In my quest to find a DIY method to fix my car's flooded engine,I stumbled upon this article.

Although my car knowledge is very limited, I knew most of them were incorrect. When I read the first one though, I went "wait a minute..."

Now, on my POS (as we affectionately call it in our household), this is something I have to do as my car will stall if not warmed up for at least a couple minutes in cold weather. But I'm curious about the MINI...

Here is my question to you: Do you let your MINI warm up before taking it out? If so, is there an "optimum" amount of time to do it?
(of course, this applies to all the cold weather, non-garage parkers)

 

A lot of it has to do with how the fuel system is designed to handle cold-weather starts. In older cars that have an honest-to-goodness "choke", the fuel mixture is richened drastically to make it easier to start. If you let these cars idle for extended periods with the choke engaged, the excess fuel washes away the lubrication on the cylinder walls, increasing wear. The fuel leaking down past the piston rings also contaminates the oil. So, letting a car that has a true choke circuit idle is not good for the engine.

On my bike, the "choke" lever really just applies a small amount of tension to the accelerator cable, raising the idle RPM to keep the bike from stalling. It doesn't mess with the fuel mixture itself, so there's no harm in keeping it engaged for a few minutes. In fact, I can use the "faux-choke" lever as a cruise-control at highway speeds.

In modern, computer-controlled cars, the high idle and fuel enrichment are handled automatically, so there's no "choke" circuit that you have to manually engage/disengage. If you start the car and walk away from it, it will lower the idle and lean the mixture back out to normal as the engine warms up.

In general, if you can start the car and drive it off without it stumbling or stalling, that's probably the best thing to do. Avoid heavy applications of the throttle until the engine's warmed up and you'll be fine.

But, if you want to start it and wait a few minutes while you have a second cup of coffee, you're not going to hurt anything in a modern car.

 

...except the environment. Sorry, somebody had to say it.

 

I agree that you SHOULD let the motor warm for a few minutes. generally two to three mins. I like to watch the temp gauge, keep in mind that I have the chrono pack, till it gets at least 100º or so (in winter). This helps with the stumble problems that some have. It also allows for everything to get stirring and lubed before driving.
Mine is an '06 S and yes it stumbles in cold weather.

One thing that some have tried is using SeaFoam or Marvel Mystery Oil. (Search and ye shall find more info). It removes built up carbon from the combustion chamber and allows for a "cleaner burn".
I did this (in tank method) to mine at 18k mi and it helped significantly with my cold weather stumble. Got a mpg back also.

Another thing that you may look into is changing the plugs. Since MINIs run rich, very rich, you may look into this depending on your total miles.

Hope this helps.

 

And you're driving a car that brand new puts out Hummer levels of CO2 even if your mpg is better.

That list was funny, someof them both statements were wrong.

Pearl is usually garaged, but witht e cold thats meant its still 20 degrees or less in there some days I generally start, let it idle my way out of the drive way 30-45 seconds keep it under 1.5k for another 2 minutes or so then keep it under 3k until the temp guage reaches its normal operating midpoint and I make sure trips exceed 20 minutes to avoid the cheesey oil from the cold condition, and make sure the engine sees a full heat cycle.

 

It doesn't matter what kind of car you drive, warming it up in the morning results in more emissions than not. That's my point. No need to be snarky.

And besides, you're wrong. The Hummer puts out 2.5 times as much CO2 as my car.

 

It depends on how you're measuring the CO2. On a straight "what percentage of the exhaust is CO2?" test, the MINI fares pretty poorly. But the more-useful measurement is "How much CO2 does the vehicle release into the air per unit distance driven?"

Using this measurement, the Cooper puts out 139 g/km, the 'S' puts out 216 g/km, and the Hummer H3 puts out a whopping 472 g/km.

 

Catalytic converters aren't really effective until they heat up, right?

So wouldn't it be better to warm up the cat at idle which would be emitting fewer gasses then if the engine had a load (i.e. driving) ?

 

It all depends on what your "emission of choice" is - as the catalytic converter heats up, hydrocarbon and CO concentrations go down, but CO2 concentrations go up.

Plus, if you look at it from an "emissions per distance driven" standpoint, your emissions while idling are essentially infinite, since you're putting out pollutants and other emissions without going anywhere.

 

I usually start the car up and drive off right away. I've never had a stumbling problem, but I keep it below 3,000 RPMs until it's warm. Actually, I try not to exceed 3K at all on my drives to work. 24 mpg kills me on my 90 miles a day commute.

 

This is what I do too. Start the car up, let it idle for about 10 seconds to build oil pressure, then take off. I drive it very gently and smoothly until it reaches operating temperature. No stumbling problem here. Oddly enough, I've found that I get better fuel mileage doing this than letting it warm up in the driveway.

And FWIW - The owner's manual suggests that you start the car and drive off gently.

 

warming up the car doesnt do much. the engine temp is not the temperature of the engine, but of the water jacket around it. the engine heats up fairly quickly to a safe level. plopping it into gears and keeping it below 3k rpm is the only thing needed. my mechanic always said that warming up a car was not necessary and more harmful than good. He said waiting like 10-20 seconds or so for oil pressure and flow is a good idea but not much more than a minute at most. I guess if one lived in wisconsin or Yukon and it was like -10 F degrees out, it wouldnt hurt to run it a couple of minutes though

 

Are you saying that Wisconsin is as cold as the Yukon?

That having been said, I generally follow the manual's advice of not warming up the car. Though, if it's snowed and I have a bit of work getting the windows cleared, I'll start up the engine and run the defrosters to help melt the snow and ice.

 

Heck, to me it seems that way