warm up

rsroadkilla · Post by **rsroadkilla** » March 6th, 2005, 9:55 am

Hey. Ever since i've owned my mx3, i've been leaving the car running for a few min's to let the casr warm up. When i bought the car, the previous owner told me to let the temp gauge hit the first notch before i drove the car.

Is this really neccesary, cos i hate the waiting around!!!

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » March 6th, 2005, 1:17 pm

as far as im aware... -and this goes for all cars these days, unless theres some exceptions! the answer is No just turn the key, -get your headunit fascia in, turned on.. or whatever, or scrape the screen and drive off.. thats fine. I give mine a few seconds, just in case... lets any warning lights come on, or go off after the self test, lets the HLAs get fully pumped up, and everything circulating.

once your driving, on that cold engine.. keep the revs low, and dont floor it (avoid big explosions = strong forces) until the temp guage hits that bit that it sits in after a long drive - indicating its fully warmed up. after that, you can have fun and playtime

rsroadkilla · Post by **rsroadkilla** » March 6th, 2005, 1:22 pm

thats cool then. Cos i was havin to wait for like 3-4 mins everyday sat on my drive. Was a pain in the arse!!!!

What does ur temp gauge usuallly sit at. Mine is just above half.

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » March 6th, 2005, 1:23 pm

Just below half if I remember correctly

93-Spec-Edn · Post by **93-Spec-Edn** » March 6th, 2005, 4:55 pm

Hi

I say YES its necessary. It takes time for the oil to warm up and reach crevices in the engine. I have done this with all my cars, wait till the first notch is hit on the temp gauge and i have had no probs with any of them. The most engine damage is done when the car is cold..

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 6th, 2005, 5:42 pm

93-Spec-Edn wrote:Hi
I say YES its necessary. It takes time for the oil to warm up and reach crevices in the engine. I have done this with all my cars, wait till the first notch is hit on the temp gauge and i have had no probs with any of them. The most engine damage is done when the car is cold..

If I remember with the K8, just above half should be fine.

I agree with 93-Spec-Edn, I think the cold start / warm engine issue was addressed in this forum. Having the engine at it's optimum operating temp before placing any stress on it (that includes just plain old moderate driving) is ideal. Take it from some cold weather guys, when you want that car to last you a long time and be trouble free, things like block heaters, battery wraps and inline coolant heater/pumps make all the difference. '93 will agree, you know it's cold out there when you have to drive for about 3 to 5 minutes before the squareness (flat spots) on the tires go away(wram up). So we know cold.
Warm up the car, it'll love you for it, however if you're an environmentalist you'd probably cringe at the idea. I think it's a very big NO-NO in Germany to let your car warm up for any more than 1 or 2 minutes.
just my 2 cents

snellgrove · Post by **snellgrove** » March 6th, 2005, 5:46 pm

It takes time for the oil to get there regardless of whether it is moving or not.. and when stone cold on my drive, its sitting there doing around 2000rpm.. when I've got it going down the road it'll be doing less than that, I change gear at 2000 when its cold - its still perfectly drivable at those low revs.. and if you've got less revs than idling it there in the driveway, your probably doing less damage.

Also if your driving it, your warming it up faster as the engine gets put under some load (ie its got to move the car along) admittedly this could be high load, if you floor it or whatever.. which leads to larger explosions, and thus they could be classed as 'damaging' -moreso than idling it there taking ages to warm up, so the answer to that, is not to floor it.. -which is easy enough..

admittedly these Jap cars do idle high and warm themselves up reasonably quickly, -thing is imagine this.. (one potential drawback)

you've been on holiday.. not used the car for a while.

the oil is cold and thick, and ALL or 99% of it is in the sump.. gravity has its way after that while without any oil being pumped around the block! you fire it up, and it sits around 2000rpm because its a stone cold engine ARRGHH

nightmare if you ask me!! so make sure you use your cars regularly guys, keep that oil flowin' in the block!!

but to be honest, engines are rock 'ard, and aren't that easily damaged... probably sounds worse than the real situation is, plenty of people hammer the nuts off cars from stone cold and they're fine for years... although I personally couldn't ever do that to my car.. its just harsh somehow

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » March 6th, 2005, 11:59 pm

I think were looking at it fairly similarly. Not to split hairs, that 3 to 4 minutes is not all that much of a wait. The colder it is the longer I let it warm up. The car is usually not up to operating temp but about halfway there. Granted, your weather doesn't get any where near as cold as here, so your wait time won't be as long. Remember, are cars are getting older now and these little idiosyncricies only help us to keep 'em a little longer. Whenever it's below 0c I always plug my (block heater) Protege in. Coolant is kept at a nice warm not hot temp. Residual heat is transferred to other parts of the engine, namely the sump, thereby improving oil flow on engine start-up to the critical parts (head, valves etc) much easier and much quicker and thereby reducing engine wear. Residual heat also keeps engine compartment warmer which in turn keeps the battery from getting too cold and therby increasing my cold cranking amp capability. Funny how a small inconveniant little thing like that can have so many benefits. At the end of it all, on those real cold mornings, it's nice to get in the car knowing that it will start every time and that there will be warm air from the heater in short order. Nice having a warm car to ride in before you leave the driveway for work in the morning rather than having it finally warmed up by the time you're nearing work. Then again, if we got to park in a heated garage, this would all be a mute subject......LOL.
OK, getting winded here, time to stop and get off the soapbox......way more than just my 2 cents this time......LOL

IanL · Post by **IanL** » March 7th, 2005, 3:04 am

The sooner it gets to operating temperature, the better. The way to get it up there fast is to drive it. If it's idling, it isn't doing enough work to generate heat fast, and the wear while it warms up will be greater than if it's propelling the vehicle. Don't let it idle for more than 30 sec before ytou pull off, regardless of outside temperature.

But do take it easy until it's warmed up.

I had this advice from an automotive engineer - an engine designer.

It's different with aircraft - there, take-off power is more important than wear, so you get it fully warm before you point it down the runway.

rsroadkilla · Post by **rsroadkilla** » March 7th, 2005, 12:09 pm

i dunno if i should leave it or not leave it now!! lol.

93-Spec-Edn · Post by **93-Spec-Edn** » March 7th, 2005, 1:40 pm

IanL wrote:The sooner it gets to operating temperature, the better. The way to get it up there fast is to drive it. If it's idling, it isn't doing enough work to generate heat fast, and the wear while it warms up will be greater than if it's propelling the vehicle. Don't let it idle for more than 30 sec before ytou pull off, regardless of outside temperature.

But do take it easy until it's warmed up.

I had this advice from an automotive engineer - an engine designer.

It's different with aircraft - there, take-off power is more important than wear, so you get it fully warm before you point it down the runway.

Doesnt idleing put minimal stress on your engine? Driving it under load even at 2500rpm is way more stressful i would have thought. The reason I say this is that in canada it gets down to -40 C and at that temp your engine is super loud. Most people leave their cars warming up for 20mins b4 they take off, I have known people to take off at -40 and blow engines. I also agree with your reasoning behind driving straight off so now i am confused lol.

papa roached · Post by **papa roached** » March 7th, 2005, 5:35 pm

snellgrove wrote:It takes time for the oil to get there regardless of whether it is moving or not.. and when stone cold on my drive, its sitting there doing around 2000rpm.. when I've got it going down the road it'll be doing less than that, I change gear at 2000 when its cold - its still perfectly drivable at those low revs.. and if you've got less revs than idling it there in the driveway, your probably doing less damage.

Also if your driving it, your warming it up faster as the engine gets put under some load (ie its got to move the car along) admittedly this could be high load, if you floor it or whatever.. which leads to larger explosions, and thus they could be classed as 'damaging' -moreso than idling it there taking ages to warm up, so the answer to that, is not to floor it.. -which is easy enough..

admittedly these Jap cars do idle high and warm themselves up reasonably quickly, -thing is imagine this.. (one potential drawback)

you've been on holiday.. not used the car for a while.

the oil is cold and thick, and ALL or 99% of it is in the sump.. gravity has its way after that while without any oil being pumped around the block! you fire it up, and it sits around 2000rpm because its a stone cold engine ARRGHH nightmare if you ask me!! so make sure you use your cars regularly guys, keep that oil flowin' in the block!!

but to be honest, engines are rock 'ard, and aren't that easily damaged... probably sounds worse than the real situation is, plenty of people hammer the nuts off cars from stone cold and they're fine for years... although I personally couldn't ever do that to my car.. its just harsh somehow

if it sits, pull the injector fuse, crank it for about 15 seconds or so then fire it up,

DavidOS · Post by **DavidOS** » March 11th, 2005, 2:05 am

i wait 5 minutes on cold days no matter what,