What are folks’ views on whether it is good practice to allow an engine to warm up on tickover for a short period before setting off? I got moaned at today for doing this and was told it is unnecessary on modern engines, is this so?
I don’t at home it’s all down hill from here ,but when leaving anywhere like just off the motorway I give 5 mins to warm up .you don’t get out of bed and run a marathon straight away do you ! 
I do it around this time of year…
But it affects my ‘idling score’ on the company’s ‘Big Change’ / ‘Job Watch’ thing in the cab. 
Not that I’m bothered… 
I don’t think it’s necessary on a modern truck to be honest.
Different opinions on this topic, some say warm the engine slowly whereas others say get it up to operating temp as quick as poss but I do in my car after a hard run allow the oil to cool a wee bit in the turbo before turning it off.
Maybe with engines of old ie a Gardner with half inch piston to bore clearances but no need to with a modern engine with tight tolerances and fully synthetic oils…
Definitely no need to on modern engines,plus waking your neighbours up or the unit next to you.
The answer is the set the timer on your night heater, toasty when you get in or up then…
Warming an engine wether it’s new or old doesn’t harm, oil is cheaper than metal
Tangray:
Definitely no need to on modern engines,plus waking your neighbours up or the unit next to you.
The answer is the set the timer on your night heater, toasty when you get in or up then…
Think Harry may have been referring to the engine temp, not of the driver … 
…
if my boss had a face,id treat the truck with respect as i would my own.
tosco type plobber job companies are on full r&m
they dont pay for mechanical damage and are only interested in the fuel you use nursing it up to temp.
so if thats the case,just drop the clutch as soon as it fires as its not your prob,nor theirs.
same as getting a smack on the wrist for leaving it running for 3 mins .they dont pay for the starters
Foot flat to the mat then turn the key, keep it like that until the air has built up fully. The colder it is the better. 
On my own cars yes on someone elses truck driven by numerous people no.
I used to just let it build the air up steadily on part throttle while filling the tacho in, never had a truck that held full air overnight even when new. Neighbours didn’t REALLY mind all that much…I think? 
Pete.
Harry, you spent to long in Russia mate, those Kepstow habits die hard! 
I don’t in my car though,although I feel like I should. and still drive it gently for the first 5 mins. The last trucks I drove had built in heater elements in the oil sump, enough to keep its viscosity, so it was not a problem. As has already been stated, oil and diesel are cheaper than a new engine, for the sake of 5 minutes, whats the problem?
Modern truck or not I was always told let the motor tick over for a short period to allow the oil to circulate around the turbo and to let it tick over a short period before switching off.
As already been said you don`t get out of bed and start exercising straight off.
Just a thought… you do your walk-round checks and fill the sheet in, yes? You have a check box for steering and brakes; so part of that check would be to turn the steering and pump the brake pedal a couple of times, to ensure both are working correctly; both of which require the engine to be running. The answer therefore to any smartass driver trainer or manager that says you can just turn the key from cold and drive off straight away, is that if you do that, you obviously haven’t done your pre-flight checks properly. It might only be for half a minute, but it’s enough to get the oil round the turbo.
One problem is that a diesel engine doesn’t get very hot unless it is pulling against a load (it draws a lot of air into the engine from the start in a way a petrol engine doesn’t), so ‘warming it up’ actually means it spends longer wearing itself out faster than it should because it spends longer running at below optimum temperatures.
Modern oil now flows much faster when cold than ‘old-school’ oils did (a modern truck will be a 5W-30 or 10W-40, not a 20W-50 or whatever, and the critical number is the first one…the lower the number the faster the oil flows, with the W indicating ‘Winter’ temperature, so the whole old ritual of warming the oil so it can flow around doesn’t apply unless it’s very cold.
Mind you, up in the frozen north, if they can’t plug the truck into a sump heater, then they don’t stop the engine. They also have to drive very slowly before they stop for the night to cool the tyres down: hot tyres melt the snow, which then refreezes into ice overnight and the truck is stuck the next morning!
always have always will, yes full R&M lease package here but no harm in doing the job right, let it cool down a bit too before shutdown
My take is, I normally start the engine to build up, check air, Depending on the situation I’ll do other checks with or without engine running, then I drive off and keep it gentle while the truck heats up, the things is when you’re moving you’re also working the gearbox and diff, wheel bearing, Steering pump etc.
I also don’t charge into a parking area flat out, come in gently low revs, nice and slow.
Punchy Dan:
you don’t get out of bed and run a marathon straight away do you !
You might not leap out of bed and do a marathon, but you also don’t stand there for 15 minutes, you warm up by gentle movements.
With a modern engine and oil, there is nothing to be gained from letting it idle “while it warms up” - with a diesel engine it probably does more harm than good. Best practice in my book is to drive it pretty much straight away (but avoid full throttle/revs until the thing has come up to normal operating temperature).