Today I Learned:
I let my car idle way too long when it is cold out before driving....When we have really cold temps I was letting my car idle for 5-7 minutes before driving to let the oil get to at least 50*F before driving and for the RPMs to drop down to 700 on their own.
Turns out the long idle idea is a relic from the era of carburetors where you actually did need to wait a while so the mix of air and gas reached the correct ratio before attempting to drive. Now with direct injection/computer controls the cars are already able to completely compensate for that and most experts/oil companies recommend 30 sec to 1 min for idling in really cold weather but then just driving carefully for the next 5 to 10 minutes.
Idling for those long periods of time is also bad for the car as it is running very rich and the richer mixture of gas to air contributes to premature wear on seals.
I'm sure a lot of people already knew that but I sure feel like an idiot
