What could happen if someone doesn’t let an engine warm up?
In: Engineering
Mainly to get the oil circulating. In cold weather, oil increases in viscosity (thickens) and after sitting at the bottom of the engine all night, it’s hard to pump up to the very top.
Multi-viscosity oil (10W-30 — 10 *Winter*, 30 Normal) help mitigate this, but just because it’s better than it was before doesn’t mean you can just ignore it.
Regardless of the weather though, the majority of the wear and tear an engine suffers is during startup because it’s not properly lubricated.
Engines also have little rubber seals and O-rings that do their jobs better when they are warm and oiled.
But on a much more practical level, the engine warms up the coolant which is where the heater gets the heat from, so a lot of people let their car warm up just so the cabin has heat.
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