Re: Remote car start via phone?

[Matt Ion <soundy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

GregS wrote:
> In article <1w3Cg.348081$iF6.315343@pd7tw2no>, Matt Ion <soundy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Frank Olson wrote:
>>
>>
>>>In Vancouver, if you idle your engine for longer than 3 minutes while
>>>parked anywhere, you're subject to an $80.00 fine.  This has something
>>>to do with lowering emission levels.  This, of course, never even
>>>crossed your mind.  Having a "warm and toasty" car is far more important
>>>after that long plane trip...
>>
>>Another thing to consider: almost all modern car manufacturers recommend NOT
>>warming up your car for more than 30 seconds before driving.
>
>
> I read a few posts about warming up. Nothing seems to be really informative, or dangerous.
> These seem to be accepted generalizations.
>
> Idling for a while is good, to get the oil going.

That's the "conventional wisdom" but keep in mind, most cars today are using
much lighter multigrade oils (5W-30) than back in the day when everyone just
used straight 30-weights.  They don't need to "warm up" to flow properly.

> Car companies and media are likely to recommend anything that
> improves immisions or fuel economy.

Funny, I'd have thought the car companies would be all about wasting fuel. :P

> Idling may not be the optimum conditions for a running engine.
>
> Warming up produces higher emmisions, and a fast warmup
> may lower overall emmisions.

Not so much true anymore... once again, with newer cars, computer-controlled
fuel systems mitigate that.  Back in the carb days, yes, you had to warm up -
engines didn't burn fuel well when colder, so the choke on your car closed and
locked the idle on high to get a lot more gas through until the engine warmed up
enough for proper combustion, with no real way to control it to actually match
conditions - the choke worked the same whether it was +30 or -30.  With
computer-controlled fuel injection, all engine conditions are monitored
constantly, including sampling the exhaust to determine how well the fuel was
burning, and fuel mixture is constantly adjusted accordingly, allowing it to be
optimized even under poor combustion conditions.

The need to allow the engine to "warm up" for proper operation simply doesn't
exist on newer cars.