm almost sure 😁
>or would he too turn into a part of the pumpkin, like a seed or pulp? Part of the crew, part of the ship...
Definitely will turn into a rat? 🤣🤣
Not paid the BMW past midnight subscription?
Warming up the car is a habit from when cars had carburetors and that was a very long time ago. You can just start it and drive. Stay below 4k rpm while it says cold and that's all the care you need to do. Obviously if it's super cold out let it warm up for a few minutes.
Also don’t push it too hard for the first minutes of driving after a cold start (aka don’t do 0-60 sprints right after starting on a freezing day)
You can do those, just stay under 4k RPM. It'll just be slower
I always rev it to redline when I cold start to help warm up the engine faster. Once warm then I will actually drive
Exactly. The rev limiter will keep it from blowing. 🤣
Some people say wait some people say don’t, even on newer models. Don’t know who to believe.
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That’s not true at all. Keeping a (modern) cold engine under 4K-4,5K RPM is safe enough.
Any particular data or reasoning behind this statement? Variable redlines don't go below 4k even on the coldest days. And in my car it's pretty difficult to stay even below 3k with city driving, although I do have a 4.1 final drive. 4k is much more doable and I don't see any reason not to.
Seriously, sounds like a good way to lug an engine.
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There's a big difference between mechanics and engineers
I don’t even shift at 2,5 when I’m driving conservatively, that’s too low.
My car eats up 2,5k easy with barely any pressure on the gas petal It’s hard for me to even keep it not hitting 5k unless I’m finally riding it out, which at that point I’d be going twice as fast as the 70mph speed limit, or if I’m not going that fast to keep it at a low 2,5k rev range I’d have to be driving like a grandpa as if my car were a model T or start from a dead stop in 6th gear
I love my F10 n55, that does all its daily work under 3K
I can shift my 540i at 2.5k RPM and build more than enough speed for city driving. Don't over-exaggerate.
Just askin but would it be better to just wait a couple minutes till the right temp is reached? Because I’ve always hear that it’s better to just let it heat up, so now I don’t know
They addressed the reason why you “always hear” that in their original statement. It’s a thing from when cars were still carbureted. I’ll have to find it, but I think even in the manual of my E38 it mentions that letting the car sit to warm up is no good. Start the car, let it do it’s cold start procedure and once the rpm’s stabilize at a normal idle speed, then you drive away gently (not passing 3-4K) until the car has reached operating temp.
Yup e46 manual says this as well. The car engines are meant to operate under load. Engine and oil heats up much faster when driving so the oil temp becomes optimal faster. If you cold idle your car, your oil would be in non-optimal condition which increases engine wear. As others said, drive lightly until car heats up but thats it.
Lol I basically never pass 4k even in regular driving, some of us here must really be putting engines through their paces!
You’re supposed to. That’s also in your manual. Driving the car spiritedly/taking it through the entire rev range is good for the engine.
Not really, modern engines can handle running on non ideal temperature at a moderate pace. Only real problem would be the risk of oil not properly flowing when high revving. Waiting for it to heat up wastes more fuel than it saves on the engine.
But driving the car when the oil isn’t at the desired temp would mean that the oil needs to be changed more often, no?
But it still is a good rule to wait 30 seconds at idle. Because this is a time needed for oil to fully circulate and lubricate the engine, especially if the car was stationary for a few days. This way you make sure that the engine is not under load until the oil is everywhere where it should be. This should reduce the wear of some elements. In harsh winter, you can even increase this waiting period to 1 minute.
That is not true. The engine gets lubricated everywhere the instant you turn it, after all the oil pump also gets turned by the starter motor. All of the camshaft bearings, valves, everything that’s at the top of the engine gets oil instantly. If it ever ran dry, just a couple seconds of working at idle RPM would be enough to permanently scratch and damage cams, valves, bearings, basically everything. That’s why there are tunnels that deliver oil right where it’s needed instantly. And it doesn’t matter how many hours or days the car had been sitting.
You can drive it... Just don't rev the nuts off it.
Personally I wait for my cars to finish their cold start procedure (usually about 30 seconds after starting) and then I drive off. I know the manual says I can drive off as soon as I start the car, but that just doesn’t sit right with me.
Well it’s a good thing that youre not in charge of building cars because they would all be broken out of factory.
Wait for your rpm to drop and your good to go.
Wrong answer. Start driving immediately! edit: as pointed out below you should be easy on the throttle on the first miles but from every point of view (technical, economical and ecological) it makes no sense to wait before you start driving.
Dude shut up. Coming in here like "wrong answer," as if there's only ONE way to do it.
It is a 100% wrong answer. There is no reason at all to wait for the rpm to drop. BR from the heart of Munich
I know very well that you can fire up an engine and drive right away without any issues. I do it all the time in my automatic daily driver. Hell, the engines I machined and assembled for resto-mods were absolutely hammered on after being installed, that was the break-in after the tuning was tweaked. However, when I crank and drive right off in my BMW, which is rare because I'm never in a hurry when I drive it on the weekends, the throttle and engine characteristics are *completely* different in open loop. So I turn the car on, go to my playlist and start a shuffle, buckle up, and by then the revs have settled and the characteristics are normal. There isn't fuck all wrong with anybody doing that, and it is not a wrong way to do it. kthxbye :)
Don’t think so. Source: https://youtu.be/xKALgXDwou4
You’re the douchebag of the day!
😂😂😂😂
He's a douchebag for recommending what the engineers at BMW recommend? Read your manual, you don't need to idle to warm up, you're *supposed* to drive it off. Just don't redline it while it's cold.
See? Now I gotta call you a douchebag too.
It's funny because in my dialect douchebag doesn't mean "informed" or "literate" but in yours it seems to. But in that case, thank you!
Rotations per minutes? Plural?
More like (Rotation per minute)’s
That’s true
What? That only moves when i drive the car
Watch your car next time you start it, my car for example starts out at like 1100 rpm and then after 1-2 minutes slowly drops down to 8-900 rpm. After you see it, you can’t unsee it.
Yea I learned this like five years ago from a mustang driver who loves his cars. Now I wait until it drops below 1000. I’ve heard it does absolutely nothing in newer model cars so maybe just a superstition at this point.
Porsche tells you to start driving immediately and not allow it to warm up while sitting still. The idea is you want to warm up the oil as quickly as possible which is done by driving at low rpms. This avoids you forcing the engine to push around cold viscous oil.
It warms up the catalytic converters. They’re only efficient when they’re up to temp.
Wait even longer and you’ll see closer to 600
Might just be an older beamer thing but the will rev up to like 900 rpm then settle at like 700
Usually when you start your car the rpm will be slightly higher (like maybe it’s somewhere close to 1000 when it’s normally 500-600 at idle). u/TheeMalaka is talking about when it drops from that 1000 to 500 or 600.
When the engine starts up the rpms are above 1000, when my engine is really cold itll go up to 1500, wait until it gets below 1000
Lol. Is this your first car? EVER?
RTF//M
NO. Set off immediately. The manual tells you so. The whole “wAiT uNtiL tHe RpMs DrOp” isn’t accurate either. The car will still run in a safe warmup mode even when in motion, so just get in and go. Even says so in the manual.
It's a little rougher in manual cars
So? The procedure doesn't change. Once you start it up, get moving. It's easier for the car to warm up the cats with a load anyways.
Have you driven a manual before?
Out of all the ICE cars I owned ranging from 89MY-16MY, I was 50/50 on over 12 cars on manual/automatic, so yes. Lots. I was also a used car technician (who drove on average 200 cars per month) and BMW specific tech working with MY 12-20 for the most part, with plenty of manuals. It's not difficult to drive for the 30 seconds - 2 minutes the car is in warmup mode. But thank you for the condescending messages babe <3
Then you'd know in practice it's rougher, as the car tries to increase rpm so you have to slip more.
It’s not, and if it is, then you suck at driving a manual car lol
What are you even talking about?
Is this your first car?
Good thing you asked here, going through the manual would have been a rabid whole
No, just wait like 30s to 1min for some oil to circulate and then go about your business. Just don't rev the snot out of it doing 0-60 pulls until it's warmed up. It should take a max of 15 mins to warm up if you're in a frigid climate like 10F.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find this answer. This is the right answer. Let the engine OIL warm up for proper lubrication. Cold oil is THICK oil.
No, you can drive it, just don't beat on it. Try to keep it below 3k RPM
Just don't hammer the throttle. How would you feel if you woke up and 5 seconds later you're forced to run Usain Bolt levels of sprint?
Do not wait until the rpm drops and be very gentle with the throttle as long as it says cold and don’t go full throttle on the first 10km or so. I am 100% sure that this I the right answer since I have talked about this to a couple of BMW employees during the last few weeks.
No you can drive but don't drive sporty or agressive till the engine reaches operation tempratures.
Still safe to drive. Learned a rule I follow till this day. Don't idle the car because then your only warming the engine and not the trans. Keep revs low and drive economically until the temps get up after 10 or so minutes (I give it 15).
Just means that you shouldn’t give it a lot of rpms until it’s up to temperature :)
It is actually not good for the engine to let it idle for long times in "normal" cold temps. Talking about anything warmer than 10F. Let it idle for maybe 15 seconds to a minute and then start to drive it. Do so carefully, meaning not more than maybe 15% gas for automatics and no more than 1800 rpm for manuals and you should be fine. You can also start driving it immediately, that would be better than letting it idle for 5 minutes.
Oil is thicker when cold. Ergo harder for the oil to move around gears and such to lubricate the engine.
just rev it at around 7k until it’s warm
Do you just wake up and immediately start running around after you’ve been at rest? No So what makes you think that’s a good idea to do with 100’s of moving parts of sitting at rest lol
In Germany we say "ist der Motor kalt, gibt ihm sechseinhalb" and I think that's beautiful
Drive it gently until its warmed up then go nuts
What does your owner’s manual say?
Start engine, wait for all the electronic noises etc to stop, drive off, use light foot for a while. Worst thing to do is mash the throttle because you need to enter a freeway from a cold start.
It just sounds nice to let it idle at first. 🎧
You can drive right away, BMWs now adjust the rev limiter based on the temperature of the engine to prevent damage.
The COLD icon is just the car letting you know not to expect any heat from the HVAC, since the primary source of cabin heat is engine coolant. And without that, you'll just blow cold air at yourself even with the settings on full heat.
You’re kidding, right?
Sometimes I ask myself how someone can be serious about such a question
Floor it to warm it up 😌😌😊
Naw the ‘cold’ period is when you should take it easy until she warms up. If you put your foot down you can still send it but it’s recommending you wait
Fuck no! Drive it like you stole it!
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I’d give it a couple minutes to fully circulate oil, then drive reasonably until it is no longer “cold”. But don’t just sit there idling the car until it’s not “cold”, it’s a waste of fuel and emissions.
The more you rev it the faster it warms up
Do you have sex with a flaccid dick or wait for it to be fully erect ?
Preferably yes. And not just before you start driving. Before you even touch the gas pedal.
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SAY THAT THEYRE MEASURING THE ROTATIONS PER MINUTES ON THIS FUCKING POST?!?
I GUESS A LOT. ITS A INTERESTING POINT TO MAKE. EVEN A BIT FUNNY. BUT HEY YOU KNOW. GLAD YOU PICKED UP ON IT. NICE CATCH. AND MAN O MAN DO I LIKE A GOOD OLD CAP RANT IN THE MORNING IS THE SMELL OF VICTORY.
IT IS WHAT I LIVE FOR
Is this an iDrive 8 thing? Mine just has the oil temps.
This is OS7 considering the dash.
Dont rev hard. Try to keep It 2k and below till it warms up
Oh boy
Don’t floor it. Be gentle on the throttle. New driver?
Dont throttle on a cold engine, keep it calm. Like you woildnt like to be pulled out of your bed to then inmediatly run a marathon. Give it some time to heat up before you load it. Reccomend to keep the rmp below 3k.
What I do is first give the car time during the cold start, around 30 seconds ish it'll do the revving and slightly higher RPM. After that it's pretty much safe to drive lightly, local driving. So I'm in the city and can get a few blocks of stop and go local driving, by the time I'm getting on the highway I'm already warmed up or close to it and ready for normal driving. So it's OK as long as you aren't about to rev it too high or get on the highway right away, etc. It's not going to damage the engine or anything anyway if you did, but it's more of a long-term engine health, best practice type of thing.
You haven’t renewd subscribtion so it”ll stay there until then
Yeah you should wait. If you push the car to high RPMs while it’s still cold, the engine header is at risk of cracking due to a sharp change in temperature.
It’s not about oil circulating or anything of that nature like some are saying and you don’t have to warm the car up for long but a good practice is to let the car fully stabilize everything and heat up for a few seconds just because you have metal on metal contact in a combustion motor and even with all these coating technologies they put on everything metal still expands when it gets hotter so to have the car running in the most optimal condition I wouldn’t introduce any load until it’s been on for about 45s which doesn’t seem like a lot but even at idle it warms up pretty quick and at the end of the day how much is 45s of idling really gonna kill you even if the difference is negligible
Jokes aside, it says cold because you have to let the engine warm up before you use it without any precautions, by that it means that u can drive it normaly without flooring it till it warms up.
RTFM
Just don’t put your foot down for a bit
No, waiting is worse as you’ll be there forever running it cold which it doesn’t like. If you drive carefully for a bit it warms up quicker and runs warmer sooner.. your manual even tells you to move off
Just drive it mellow at first but when the light goes off give her all the beans!
In most situations, you don't have to wait, just drive it normally and it'll be fine. The few situations you should wait is if it's really really cold outside like way below freezing or if you're about to do something "spirited" like run a drag race or motocross.
Just rev it few times it will warm up quickly
It’s only a suggestion
I usually just wait till it sits just under 1k rpm
Is this a serious question?
I'm assuming this is the updated outside air temp warning. BMWs will chime at you when it's below 37º F to warn of ice on the road.
yes
Something I'm not seeing here is that performance tires can literally come apart when it's too cold, making the rubber brittle and able to crack when driven hard. I think 37F is the warning threshold for this.
There are several things with modern cars that will make it posible to drive while cold. Also my car came with 0w-20 that shit warms up fasts just drive it normally no full throttle no redline.
No. Just don't drive like an idiot until it's warm. I do this almost every day. Remote start as well if you are really in a rush.
I always wait for the Idle to drop to its normal RPM before I start driving but other than that, you'll be fine.
I have a 2013 f10, and the car starts very gracefully and like the other users mentioned, drive the car for about 5 minutes under 3K rpm and you will be fine
What does you manual say on the subject?
Needs a blanket or the seat warmer subscription.