Some say you should. Some say you shouldn’t. The debate rages on: should you let your car warm up before you pull out of your Richmond driveway on a cold winter’s morning? Those embroiled in the debate are so firmly entrenched in their opinions that it’s unlikely they’ll find common ground anytime soon.

They all have their reasons for believing what they believe. Those who say you should warm your car for a few minutes in the winter before pulling onto the highway out of Richmond will give you a list of reasons why they’re correct to offer this advice. And those who say you shouldn’t will give explanations that range from telling you it’s a waste to telling you that you’re actually damaging your engine.

So, what is true? Rather than tell you what’s ‘right,’ how bout we simply lay out the arguments for you and you can decide for yourself?

The ‘never-warm-up-your-car’ argument:

• That only made sense when cars had carburetors. Carbureted car engines needed to warm up for a few minutes so that the choke would open to its standard position and the car would idle properly. Now, most cars are fuel injected. A fuel-injected car doesn’t have to worry about a choke and should idle properly from the time that you start the car.
• Idling in the driveway doesn’t build up enough heat. You want to warm the oil so it flows through the engine better, better protecting the parts, you’ll want to get the car out on the highway where it actually has a chance to warm up quickly.
• While the car is idling, gasoline is seeping into the engine oil. The gasoline dilutes the oil and makes it less effective as a lubricant.
• You’re just wasting gas. If you accept the premises above, there’s no reason to warm your car on a winter morning. Therefore, if you do warm your car, you’re just wasting gasoline.

The ‘warm-up-your-car-in-winter’ crowd:

• You’ve got to bring the oil up from the oil pan. When the car is sitting overnight, much of the oil drips down into the oil pan. Engine’s don’t do well without oil to protect those moving parts. Therefore, it’s better to let the engine idle, without the load of driving, until the oil warms enough that it can move up to the top of the engine and work its way in between all those critical moving parts.
• The coolant is heating, too. This means that, when you’re ready to go, the car will have a greater capacity to blow warm air inside the cabin where you’re sitting trying to stay warm.
• You only need to let the car warm a few minutes. Even those on the ‘warm-up-your-car’ side of the argument generally agree you don’t need to let your car idle for 10, 15 or 30 minutes. That, they generally agree, is wasteful. But, allowing it to idle for 2 or 3 minutes is, in their perspective, acceptable. And, those precious minutes can make a difference in how long your engine lasts as it may save your engine undue wear and tear.

Where does, say, the EPA stand in this argument? They say that you shouldn’t allow your car to idle more than 30 seconds or so. That, would seem to put them somewhere between the two arguments.

There is one thing we can say for sure: you shouldn’t leave your car running with the doors unlocked while you’re indoors. In some states, it’s illegal to leave your car running unattended, even if you do lock the doors. This includes Illinois. So, while Richmond is a great community with a lot of very good people, if nothing else, strangers do pass through.

If they steal your car while you left it running, you could be in trouble. If they get in an accident, you could be in a lot more trouble.