DH757

Lately i've been going to work in my EM2 but I never really am able to warm it up, I take it out of the garage, wait for 1 minute then take off.

Is it okay to do this? I read in some places that you only need 30 seconds.
However, my parents tell me that I will damage the cylinder heads one of these days. Is this true?

My car idles at about 1.5k RPM and then slowly settles down to 1k RPM.
I tend to take off as soon as the thermostat needle reaches the edge of the "C" for Cold.

I'm also not sure why but i'll get a creaking sound when its cold and I accelerate (radio shutoff). Soon after hitting operating temperatures the noise doesn't come back. I feared that it would be some sort of damage?

What do you guys recommend on idling these cars?

Thanks in advance

2005civiclx

i dont ever really idle my car before taking off. that being said i live in texas and it rarely gets cold. just dont rev a cold motor up and you should be good. and my car idles around 1250rpm when its cold.

i dont really have an answer for your radio shutting off though.

DH757

I meant I only hear it with my radio shutoff

Thanks, I drive slow and don't step on it until it does warm up.

MindBomber

It's not necessary, you want to bring your engine to operating temperature as quickly as possible on a fuel injected car so give it max 30 seconds to let everything get well coated in oil on a cold morning and go. Just keep it under 3000rpm until you reach operating temperature.

badbadmojo

If you warm up your car, it allows the viscosity of your oil (thickness) to go down a little bit and make sit easier to flow through the small oil ports and channels in the head. If you push the engine before the oil can reach the head, you run it with little to no oil and risk excess wear.

performanccivic

It's not strictly necessary to idle your car on start up, provided that you take it easy for the first few miles until your temp needle reaches normal operating temperature.

DH757

Thanks guys, I understand now!