warming car up before driving

briefly. my girlfriend says my car must be shit/old/unusual/whatever/questionable/why/why/why/ask/bug/duuuh because I let the engine warm up for 5 minutes before I drive off.

 

 

thoughts anybody?

 

fortunately with the Supra, the car holds it's engine-rpm high when the engine is cold, making it both obvious and awkward to drive when the engine isn't ready.

 

So, she's spending £7,000 or so on an MX-5 (thank fuck.. not an MG-F) and is saying "I'm not spending £7,000 to have a car where I have to sit there and wait for the engine to warm up because it's an old car.. d'y'aknow what I mean.. 'cause at the end of the day I could buy a Seat Ibiza that would start every time.'

 

 

..... 8-) ;-)

You need to explain turbo's to her - dozy cow

 

However, good choice, the MX5 is FAR better than an MGF, superb drivers cars, some of the best handling cars of recent times...............

i guess with the quality of engine oil this day and age theres no real reason to allow the engine to warm up before driving . but then again if you have the time then why not

I did say MX-5 to begin with, and am very glad she's decided on it, although slightly miffed that she just doesn't listen to me.

 

re Turbo cars - yeah, but really any car should be warmed up before it's driven properly.

 

As I said, with the Supra, or certainly mine, the engine idles at 1,600rpm when very cold, so you have to let it warm up, or hammer the brakes.

I just couldnt drive the car without letting it warm up for a minute or so. It feels so tight and stressed.

 

They dont drive Formula 1/WRC cars or any race cars for that matter without letting them warm up do they? How old are they?

From what I can gather, there's not much point leaving modern engines to warm up (for more than a few seconds anyway). It will warm up faster if you drive it.

 

Anyone disagree?

Its just so the oil gets to temp, nothing to do with the turbos.

 

Awkward to drive when cold? I have no problems at all.

I always let the car idle for a minute or so in the morning. Keep the revs low until water and oil is warm, then go for it! I try and keep RPM under 3k untill this point, and throttle use as light as possible. I'm sure your engine would not appreciate cold oil being pushed round it, and if she don't get that, you need a new GF, not a new car

From what I can gather, there's not much point leaving modern engines to warm up (for more than a few seconds anyway). It will warm up faster if you drive it.

 

Anyone disagree?

 

are you serious? it's not only basic physics (differing rates of expansion), it's also about oil viscousity.

 

The only excuse for not warming an engine up is living in Germany, apparently. Have you even read your owners manual

http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic1446.htm

http://www.automotivehelper.com/topic1446.htm

 

hmmm. that's interesting --ish.

 

does anybody know what the N/A Owners Guide says for starting up the car.

The whole fact that even that site says "stay below 40mph", and that BMW M3's have a variable redline which means that when cold, the redline is much lower, kind of re-inforces my beliefs.

 

that's not even considering turbochargers...

One things for sure, letting it warm up for a minute isnt gonna harm it. (Oh please god let that be right )

One things for sure, letting it warm up for a minute isnt gonna harm it. (Oh please god let that be right )

 

I'm interested to know this too!! For all the new cars I've had before (mostly BMW's!), all advice has been specifically NOT to warm the car up before driving! Something to with fouling the plugs?

hmmm. that's interesting --ish.

 

does anybody know what the N/A Owners Guide says for starting up the car.

The whole fact that even that site says "stay below 40mph", and that BMW M3's have a variable redline which means that when cold, the redline is much lower, kind of re-inforces my beliefs.

 

that's not even considering turbochargers...

 

Well obviously no-one's advocating hammering it before the engine's warmed up

 

My owners manual says that in non-winter conditions, the car is ready to drive after 10 seconds.

I am only telling it as i was told! Better to warm up in cold weather especially as the engine should not be boosted til warm not good for the ceramic Turbos to stress them when engine is cold?? Someone who knows what the hell they are talking about will be along shortly

 

Regards,

 

Sheena

Someone who knows what the hell they are talking about will be along shortly

 

And que: Chris Wilson:....

 

 

How many people to do you see sitting in there cars waiting for it to warm up before driving off? Everyone gets in, starts up and drives off.

 

There's a difference between driving the car hard when cold (which I'm sure we all agree is a no-no) and just driving it off boost when cold, which I can't see being a problem. As already mentioned, the car idles quite high when cold, and I can drive all the way to work using no more than 2000rpm. So I can't see the engine being damaged by using it cold at 2000rpm instead of idling it at 1500rpm.

 

There's plenty of cars around with huge mileage on them (150,000+), both old and new, and I can't believe that they were all allowed to warm up for 5 minutes each time.

I have always started - then driven.....for the first 10 mins to 15 mins no labouring the engine (as in 6 gear @ 30 mph) and no high revs........ I usually keep it at 3000 - 4000 rpm for those 10 mins too!

 

 

Oh, and I change the oil every 3k without fail

Just keep it below about 3000 - 4000 rpm until the temp gauge gets up to temp. No need to warm up before driving so long as you don't abuse the engine when its cold.

Awkward to drive when cold? I have no problems at all.

 

It's the autos mate.... higher the rpm the higher the creep generated by the TC. If I back mine out the driveway when it's cold I have to be steady on the brakes because it moves back a lot faster than when it's warm.

briefly. my girlfriend says my car must be shit/old/unusual/whatever/questionable/why/why/why/ask/bug/duuuh because I let the engine warm up for 5 minutes before I drive off.

Why not disguise the fact that you are letting your car warm-up by pretending to look for your favourite cd, or by having to go back into the house for something, or looking in the rear-view for stray nasal hair.

tell her its like fore play. You have to warm her up before sinking your nuts:D

heh. I usually do. I go out the door, start the engine, then go back inside.

 

Here's something else to throw into the (supra specific) thing..

 

My car seems to 'learn' it's idle point after a while. If the car is not allowed to realise that it can idle at 600rpm, it won't, pretty much ever, until it's either restarted or given ages to 'learn' again.

 

It's like you're putting off the idle-learn thing.

I just don't rag it. Its impossible to drive off boost, but I just keep it low, have you actually seen how slow you are driving/accelerating using no boost

As long as the load on the engine, particularly in turbocharged cars, is kept down when cold you should have any problems. The modern engine is designed with the fact that peopel get into them and drive off when cold.

 

As already mentioned the differential expansion and viscosity of the oil are important to the safe operation of your engine.

 

Anyone remember the Castrol (i think) advert where is said 90% of engine wear occurs in the first 10 minutes of driving? The oil's optimum performance isn't reached until a certain temperature/viscosity, generally based around the temps. of a warmed up engine.

 

The issue with the turbo's isn't the ceramic or steel blades, it's the massive heat generated by the turbo's spinning at 200,00 RPM and getting red hot. At these temperatures the oil can crystalise in the bearings, this is where the problems are caused.

 

The longer they are left to get to a reasonable temperature the more efficient the oil will operate.