Older vehicles and this cold weather...

[Chief Sapulpa]

Get a 3 minute hourglass egg timer and when you start the engine flip it over and when it runs out drive away. Keep speed at 30 mph until the engine is fully up to operating temperature.

 

[red442joe]

"Older vehicles"...pffffftt

Joe

 

[MR.T.]

All of my vehicles are 25 years old or older. My newest vehicle is a '98. But even on my 90 and 85 and 74 and 69 and 57, they don't get warmed up in my driveway. I start them, back them out of the carport or garage, leave, and by the time I get to the city limits of this small town the vehicle is fully warmed up.

 

[trekrok]

I've got 1/2 mile of level surface street, than a 2700 rpm hill climb, followed by a highway entrance and a 5 min drive before I've arrived. None of that is gonna melt any amount of ice off my windshield enough to actually see the road.

That sounds like a pretty good warm up routine to me. I'd scrape, idle a minute and then drive like grandma for the stretch before the highway, then good to go. I like to take it easy the first few miles while the trans fluid has a chance to warm up a little. I don't know if differentials care, but with 90 weight in most it doesn't seem like a bad idea for them too.

Edit to add: in your case I'd add safety check in the back seat to make sure your landlord isn't back there.

 

[Marinevet]

Maybe your old heater coils are clogging up

 

[swampratt]

All of my vehicles are 25 years old or older. My newest vehicle is a '98. But even on my 90 and 85 and 74 and 69 and 57, they don't get warmed up in my driveway. I start them, back them out of the carport or garage, leave, and by the time I get to the city limits of this small town the vehicle is fully warmed up.

u must be gots one of them fancy termostats

 

[TwoShoots]

For frost, just toss an old moving blanket over the windshield when you go to bed. Throw it to the side in the morning and replace at night. No scraping necessary.

 

[Aku]

I let the jeep warm up a few minutes, about as long as it takes to scrape the windshield, and warm up my coffee.

 

[Nate08chevy]

Start and idle for 10 minutes. My theory is that allows the antifreeze temp to come up a little which allows the oil temp to come up a little. With the small oil passages in the timing components/lifters/vvt solenoids etc I can’t imagine cold (thicker) oil passes through those passages easily which accelerates wear over time. Short drives where the engine never gets to temp causes sludge/carbon/moisture etc to build up. I have no proof just theory.

My dad was an auto mechanic in North Dakota in the early 70’s. So COLD! Pre-mature lifter replacement and valve lash adjustments were VERY common up there. That’s the only thing I can attribute it to. I’ve never asked his theory as to why. I just remember him telling me that as a kid.

YMMV (pun intended)

 

[trekrok]

Start and idle for 10 minutes. My theory is that allows the antifreeze temp to come up a little which allows the oil temp to come up a little.

Antifreeze gets warm from dissipating the engine heat. AF isn't getting warm before the oil. I just don't see much benefit to longer idling other than comfort in the cab and melting window frost/ice.