I live in central Canada, and temperatures reach as low as -30C. Just this week, it’ll be -20C overnight and I always park my car outside. From what people have told me I should idle for 10 minutes when it’s extremely cold, and then drive off. What should I really be doing?
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30 seconds to a minute warm up is all you need brother.
I live in northern Scandinavia with similar temperatures in the winter.
Pretty much everyone here uses an electric block heater along with a cabin fan. I usually set it to turn on (using a timer) two hours before leaving when it’s cold and the drive gently (below 2000 rpm or so) until the engine is up to temp. The block heater makes a huge difference in the time it takes the engine to warm up.
Over 10 years of driving, this has worked fine for me.
I think this exact question has been asked recently here. Also from someone in Canada.
The engine is designed to operate at a specific temperature. When you first start your engine, all metal components will warm up at different rates. When they warm, the expand to their designed tolerances.
This is true with any engine, new or old. It is also true that engine wear happens more during this time than it does when at normal temperature, unless you’re driving it hard.
The question is - how much engine life is reduced by simply starting and immediately driving?
No one knows.
I personally let my engine warm up JUST ENOUGH for the temperature gauge to begin to move. Then I drive. I do not think it’s necessary to idle it for 10+ minutes before driving.
What you SHOULD NOT do is start a cold engine and immediately drag race (or whatever). Keep it low RPMs while it warms. You’ll be fine.