21 hours Ago By Shahril Bahrom
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter , or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates. A recent video shared on TikTok by Faiz Rahman sparked a heated debate on whether Malaysians should “warm up” their car engines before driving. This is a common practice in the morning.
But, is it a good idea to do so? In the video he wrote “Living in Malaysia where the temperature is 23 to 34 degrees celsius, and you still warm up your engines?”. Most car owners today still cling on to the practice of warming up their car’s engine by starting it up and letting it idle for a few minutes or more. The belief is that just like our bodies before exercising, a car’s engine should be warmed up to a suitable temperature before it is operated.
The thing is, with cars today being equipped with modern technology such as an Engine Control Unit (ECU), there is no need to leave your engine idling for long periods of time to warm it up. What the ECU does is instruct the fuel system to run a richer mixture of petrol to air. This gets the engine’s internals and fluids up to operating temperature at an accelerated pace.
Older cars which use a carburetor (to mix the petrol and air) would have a choke valve to manually restrict air intake and “force” a richer mixture, instead of sensors and computers present in an ECU to accurately and responsively alter the air-to-fuel ratio for optimal combustion. Therefore, leaving your engine idling over a long period of time to warm it up will not only waste fuel, but also contribute to pollution with all the fumes generated from the exhaust. Additionally, while the engine is idling, heat is continuously being generated, and without flowing air from the environment to cool and disperse it, the engine could possibly overheat.
TRP spoke to an expert from Carsome regarding this, and they confirmed that the best way to get your engine’s temperature to optimal operating condition is actually to drive the car about 30 seconds after you start it, but gently at first, just to get things in the engine going. In conclusion, no you should not “warm up” your car for even longer than a minute before driving off and don’t immediately put the pedal to the metal as soon as you start the engine as this could put considerable wear into the engine. Additionally, it’s also not necessary to warm your engine up during colder seasons in Malaysia as it doesn’t get extremely cold here compared to other countries which go through below freezing temperatures in winter.
As long as you’re driving a modern car with fuel injection and an ECU, it’s safe to start it up and go as soon as you put on your seatbelt, adjust your mirrors, and any other pre-drive preparations you need to do. Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , or Threads . Get more stories like this to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter.
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