I live in central Canada, and temperatures reach as low as -30C. Just this week, it’ll be -20C overnight and I always park my car outside. From what people have told me I should idle for 10 minutes when it’s extremely cold, and then drive off. What should I really be doing?
If you have hydraulic power steering, you want to wait at least 30 seconds to drive off after turning the car on when it’s extremely cold. The pressure in that system is insanely high with cold fluid, and one of the most common cold-weather tow-ins is a burst power steering line from someone turning their car on and cranking the wheel to the stop straight away.
This has happened to me three times in the last five years with my Dodge Caliber. And that is just at the higher idle without moving the wheel. Same stupid piece of hose too.