Do You Need to Warm Up Your Car?  Do You Need To Warm Up Your
CarShould I warm up my car on cold mornings? Does doing so help
or hurt my car? Does doing so waste gas?   Although you might
think warming up your car is best on a cold morning, doing so is
a bad idea, and not just because it wastes gas.  Cold engines
typically want a rich (more fuel) mixture to run well. More than
likely, your car uses electronic fuel injection. If your car’s
engine is cold, sensors relay that information to a computer,
which signals the fuel injectors to stay open longer, allowing
more fuel into the engine to help it run while cold. As the
engine warms up, the computer signals the injectors to let in
less fuel and everything returns to normal, so to speak.
Importantly, the faster your engine warms up, the quicker it
assumes its most efficient level of operation.  The problem is,
letting your car sit and idle is the slowest way to bring it up
to operating temperature because it’s generally sitting in your
drive at just above idle