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My opinion, YMMV: Letting your engine idle for excessive periods when cold will do more harm than good. The engine will warm up way too slowly, causing more wear! It's best to let it idle for about 1 min, just to make sure the oil is circulating, then drive off, use small throttle openings, and keep it under 3500rpm. The engine makes more heat when porducing more power, so idling it will only create a small amount of heat - that heat is also in the wrong parts. Idling it may warm up the heads, but the heat won't transfer through to the rest of the engine very fast. If you drive it, it will warm up much faster (you *DO* have your thermostat and flaps in right?). I didn't have a choke on my beetle (lowest temps here are still warmer than freezing, even on the coldest frostiest nights), and it was ok, idle speed was too low when cold, other than that there were no drivablility issues. I'd still have the choke operating just a little, to keep it running at the right speed. Theres not enough raw fuel running into you cylinders to wash All the oil away, is there? Allan W :-) New Zealand 58 Beetle 70 "Fonzie" 70 Squareback ----- Original Message ----- From: "CAD Man" <vwtrav@vwherb.com> To: <type3@vwtype3.org> Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 7:02 AM Subject: Re: [T3] Chokes -So, what do you Californians, Texans and Australians do? Should I use the -chokes or leave them open all the time? Count one vote from someone who followed Muir's ideas a number of years ago and haven't had a hiccup since. I don't smoke but I have a "ritual" too, usually by the time I have the windows all down, seatbelt buckled, find a song on the radio, and then reflect how happy I am that my old a$$ car is purring so nicely she's ready to take off. IMO the chokes are virtually unnecessary in warmer climates (I'm in the Southeastern US BTW) as even on the coldest of mornings here (a few in the 30's and 40's in the winter time) I haven't had to do more than add a few min. to warm up. Travis '66 Fastback ------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <type3-off@vwtype3.org> For more help, see http://vwtype3.org/list/ ------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <type3-off@vwtype3.org> For more help, see http://vwtype3.org/list/