Warming up one's Prius

This is actually not good for ANY car. It is much better for the car AND the environment to just give it a minute or two at the most to warm, then drive. Just take it easy for the first few minutes on the road; until the engine temp is warm. I'm talking about all cars here, not just the Prius.

On the Prius, since the engine is not running when you start the car, there would be no reason to wait before driving. Again, just take it easy for the first few minutes until the engine has a chance to warm.

 

I never subscribed to the notion that you had to warm up a car (then again, I was always in a rush). I had my old Honda Accord for 160K miles and never warmed it up before taking to the road. I never had any problems with it.

With the Prius injecting warm coolant to the engine, isn't warming up the engine a wasted exercise anyway?

 

I absolutely have to agree with Satchm0 on this. The practice of warming up your car for 10 - 15 min. goes back to a time before electronic fuel injection. This practice has stubbornly continued (many mechanics still recommend this) even though it is not only uneccessary but extremely wastful. It is best to let it run for about 1 minute (only if it is very cold <20 degrees) and than drive slowly to warm up the engine to normal operatiing temp.
With the Prius, obviuosly, you should drive as soon as you start the car. The thermos will circulate hot coolant to the engine. You should still drive cautiously at first till the engine reaches operating tempurature

 

I'm faced with a Hobson's choice here because, after I leave my house, I have less than a 30 second drive to a rather heavily travelled artery where cars are doing 50-60mph (and some considerably more than that). Thus, if I don't allow the car to idle for a few minutes, I'm forced to floor the thing, while still fairly cold, to avoid being annihilated.

 

Maybe you could buy an electric blanket to keep your Prius toasty

Brian

 

I've never been in the practice of warming up a vehicle. I let it run just long enough to inure good oil curculation, and then go. The electric motor takes care of the low speed stuff, I've noticed, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. With my diesels, it's a moot point to let it warm up anyway. Diesels don't heat up untill you put a load on them.

 

Ok, you have my curiousity piqued - how do you tell when the Prius' ICE is warm?

 

its one of thoes things toyota doesnt really want you to worry about cause its not really important to you as the driver. but the key feature would be a dramatic increase in the cabin temperature?

 

Granted the heat should come on better when the ICE is warm, but I live in Florida and haven't had the opportunity to try the heat yet- other than late one night when I got curious to see if it really had heat.

So maybe I go the other way - by the time I notice a dramatic decrease in cabin temperature my car is warm?

I'm thoroughly enjoying my Prius but wish one of the display screens showed various engine functions such as temp, RPM, oil pressure and as is one my last four cars DISTANCE TILL EMPTY.

 

I called my local service department to ask them if a block heater was available for the Prius - or if the one that is avail for the Echo would work on the Prius.

At the time, they said that one wasn't available and that the Echo one wouldn't work. He said that he would look into this again because Toyota releases things like this following the release of the car and he thought that there was a chance.

I will call them again to see about this because my car is an outdoor car (like a housecat) and it is freezing cold here now. I have a short drive to work and back, so it doesn't even get a chance to properly heat up.

 

Hey Brian, where in NW PA are you? I'm in Waterford and haven't seen another 2004 on the road here yet. Had mine since Nov.8. Get yours at Palmiero? Enjoy!

Jerry

 

The way I tell if my ICE is warm is when it shuts down at lights, or upon decelleration. I figure that if its shutting down on its own, it is warmed thoroughly

Peace

 

Well, I have a blue thermometer shaped light on the guage pod that shuts off when the car warms up.

 

Come on folks....the obvious answer.....when it starts to melt. :mrgreen:

 

I feel like I'm hitting the stage after the lead comedian...

Intertwined with this discussion is the ridiculous "auto-starters" people install. Neighbor across from me has one on both cars. Every morning from October to April, the cars start up and run 15 to 20 minutes before their masters leave for work. Wife takes a week vacation? Every morning her car idles in the driveway for a half hour before shutting down. I'd sure like to do an Environmental Impact Statement (re: study) on this consumer product.

IMO, proper inital warm up rules for cars in general are:

30 seconds, except for cold conditions (say less than 20 degrees F)
60 seconds, -10 to +20 degrees
Maybe two minutes for below -10 degrees (within reason)

When you first drive, avoid hard acceleration as much as possible. Simply pulling onto a highway is not overly "hard". There is nothing wrong with a cool motor operating at highway speeds, assuming the correct amount and weight range of oil is present. Now, if you enter a highway and try to instantly do ninety, up a steep hill, with a car full of people, you might as well put your cool motor through some dragstrip runs.

The simple way to tolerate a cool interior environment is to reduce or shutdown the fan and inlets (with consideration of humidity and window visibility) to diminish the cooling effect of air moving across exposed skin. Set your heater on recirc (initially) and have the fan distribute the air at your feet or the windshield at a low setting. As you perceive warm air (generally within 2 or 3 minutes), increase the fan speed and eventually switch to non-recirc air. Many people believe setting their fan on high will speed up this process. The reality is, it simply overwhelms the amount of heat available, causing a greater perception of cold.

For a warmed up car (shut off 1 to 10 minutes, year round), I start the car, put my seat belt on, check the mirrors, and put it in gear. The minor delay assures the oil a chance to develop full pressure throughout the ICE.

As for the Prius, it should be smarter than the average car, even to the point of starting the ICE periodically to move warm coolant to heat the interior. Prius engineers spent a lot of time devising a durable ICE set up that can start/stop frequently, and work in a wide range of temperatures. Based on that, I'll simply let the Prius worry about the warm up.

 

We're in Sharon PA -- the last exit off of I-80 in PA.

We have seen a couple other Priusesesss (sp), but not locally -- on a trip to Pittsburgh.