Car idle damage?

[lolsteve]

So since we've been having cold weather recently I've taken it upon myself to allow the car to idle for about 3-5 minutes before driving to allow the engine bay/oil to warm up properly before driving
However my housemate came back today from lectures saying his lecturer informed the class that it's worse to leave a car idleing because there is a lack of oil pressure meaning the engine isn't properly protected and it's best to just start the car wait a few seconds then drive off using up to half throttle til the engines warm

Thoughts?

[Tom]

I leave mine for sometimes 10/20minutes if its frozen in the mornings and it still works lol

[puglove]

Sounds right when you think about it

[C.A.R.]

There's always lots of different points of view on this subject.

Personally, I just start up and drive off, but I'm very very gentle on the throttle for a while until something indicates on the water temperature gauge (would be nice to have an oil temp gauge but this is good enough to give you a basic idea of the time it takes the engine to warm through a bit).

I imagine in very extreme circumstances (-10° or lower) then a different approach might benefit the car.

End of the day though, it's an old French car worth about as much as a bag of sand (at most) so I bet a lot of HDi engines get a good thrashing from cold by less sympathetic owners!

[swampy]

Normaly leave it to idle whilst I clear any snow or ice

Then drive as normal

[Rippthrough]

Idling is one of the worst conditions for an engine, results in a lot of wear on the cam noses, you should start it up and drive off immediately.

[Piggy]

let it finish its lumpy cough cough on veg, then drive steady and off boost till warm, then BOOOOOOOST!

[r3k1355]

Thrash the tits off it as soon as you get behind the wheel.

[Dum-Dum]

Car manufactures wouldnt/couldnt release an engine that would damage itself while left idling, what about if you were stuck in a traffic jam.

[lolsteve]

That was my thinking, but the oil pressure thing kinda makes sense :/

[C.A.R.]

Car manufactures wouldnt/couldnt release an engine that would damage itself while left idling, what about if you were stuck in a traffic jam.

Pressumably you would have to drive to that traffic jam so had put load on the engine already, pumping nice juicy oil all over the moving parts in the engine head where it is needed.

Unless you wake up with your car already parked in a traffic jam...which would be clever.

[Rippthrough]

Run a brand new camshaft in by idling and see how f*cked it is 20 minutes later