Car Mechanics Name Common, Easy-to-Fix Mistake Many Drivers Make
A group of four auto mechanics from Austin, TX, shared a TikTok video informing car owner’s of a common mistake which takes seconds to fix and will result in a smoother driving experience.
In the video posted by @genuineautomotiveatx, an off-screen host asks four of the shop's employees, “Is it better to warm up your car before driving it?” Perhaps unsurprisingly, all four—Keith, Mathis, Seth, and Bailey—recommended letting your car warm up before taking off.
“Always! Let the fluids warm up and circulate,” Keith answered without hesitation. Mathis explained that he likes to let his car idle “for at least 30 seconds” each time he starts the vehicle in order “to get the oil flowing through the engine.”
Seth reported that it’s “especially” advisable to let your car idle if the engine is a turbo.
Bailey, agreeing with his co-workers, answered an emphatic, “Oh, 100 percent!” when asked if he lets his car idle. “You gotta make sure you warm up, cuz you wanna make sure the oil flows through the engine,” Bailey explained, “and you also want the coolant getting through a little better.
The mechanic added that letting your car idle prior to take off “just helps with making them last longer.”
@genuineautomotiveatx Do you let your car warm up before taking off and driving it?
♬ original sound - Genuine Automotive
Some users were tremendously grateful for the advice, but predictably there was a subset of the internet that believed they knew better.
“Modern cars, since the ‘80s, are ready to drive seconds after turning it over,” read one comment indicative of most of the criticism. “Driving it gently will also warm it up faster and cause less wear overall than idling.”
John Ibbotson, the chief mechanic for Consumer Reports, weighed in on this subject in an article from January. He explained that it makes sense to let your car idle for a moment on a cold day, but for no longer than it takes to warm the cabin and defrost the windshield.
“An engine is fully lubricated long before it reaches full operating temperature,” the article reads. “When your car sits for an extended period of time, the oil drains down to the bottom of the oil pan. Once you start the engine, the oil pump quickly circulates the oil throughout the motor, lubricating all the necessary moving engine components. A cold engine idles at 1,200 rpm or more, making quick work of the lubrication process.”
Dwayne Saunders, the owner of Genuine Automotive, told Men’s Journal that “30 seconds is about [the] right” amount of time to let your car idle.
“The whole point in letting a vehicle idle is to warm up the fluids so that when you do start driving more things are up to operating temperatures,” Saunders explained. “Your vehicle tells the vehicle how much fuel to mix with the air that’s going into the engine, depending on what you’re asking it to do with the throttle. The warmer the vehicle is, the vehicle has different parameters that it rides in. So you want the fluids to be up to operating temperature as fast possible.” The longer you sit there, you know a good 30 seconds—not many people do that—you just want to give it a few seconds for everything to start circulating the way it should and get warmer.8
Saunders added that, in his opinion, “I don’t think [idling] hurts or helps tremendously, but it does always help to get things circulating. It’s a good practice to get into.”
It seems TikTok commenter @andrew23k put it best when he noted, “It’s amazing to see people disagreeing with an entire crew of experienced mechanics.”