Ideal engine warmup time in winter

[azaz256]

As new Suzuki cultus does not have heat meter; instead it has blue and red light for cold and overheating indications.
According to user manual, we should wait until blue light goes off. It takes about 5 minutes in winter Lahore. However, if we start driving immediately then it takes less time warming up.
Question is, is it worth waiting? I read some articles that suggest it’s not.

[omersiddiqui5482]

The stupidest thing in today's cars you have everything you don't need but you don't have things that are needed...

It is better to wait a while you will not be late if you wait give mins for the car to warm up.

[VCheng]

Following the user's manual is usually the better practice. Having said that, warming up an engine with the car stationary wastes fuel. Driving off gently after a minute or two is usually a better compromise.

[399.ak]

Max 1 min is fine.

[399.ak]

Also use correct oil 0w-20 or 5w-30​

[elxlr]

0w- xx. Takes least time to warm up. Like 10-15 seconds.
10w-xx. Takes 28 seconds
20w-xx takes 1 minute 30 seconds to warm up. According to liquimoly. I read somehwere.

And driving slowly at normal rpm warms engine faster than idle.

Good luck. So use good quality oil and drive slowly. Keep battery terminals carbon free.
There is a reason 0w-xx oils are expensive.

[waqar747]

I have tried this with 5-6 different vehicles I had for 1-2 years at least.
The routine was, engine start > wait for the initial high RPM to step down to a lower level (typically 10-20 sec in Karachi winters) > drive off gently with minimal pressure on the accelerator till the blue light goes off > drive normally.
I don’t know if it was right or wrong, the engines never gave me any trouble but all of them were a total of less than 100K km and only around 10-15k km driven by me (except one which was with me for 85k km).

[VCheng]

Karachi has a winter?

I drive off in a minute or so even with temperatures as low as 0C. For temperatures down to minus 40C (yes, minus 40C, not a typo), I will usually start the engine and take a few minutes to clear the vehicle of snow etc. before moving off.

[htb456]

If you are using 0w20 oil in as you should be as per owner`s manual recommendation, then you dont need to wait more than 10 seconds

[waqar747]

Yes I’m on Total 0w20. So I guess I’m ok with my routine.
Yes Karachi has no real winters

[htb456]

keep using this viscosity for the rest of car`s life. Dont use thicker grade on high mileage

[waqar747]

Yes, that is what I learnt here in the forums for these new engines with tight tolerances. 0w20 fully synthetic is now easily available in many brands so no real reason to switch to other grade.

I have had experience with a few engines in the past years as follows, with respect to smoothness and winter warmup performance following my above routine.

Civic 2009 1.8 (R18) - Smooth running, no hiccups or vibration in winter mornings.
Fit GP5 2013 1.5 Hybrid (L15B) - Slightly rougher than R18, specially in early morning starts and drives.
Corolla Grande FL 2017 1.8 (2ZR-FE) - Smooth running with a bit of a growl vs R18, and a little rattle (VVTi) on most starts.
City 2015 1.5 (L15A) - One of the smoothest engines I have driven (a bit lawnmower style but still), coupled with smooth starts.
Civic 2018 1.8 (R18) - Again smooth running and starts but starter motor has an issue so that noise is additional.
Vitz 2018 1.0 (1KR-FE) - Roughest start and overall run out of the lot. Growling away on slight to medium accelerator press.
Sportage AWD 2021 2.0 (Theta-II I guess) - This was the only zero meter one, and is neck to neck in smoothness as the City 1.5 I had. Sometimes it does have a slightly rough start.