It really should not take too long, if it does check your t-stat, it may not be closed all the way, and coolant always runs via large loop. in that case yea it takes very long to warm up the cabin in the winter.
âToo longâ and my impatience to get moving are two different things. I can physically defrost the windows in a fraction of the time it takes the heater core to engage then melt the frost. Iâm also in Texas so the cold is rarely more than an inconvenience and occasionally a discomfort.
Not for the once a year thing Iâm talking about, I mean like when the snow is higher than the car or when you canât break the ice to get the door open without damaging the paint
Imo itâs not so much about the transmission and more about the fact that youâre just running your car cold for longer. It takes 20-30 minutes of driving to get to operating temp from -20°C, it takes an hour of idling to get halfway there.
I only really care when people say itâs better to âlet the car warm upâ before driving by letting it idle for 10 minutes. Because thatâs a big thing, lots of people will tell you the engine will last longer and youâre supposed to do that.
But if you know itâs not ideal and you do it anyways because itâs damn cold outside I fully understand that decision. Youâre thinking about it like, Iâm paying âxâ amount of money to get into a warm car. And maybe itâs a lease or a car they donât care about.
The car will last longer if you let it warm up. Most engine wear happens when the engine is cold and the tolerances are all off.
The wear get multiplied many times if the engine is cold and you put it under load.
Sure, but 20 minutes of idling barely warms the engine and thats 20 minutes of wear on the cylinders and other items, plus everything else is still cold when you take off.
10 minutes of slow driving warms the engine and entire drivetrain without putting a significant load on anything.
Frankly, if you are idling it is for comfort. If the mechanical components were a big concern one would invest in electric heaters.
Nonsense, 20 min of idling is enough to get your heater hot, and t-stat open. definitely enough to get oil hot thin and pumping. Idk what cars you driving, but mine get warm air blowing in 10 min, heater core is a part of short loop.
I have seen no evidence that idling is harmful, during camping, when it is rainy/humid, i idle the car all night with AC on, did it for decades, with many different cars, never had any issues with any of them.
Idling warms the coolent, not necessarilythe oil. My g8 would take 30-40 minutes of 65mph highway driving for the oil to reach temp even though the coolant had reached temp far earlier. My current car has an oil temp gauge, not a coolent temp gauge, and its 10-15 minutes of driving to reach half of its operating temp.
Its your argument that driving causes more damage than idling, i doubt you have any evidence of that either.
At this point, I donât think either side is going to convince the other. 
Of course not, especially when it contradicts my real world experience.
and meâŚ
OK⌠but anecdotal. It is pretty well accepted that long term idling causes additional waer on the engine. I can provide numerous links to experts claiming this. Here are a few:
" Contrary to popular belief, idling doesnât protect your engine or help it run better. It does the opposite by causing unnecessary wear. An idle engine can cause twice the wear on internal parts â cylinders, spark plugs, heat gasket, and more â than an engine operating at a regular speed while driving. By not idling, you can extend the life of your engine."
During idling engine does not work at its most efficient mode, and the fuel combustion is incomplete. That leads to glazing of combustion chamber and reducing effectiveness of spark plugs in petrol engines (plugs with heavy deposits can foul, and that can reduce fuel consumption by 4 to 5%). Also petrol can contaminate the motor oil which reduces its lubricating qualities (that could mean more frequent oil changes and/or increased wear on the engine).
Anyway, I think there are facts to back up the assertion. If you like doing it and have not seen the downside⌠keep it up. As we so often here get into discussions of fine points and nuance⌠it is still good to know the impact of actions taken.
Just curious, did you ever do a true A/B test with two identical vehicles treated identically, except one idles 20% of the hours on the engine? If not, then there cannot be any way to show a contradictionâŚ
Like i said before we took apart lots ex police cars engines in our shop, that became car service vehicles cars that idle 2/3 or 3/4 of their life in police service, there were not worn out more than same engines of comparable mileage from limoâs that are high mileage, but normal idle time. 4.6l ford v8.
If you believe idling is bad cuz someone on internet told you, do not idle, your choice, but after tearing apart same engines, high idle, low idle i see no evidence idle is bad, i have no issue idling my cars all night if i have to. never had any issue with engines.
Yeah, but even one good chase or highway run is the equivalent of whatâs called âan Italian tuneupâ (at least in my old nabe, which was like 90% Italian, so donât dogpile on me).
You give it a good high-speed run and resulting high heat to burn off any oil, deposits, etc.
It actually worked. Little 4-banger starts running rough after months of no highway runs, just take it on the weekend and give it a bunch.
Highway is easier on a motor than stop and go city traffic, 95% of the time highway is 2000-2500rpm, in city driving you go from under a thousands while on a light, to 4k-5k at take offs, lane merges. not sure how idling fits here. During idle engine has no load, wear is minimal.
I remember watching the state lottery during a commercial break where the cute announcer girl was having problems with her microphone.
She was behind the clear plexiglass that held the balls and they were rerouting her microphone up her dress. The cameraman was having fun zooming in to the plexiglass at one point she looks over and checks out the monitor. She proceeded to give the cameraman a piece of her mind right up until they popped back on line ⌠then it was all rainbows and popsicles.
âTodays winning numbers are 62/14/28/9/&21âŚâ
And then more when they finish up .
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There is good and bad info on the Internet. I posted two from the top of the list. I could bore people with hundreds moreâŚ
Then there is the 18 years of my life spent working on (engine rebuilds) Porches Porsches (Thanks @Muto) and VWs.
Granted the kind of differences we are talking about take careful measurements to detect, but they are there. Does anyone care if they replace the vehicle every two to three years⌠I doubt it. But that doesnât mean it doesnât exist. Anecdotal experiences simply do not change that.
Porches you say?, yeah rebuilt a couple myself. Never showed any signs of wear or carbon buildup even after sitting there âIdlingâ for 24 years now. 
People usually get bent out of shape on how the car brand Porsche is pronounced.
I like the way you spell it, easier to pronounce.
Itâs all good man.
We were a sizable independent shop. I did interact with the dealership and occasionally a factory tech. I can say unequivocally that the factory party line was: Start the car, idle for a minute, drive off keeping the RPMs under 2500 for the first few minutes until the temp comes up to normal⌠Avoid excessive idling.
Something about the engine being designed to lubricate itself better under load and at higher RPMs âŚwhich is how itâs design to run.
(Anyone with an oil pressure gauge ever see how the pressure drops to almost nothing at idle?) Then there is the part about when cold the mixture is set quite rich, which dilutes the oil in the top end. Causing additional wear during that period. More oil circulating helps significantly with this.
All purist stuff, of course. But reality, just the same.
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