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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!!!

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

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.

Just below half if I remember correctly

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..

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

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

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.

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

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.

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,

i wait 5 minutes on cold days no matter what,