Overhaulin'

Do modified cars need to be run for long periods before use?

My idiot neighbour and I can't stress idiot enough has this modified car he bought a few years ago. Suffice to say he is not the kind of guy I want to go and have a chat with but once when I went over I asked him about something with his car. Before he uses the car and when he comes back after using the car, he leaves the car running for long periods. And when I mean long, I mean 5-15 minutes at a time. Sometimes doesn't even use the car just starts it up and runs it for I am not kidding 20-30 minutes and then just turn it off. He mentioned that its because the parts get so hot that if you turn it off quickly they meld together. Now a friend of my mother's heard it one day while visiting and being a mechanic he couldn't get his head around this. Being he has worked on many different forms of cars I can't imagine he and not the neighbour would be correct. He said it would just ruin the engine and car. Living in a sub-tropical climate as well there is never any need to warm up a car like you would in very cold climates. So can anyone tell me if this dumb ass is correct in his theory or is he ruining his car? Just on the points you are making, I can understand the few minutes thing and keeping it lubricated. But in some cases it really does run for 20-30 minutes. I mean that seems like it would do damage to the car because its just wearing out the parts.

Public Comments

1. if the car is turbo charged then up to 5 minutes is required to let the turbo wined down but if not then it is pointless
2. its important to run an engine every so often just to keep things lubricated and keep fluids from basically just sitting to long and stagnating (hence why people run cars that are being stored for long periods of time) and yes turbos do need some time to wind down or you can add wear to them by just shutting the engine off. but thats about it, he seems like he doesn't know much other than what people tell him to do. lol