'Warming up' your car is just a waste of gas

Newer cars have electronic fuel-injection systems

Do you really need to "warm up" your car before driving in the winter?

You may remember starting your car, or "warming up" the car when it was cold outside, so that the engine wouldn't stall out. But - seriously - those days are long gone.

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Unless your car is from the 1980s, there is no reason to wait for your engine to warm up.

Back then, cars had carburetors, which wouldn't work well in the cold -- but the last car to be sold with one was in 1990.

Newer cars have electronic fuel-injection systems, and don't have problems with cold temperatures.

Letting your car idle in your driveway is identified by environmental groups as a considerable source of climate-change-driving CO2 emissions.

The fact is, driving your car will warm up your engine much faster than idling. You don't have to wait more than 30 seconds after starting your car to hit the road.

Obviously, if you want the interior to get warm before you get in -- that's another story.

RELATED: Former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee and current YouTube personality Mark Rober recently did an experiment to find out the fastest way to defrost your car windshield using science. He says it can be done it four easy steps.

Check out the video below to find out how he did it. Click here to watch on YouTube.


About the Author

Ken Haddad has proudly been with WDIV/ClickOnDetroit since 2013. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters, and helps lead the WDIV Insider team. He's a big sports fan and is constantly sipping Lions Kool-Aid.

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