Cold Weather Startup Q's
 

I’ve come across conflicting info on best practices when starting cars in cold winter weather. It is best to start up and drive off or to idle and warm up for a few minutes before driving off?

Otherwise, I’ve had my car for two years and don’t recall this in the past, but has anyone else noticed a deeper grunt to the engine / exhaust in cold winter weather and a somewhat ‘heavier’ steering feel?

Thanks.

I just start the car and wait until the rpm low to 750 or 500 rpm and move. but while i'm moving i drive the car gently under 2500 rpm for like 10 minutes.

Great; thanks!

The manual says you can drive it immediately. But out of habit I wait 30-45 seconds before putting it in gear.

Thanks, Chris!

I have a 730d and as you might guess, it's pretty damn cold here in Finland during winter time, occasionally -20 degrees Fahrenheit and below.

I never wait when driving off. Obviously it's a good idea to avoid high rpm's for a few minutes, but BMW's are built to last, even in arctic conditions :supdude:

-20 deg F? Wow!

Do you have an engine block heater? Does that help a lot?

+1

We've seen that temp semi-regularly as well.

Curious if you've had any issues with the Adblue delivery like we have experienced on both our X5 and past ML320?

That's mild, where we lived in January of '08 we saw temps of -67 F with the windchill.:rofl:

Also curious to know the answer to this. Block heaters are not available according to BMW Canada. :dunno:

What!?

I normally have had engine block heaters in my cars, but in this I don't. I get bored easily with my cars and swap them about once a year and haven't gotten around to have a heater installed...

Electric pads attached to engine block are not that efficient compared to Webasto diesel heaters, but several hours of heating with electric heater can heat the coolant somewhat. The weird thing about OEM Webasto is, that it doesn't heat the engine, only the cabin.

This is a well recognized brand to be recommended to you, my Canadian friend:

http://www.padheaters.com/

It heats the oil instead of the coolant.