According to the article you are dealing with the law of diminishing return. The acids and contaminants talked about go away as the engine warms up. So unless you are going out and warming it up and then shutting it down and restarting it, you aren't hurting anything but your wallet.
There is a problem with the car if it has to warm up and if not it stalls when it shifts. I'm not much on Hondas myself. At least not on "drivability." I've changed timing belts, ground valves replaced axles and other things. But I'm just not up on their electronics and computer issues. I'd wonder if your thermostat is working or is the right temperature range for the car. But the list could get right long and I'd be guessing. As for your original question, you aren't hurting anything by starting the car and letting it warm up a few minutes. ----- Original Message ----- From: Victor Gouveia To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] To idle, or not to idle This brings up a very good question. I constantly warm up my wife's car, especially in the winter. According to this article, this is not a good thing to do. The problem I see is that if I don't warm up my wife's car, the kickback when the car goes from park to drive is pretty hard. At to that, the car actually stalls if it isn't warmed up by the time she switches gears. Granted, I've always driven domestic cars all my life, and this is the first import, being a Honda Accord from 86, but I have to wonder, am I doing what's best for the car by letting it warm up, or am I harming the engine like the article says. I mean, I'm not going out to spend money on a block heater, which will, not only up my energy bills, but I'll also have to install an exterior wall mounted plug just to plug the damn thing in. So car guys, how do I handle this puppy? As it seems to me, I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't. Victor Gouveia [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
