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Steve Jackson wrote: >Most of the smaller engines nowadays are mostly aluminum alloys...they >heat up a lot quicker than a large cast iron engine. Some have a >provision for taking engine water for heat before the thermostat opens >up, so there is heat pretty quickly. > Most of them actually work this way- the path for the heater core is open while the thermostat is closed. One thing that kills me about winter drivers- your car will warm up a lot faster if you 1) warm up the car for no longer than you need to put on your seatbelt, and just drive and 2) have the heat shut off and the blower off for the first 2-3 minutes. An idling car takes longer to heat up, wastes gas, and habitual cold idling is generally bad for an engine (carbon deposits, for one) and the environment (cold idling releases quite a few unburned hydrocarbons). All you need to do is take it easy until the engine reaches operating temperature (i.e. your coolant gauge hits the halfway mark, or whatever mark its at when the engine is warm.) You don't need to idle and warm up an engine unless it's well in negative degrees F, and even then you may want to consider a synthetic oil, which has much better pour point temps than dino oil. Note this advice is largely for modern cars, not our aircooleds. I haven't put much thought into it, since my car is garaged in the winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~