A group of four auto mechanics from Austin, Texas, shared a TikTok video to make car owners aware of a common fault that can be fixed in seconds and will make for a smoother driving experience.
In the video shared by @genuineautomotiveatx , an off-screen host asks four store employees, “Is it better to warm up your car before you drive?” Unsurprisingly, all four (Keith, Mathis, Seth, and Bailey) recommend warming up your car before you drive off.
“Always! Keep the fluids warm and circulating,” Keith replied without hesitation. Mathis explained that he likes to let his car idle for “at least 30 seconds” every time he starts it up “so the oil can flow through the engine.”
Seth reported that idling your car is “especially” recommended if your engine is turbocharged.
Agreeing with his colleagues, Bailey replied emphatically, “Oh, 100 percent!” when asked if he idled his car. “You want to make sure you’re warmed up, because you want to make sure the oil is flowing through the engine,” Bailey explained, “and you also want the coolant to flow a little better.
The mechanic added that letting your car idle before moving “just helps it last longer.”
@genuineautomotiveatx Do you wait for your car to warm up before you drive it?
♬ original sound – Original Automotive
Some users were extremely pleased with this advice, but predictably, some on the internet believed they knew better.
“Modern cars have been ready to drive seconds after you turn them over since the '80s,” read one comment, illustrating most of the criticism. “Also, driving it slowly will warm it up quicker than idling, resulting in less wear overall.”
John Ibbotson, chief technician at Consumer Reports, weighed in on this in a January article . He explained that it's fine to idle your car for a moment on a cold day, but you shouldn't run it any longer than necessary to warm up the cabin and defrost the windshield.
“An engine is fully lubricated long before it reaches full operating temperature,” the article states. “If your car sits for a long time, oil will drain to the bottom of the oil pan. When you start the engine, the oil pump quickly circulates oil through the engine, lubricating all the necessary moving engine components. A cold engine will idle at 1,200 rpm or higher and lubricate quickly.”
Dwayne Saunders, owner of Genuine Automotive, said: Men's Magazine “About 30 seconds [the] The “correct” amount of time you should idle your car.
“The whole point of idling a car is to warm up the fluids so that when you start driving, more of it is up to operating temperature,” Saunders explained. “Your car tells the car how much fuel to mix with the air going into the engine based on what you’re asking it to do with the throttle. The hotter the car is, the different parameters it’s moving through. So you want the fluids to get up to operating temperature as quickly as possible.” The longer you sit there, you know there’s a good 30 seconds—not many people do that—you just want to give it a few seconds to get everything moving and warming up the way it’s supposed to.”8
Saunders added, in his opinion, “I don't think so.” [idling] “It may hurt a lot or it may help a lot, but it always helps to get something going. It's a good practice to start with.”
“It's surprising to see people disagreeing with an experienced team of mechanics,” TikTok commenter @andrew23k seems to sum it up best.