About 20 years ago, I remember one particular neighbour whose V suffix escort or whatever would never idle from cold, thanks to its automatic choke.

His remedy, which he insisted on treating everyone to at 5am every morning, was to hold the throttle wide open so you could hear the valves bounce for around five minutes.

Some people just don't deserve a car.

Ah, you just reminded me of something very funny.

Opposite my old Maths tutor lived a Greek businessman who owned a large Merc. I guess that somewhere in the car's manual it said that it was bad for the car to let it idle to warm up after starting.

He'd get in, start it and then sit for five to ten minutes revving the living wossanames off the thing. Sheets of flame would come out of the exhaust as he did so. Most entertaining.

As Ford Prefect said: "When people make things foolproof they usually underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools....."

Dunno what taking the oil filler cap off will prove other than there is indeed a pool of oil that splash-lubes the camshaft(s) which will be flung about - oil pressure present or not.

Back to the thread, yes, driving straight away is best. Camshaft wear is at its highest at idle - this is why you're most likely to hear a knackered camshaft in a driving school car.