Remote Start/Warming Up

pclancy

Just bought a Japanese import Avensis and its loaded with weird electronics.

One is a remote starter fob on the keychain which lets you start/stop the engine or lock the doors with it running, something i've seen couriers do when making city deliveries.

But my question is, I was always told not to let cars "warm up" and to just get in and go during winter once the windows are clear etc. But now its tempting to start the car remotely say 5-10 mins before I leave then by the time I get out there its nice and toasty...but is that bad for the engine etc?

biko

Nah, go ahead.


Cue lengthy debate on pro and cons but imo, warming engine up idling is fine.

zapata

Won't somebody please think of the children environment?
Nobody has ever frozen to death in this country because the car was too cold in the morning.

dmc17

zapata wrote: »

Nobody has ever frozen to death in this country because the car was too cold in the morning.

That's because we let them warm up before we get in

mickdw

Fantastic feature. What I wouldn't give for such a device leaving the house at 7 on a winters morning.

CiniO

No point in warming up car before running.
It's just waste of fuel which doesn't help in anything.

mickdw

CiniO wrote: »

No point in warming up car before running.
It's just waste of fuel which doesn't help in anything.

Maybe clear windows and a warm interior?

CiniO

mickdw wrote: »

Maybe clear windows and a warm interior?

Car will warm up the same in 5 minute drive, as in 20 minutes on idle.

keithsfleet

Funny story.
A neighbour of mine last year went out to her car at 6am one of the very cold mornings.
Went to unlock it and discovered her key wouldn't turn so off she plodded to get a cup of warm water to pour over the lock.
Poured the water over it and in the car she hopped.
Closed the door, plopped on her seat belt and put the key in to start the car... Wouldn't start.

Took her seat belt off and went to open the car door.... Wouldn't open, locks had frozen solid from the, now, freezing cold water.

She rang her brother, dad and mother several times to get them to come help but because it was a Saturday morning they were all ko'd probably still half pissed in bed.

Eventually a neighbour walked by about 40 minutes later and helped her out of the car.
Lesson leaned!

On the topic of warming up the car, I'll all for it but don't forget the gearbox will still be freezing cold so don't go tearing off.
Treat the car as if the engine is still waking up.

mickdw

CiniO wrote: »

Car will warm up the same in 5 minute drive, as in 20 minutes on idle.

But you can't drive with the window iced up and I know ive spent many a morning waiting for the heater to do its thing trying to get a bit of heat into the car and also to clear window.

dmc17

CiniO wrote: »

Car will warm up the same in 5 minute drive, as in 20 minutes on idle.

It's a b*stard when you can't see out the windows for those 5 minutes

Chris_Heilong

Getting the car to operational temperature before driving it is good, if you live near a motorway or somewhere that you need to accelerate fast is especially good, stops the Turbo from heating up too fast with the added bonus of your aircon is nice and warm.

CiniO

mickdw wrote: »

But you can't drive with the window iced up and I know ive spent many a morning waiting for the heater to do its thing trying to get a bit of heat into the car and also to clear window.

dmc17 wrote: »

It's a b*stard when you can't see out the windows for those 5 minutes

Why don't you just spend that 5 minutes on scrubbing the windows to have a clear view?

That's anyway what I was taught when I started driving.
In winter time, clear up the car from snow and ice, then start the engine and drive off.
So far it always worked for me.

Alanstrainor

CiniO wrote: »

Why don't you just spend that 5 minutes on scrubbing the windows to have a clear view?

That's anyway what I was taught when I started driving.
In winter time, clear up the car from snow and ice, then start the engine and drive off.
So far it always worked for me.

Of course it works. But its easier to push a button on your keys, and have a slice of toast instead :P

hsilgnede

Remote start of just the hearer has been a standard feature on the Nissan leaf since it was launched in 2011.

Having the engine warm up in idle makes sense to me. Has to hurt the engine less than driving it from cold. We're not that cold here though by comparison to parts of the states or the Nordic countries.

Mostly I'd say it was a waste of fuel tbh.

Noccy_Mondy

How do ye have time to let the car warm up in the morning. Good and well if ye do and you're ready for off, but bed is too important! :pac:

CiniO

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Of course it works. But its easier to push a button on your keys, and have a slice of toast instead :P

On petrol engines it's surely bad for your catalitic converter. I'm not sure about diesel.
Besides in most countries in EU, it's illegal to have your engine running for extended period of time without a reason. In some of them it's as little as 1 minute what you are allowed to run engine before moving off.

Interslice

hsilgnede wrote: »

Remote start of just the hearer has been a standard feature on the Nissan leaf since it was launched in 2011.

Having the engine warm up in idle makes sense to me. Has to hurt the engine less than driving it from cold. We're not that cold here though by comparison to parts of the states or the Nordic countries.

Mostly I'd say it was a waste of fuel tbh.

Is it worse to drive it cold or let it run cold for longer though? Hard to know.

Have done it in petrol cars before. You start a renault take the card out and lock it which is handy.

Would never do it on a diesel. Would take about 40 minutes to idle the van up to temp.

obezyana

I'm all for letting the car heat up while idle and as sure why not stick on the heated seats aswell happy and warm when I get going.

ba_barabus

hsilgnede wrote: »

Remote start of just the hearer has been a standard feature on the Nissan leaf since it was launched in 2011.

And Rover 75's since launch in 1998 and many many cars before

My car (04 Rav4) isn't fancy enough for any of this stuff, but i was wondering does anyone know; can i turn the ignition and get out of the car, and use the back up/spare key to lock the car, with the other key still in the ignition? (havent got the spare key near me to try it out).

I'm thinking i'd like to do the same, but car is on an open drive way, so I'd be fearful of leaving it running if someone could just hop into it and fly off.

corsav6

[Deleted User] wrote: »

My car (04 Rav4) isn't fancy enough for any of this stuff, but i was wondering does anyone know; can i turn the ignition and get out of the car, and use the back up/spare key to lock the car, with the other key still in the ignition? (havent got the spare key near me to try it out).

I'm thinking i'd like to do the same, but car is on an open drive way, so I'd be fearful of leaving it running if someone could just hop into it and fly off.

Works on my aul astra, ticking over with 1 key while the other is beside me at the breakfast table.

On the subject of warming up a car, well I warm up her diesel astra as it has a timing chain so I like to let the oil up through the engine. With my petrol astra I just start and drive.

Someone posted about the gearbox still been cold even when the engine idles for a while, does the input shaft not turn when idling allowing the oil to move around the box?

Chris_Heilong

CiniO wrote: »

On petrol engines it's surely bad for your catalitic converter. I'm not sure about diesel.
Besides in most countries in EU, it's illegal to have your engine running for extended period of time without a reason. In some of them it's as little as 1 minute what you are allowed to run engine before moving off.

Another stupid EU law I take it. Everything seems to be illegal in 'some' EU countries.

Supergurrier

i park my car in 1st, probably wouldn't end well

CiniO

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Another stupid EU law I take it. Everything seems to be illegal in 'some' EU countries.

It's not stupid law. It really makes sense.
When I sleep in the morning, I don't want to inhale my neighbours dirty diesel fumes, just because he is to lazy to scrub his windscreen, but runs his car for half an hour instead.

CiniO

CiniO wrote: »

It's not stupid law. It really makes sense.
When I sleep in the morning, I don't want to inhale my neighbours dirty diesel fumes, just because he is to lazy to scrub his windscreen, but runs his car for half an hour instead.

... Where are you sleeping?!



I left my car running a few times there when I had early starts around Christmas and it was iced over every morning. The interior in my car is also leather, which certainly doesn't help on a cold morning!


After about, less than 10 minutes (but admittedly, always more than 5), I'd wander out the car in my shirt and hop in to a relatively warm cabin.

The time you're sitting idle, is about the equivalent of missing the green at a junction.

But to be honest, what actually made me start doing this, was that I didn't like having to wear a big jacket in the car to overcome the initial coldness. It felt cumbersome and restricted my movement from being as fluid as I would be in a lighter jacket or shirt.

dmc17

Deleted User wrote: »

... Where are you sleeping?!

In the neighbours garage :pac:

jimgoose

Letting them idle in the driveway for 20 minutes is neither necessary nor particularly useful. Start up and let it idle for 15-20 seconds, then move off gently and keep the boot off/revs low-ish until the coolant comes up to temperature. It takes about six or seven minutes of driving.

dr.fuzzenstein

CiniO wrote: »

No point in warming up car before running.
It's just waste of fuel which doesn't help in anything.

Two things:
I agree and of course I knew you would say that, being a fellow mainlander. :pac:
It's not good for the engine letting it idle for a long time when cold, it runs very rich and if you do it too much, it just fouls everything up.
Apart from that there's the noise and emissions. Maybe not so important when you live in the middle of nowhere, but still.
Anyway, I know this one is going to run and run, because, Oh Boy, it's that thread again!:p

_Kaiser_

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

How do ye have time to let the car warm up in the morning. Good and well if ye do and you're ready for off, but bed is too important! :pac:

The manual in my A6 (yes I've read it ) talks about an option to set timers on the climate system to turn on/off as desired.

All eager I went out to see if it could be done and while I seem to have the hardware, the option isn't in the MMI Maybe it needs to be enabled in VCDS but it's been brighter/warmer so I haven't followed up.

Kimbot

Had the use of remote start on a car before and it was great.

If you set the fan on window and about setting 2 it will clear your window by the time you hop in after a few minutes. However, make sure you dont make the mistake of leaving the car in gear

jimgoose

jonny24ie wrote: »

...However, make sure you dont make the mistake of leaving the car in gear

Is there not a safety-interlock sort of thing that disables remote-starting on a manual when it's left in gear?

dr.fuzzenstein

jimgoose wrote: »

Is there not a safety-interlock sort of thing that disables remote-starting on a manual when it's left in gear?

Only one way to find out!

Mena

CiniO wrote: »

On petrol engines it's surely bad for your catalitic converter. I'm not sure about diesel.
Besides in most countries in EU, it's illegal to have your engine running for extended period of time without a reason. In some of them it's as little as 1 minute what you are allowed to run engine before moving off.

The reason is to heat it up so that's that outta the way at least. EU:0 Common bloody sense:1

pete4130

In colder climates, its standard. A friend in Maine in the US told me about this about 10 years ago. She wakes up, lookout her window, remotely starts her car before she showers, eats breakfast, gets dressed etc…. She goes out to her car, gets in and drives off in a warm environment as aopposed to the -17C outside.

Yes it wastes fuel. Yes you pay for that wasted fuel.

AKAIK the car is in warmup mode and cannot be driven until the key is inserted.

dr.fuzzenstein

pete4130 wrote: »

In colder climates, its standard. A friend in Maine in the US told me about this about 10 years ago. She wakes up, lookout her window, remotely starts her car before she showers, eats breakfast, gets dressed etc…. She goes out to her car, gets in and drives off in a warm environment as aopposed to the -17C outside.

Yes it wastes fuel. Yes you pay for that wasted fuel.

AKAIK the car is in warmup mode and cannot be driven until the key is inserted.

Why not leave it running altogether in that case?
I can see why someone would le it run for a few minutes, but your friend sounds like she has it idling away for an hour.
If I was her neighbour, I'd stuff potatoes in her exhaust.
Had a 1983 Opel Kadett and it started and drove just fine in -17.
If people want to get into their car in the middle of winter in shorts and T-shirts, they should move to Hawaii.

Chris_Heilong

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Why not leave it running altogether in that case?
I can see why someone would le it run for a few minutes, but your friend sounds like she has it idling away for an hour.
If I was her neighbour, I'd stuff potatoes in her exhaust.
Had a 1983 Opel Kadett and it started and drove just fine in -17.
If people want to get into their car in the middle of winter in shorts and T-shirts, they should move to Hawaii.

But why should they do that when they have a perfectly acceptable solution already. Maybe if it was a diesel I can understand as they are noisy buggers, but a petrol idling for 5 minutes should not bother any one.

cruizer101

Locked myself out of my car one morning doing this. Started car, took remote left key in ignition, locked car went in for few minutes, came out and couldn't unlock car

Sat there idling for and hour while I waited for help, was so toasty warm when I got in though

I would sometimes do it for a minute or two, not too long though, just enough to clear fog of windscreen and that. Don't see the harm in doing it though, unless someone can point me to some evidence of potential damage to it I'd happily do longer also.

wexie

Just get one of these fitted, they actually are good for the engine and can be used with a variety of remotes, up to and including using a mobile signal.

Doesn't run the engine but gets the coolant all nice and toasty so that when you get in the car the heating is good to go and the engine is warmed up. (quite a few cars have them as factory options, second hand units are easy (and cheapish) to come by.

quietsailor

wexie wrote: »

Just get one of these fitted, they actually are good for the engine and can be used with a variety of remotes, up to and including using a mobile signal.

Doesn't run the engine but gets the coolant all nice and toasty so that when you get in the car the heating is good to go and the engine is warmed up. (quite a few cars have them as factory options, second hand units are easy (and cheapish) to come by.

There jacket heaters are used on a lot of standby electrical generators as well so most mechanical engineering shops would be able to get their hands on them. Most generators ( the smaller ones anyway) are 12v systems so they would be compatible with a car system.

To avoid running your battery down though you'd be better to fit an external power lead with some sort of a quick detach plug so you don't drive off and have the lead pull lumps off your car

pete4130

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Why not leave it running altogether in that case?
I can see why someone would le it run for a few minutes, but your friend sounds like she has it idling away for an hour.
If I was her neighbour, I'd stuff potatoes in her exhaust.
Had a 1983 Opel Kadett and it started and drove just fine in -17.
If people want to get into their car in the middle of winter in shorts and T-shirts, they should move to Hawaii.

Because its an optional extra, a premium feature on a car to make the experience of owning and driving it more pleasurable.
If my friend did have it idling for an hour and she is paying for the petrol thats up to her. It's a 1st world solution to a 1st world problem.

Why would you stuff potatoes in someone else's car that isn't affecting you in anyway? You sound like a pretty $hitty neighbour to have.

Stained Class

ba_barabus wrote: »

And Rover 75's since launch in 1998 and many many cars before

Yeah, the Missus has a Rover 75 Diesel & it has a Webasco fuel burning car heater under the bonnet.

It's not enabled though, but you can set it up to work remotely.

The engine doesn't run for this system to work, the heater seems to heat up the cooling system & runs off the fuel tank.

Handy feature, I must look into it further.

Technoprisoner

if you are really worried about a cold car you can get a frost plug heater or block heater. these are heating elements that you put into your frost plug hole on the block, and it heats the coolant and block up to temperature....this is usually used in places with extreme cold...but since us irish love our comfort i cant see why you couldnt fit one to an irish car.

bear1

Heated seats, job done

dr.fuzzenstein

I once had a 1980 T3 VW Transporter (it was great, 1.6 diesel from a Golf, it had some HP, but I never found them), it had a camping heater.
Turn on heater, it would work off the diesel from the tank and the car would be boiling hot at the highest setting.
Drawbacks would be it's still using diesel and it runs down the battery if you park up overnight, a big plus was not having to have the engine running to heat up the interior.
Or just throw in a blow heater. Just make sure it's not covered or falls over, or you'll torch the car. :eek:
Running the engine to heat up the car is hideously inefficient. I'm German, I care about these things. :cool::P

advertsfox

Such a good feature I'd love to have - can this be retrofitted to cars easily?

jimgoose

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Why not leave it running altogether in that case?
I can see why someone would le it run for a few minutes, but your friend sounds like she has it idling away for an hour.
If I was her neighbour, I'd stuff potatoes in her exhaust.
Had a 1983 Opel Kadett and it started and drove just fine in -17.
If people want to get into their car in the middle of winter in shorts and T-shirts, they should move to Hawaii.

I met a very nice young lady from Saskatchewan a few years back, she was serving me a decent dinner in a hotel in Vancouver. She told me that back home, -55C is not unusual in the depth of Winter. They don't usually switch vehicles off at all during that period. Can you imagine trying to start an old tractor or something in that, with a sump full of 20W-50 mineral that turned into something like bituminous macadam around a relatively balmy -15C??

wexie

advertsfox wrote: »

Such a good feature I'd love to have - can this be retrofitted to cars easily?

depends on the car and the electronics (alarm etc) in it.
generally not too hard though, depending on the alarm you may need to sacrifice a spare key for an immobiliser by pass module.

advertsfox

wexie wrote: »

depends on the car and the electronics (alarm etc) in it.
generally not too hard though, depending on the alarm you may need to sacrifice a spare key for an immobiliser by pass module.

Citroen C5 II, I'd imagine that it was a feature available new since it had lots of other fancy bits roo (e.g the one to keep you within the white lines on a motorway).

dr.fuzzenstein

jimgoose wrote: »

I met a very nice young lady from Saskatchewan a few years back, she was serving me a decent dinner in a hotel in Vancouver. She told me that back home, -55C is not unusual in the depth of Winter. They don't usually switch vehicles off at all during that period. Can you imagine trying to start an old tractor or something in that, with a sump full of 20W-50 mineral that turned into something like bituminous macadam around a relatively balmy -15C??

In those cases you would have an engine heater, because idiling your car for hours is hideously inefficient and bad for it.
Anyone living in those cold climes would have one, or a heated garage. Otherwise they just don't know what they're doing.

Greyfoot

Just about any car manual`s I have read so far driving tips included not to idle warm up a car.

On a personal note I am a cardboard user on windscreen during winter, no ice for me.