warming up?

[97OBW]

is "warming up" the car good or pointless? would you be fine driving the car "cold" if u didnt do jack rabbit starts until it got warm?

[nipper]

well in a car with piston slap, i personally either let it warm up, or drive it gently untill the slap goes away.

 

 

nipper

[zyewdall]

I wait about 10 or 15 seconds for the oil pressure to get all the way up there, then I go off, and take it real easy for the first few minutes. I figure it warms up faster with some load on it than idling, and I use synthetic oil in the winter, so it can get around the engine sooner after starting it. This is if it'll run when cold. My old carbureated one didn't have any power till it was warm, so I had to wait a few minutes to keep from stalling it. The SPFI one is good to go right after starting. If it's really cold (like 10F or below), I let it run a minute or two, with the headlights, radio, and windshield defroster on full to put some load on the engine to warm up faster, but not as much load as driving would be, before I take off. Alot of times I'll start it, then scrape the windshield, which takes me about a minute or two.

[nipper]

the other part of warming up, especially if it is bitter cold, is to drive gently for the first mile to let the suspension parts warm up by flexing, otherwise you can break something.

 

 

nipper

[Andyjo]

i also take it slow for the 1st mile or so, even if the engine is fully warmed up, like nipper said, the suspension needs to flex a little, also my transmission is a little punk in the cold, it takes a while to warm up and be happy.

[fnlyfnd]

wouldn't the defrost essentially keep the enginne cooler, longer? It turns on the fans, which would be blowing cold air all over the engine bay, and thru the rad.

 

My tranny doesn't like being cold either. I have some mt90 and syncromesh, just sitting in my garage. Waiting for a decent day to do it.

[Andyjo]

if you've got an engine block heater, then the defroster will warm up the engine, blowing cold air through the semi-warm radiator?

[fnlyfnd]

I notice a quicker warm up waiting to turn on the defrost after a minute of driving, this is using a block heater. - The temp gauge is at normal operating temp within the first minute. I always wait at least a minute (up to 3-4, if its really cold) before driving when its cold, the oil needs to warm up a little.

[frag]

I'll have to time that more precisely some day, but my feeling is it takes four to five times longer to get my engine to operating temp idling than driving. Like someone else wrote, I wait for the oil pressure to max and then drive off gently and keep it that way for a few minutes.

[fnlyfnd]

It would definately take the engine longer to reach temp while idiling. The only good thing idiling does, is warm up the oil w/ minimal load on the engine, and warm up the coolant so you have heat. When I was refering to the temp gauge, i was refering to the coolant temp, which the block heater keeps warm.

[Setright]

One minute is enough on a cold morning - unless we are talking Alaskan temperatures.

 

Drive gently until the temperature gauge shows normal operating temp. That means no more than half-throttle and staying below 4000rpm-

[PAezb]

is "warming up" the car good or pointless? would you be fine driving the car "cold" if u didnt do jack rabbit starts until it got warm?

 

A master mechanic at a local Subaru dealer once told me that if you want to

"warm up" properly on your first startup of the day, it's important on automatic transmissions to put it in neutral after the engine is running. This gets the oil in the tranny flowing. Leaving it in park does nothing. Suppose to be easier on tranny's.

 

Anyone confirm this?

[blitz]

A master mechanic at a local Subaru dealer once told me that if you want to

"warm up" properly on your first startup of the day, it's important on automatic transmissions to put it in neutral after the engine is running. This gets the oil in the tranny flowing. Leaving it in park does nothing. Suppose to be easier on tranny's.

 

Anyone confirm this?

As long as the engine is running, the tranny pump is turning. The only difference between N and P is the engagement of the parking pawl.

 

I knew the knowlege base was bad at the Sube dealers but this takes the cake.

[97OBW]

One minute is enough on a cold morning - unless we are talking Alaskan temperatures.

 

Drive gently until the temperature gauge shows normal operating temp. That means no more than half-throttle and staying below 4000rpm-

 

on normal driving my 97obw rarley even sees 3k

[cookie]

I lt it idle long enough to get full oil pressure and then drive gently. I think you are best off leaving the heater off until warm up as it cools the water a bit. This may be tough for you frost area folks. On the rare days when I have windshield ice I leave it running while I scrape the windows for a warm up.

I loved water and block heaters when I lived in Maine, we always kept the car plugged in whenever possible. These made a real difference on all the cars and trucks we had.

[Gnuman]

on normal driving my 97obw rarley even sees 3k

 

really. I never rev that low. . .

[Setright]

Yeah, I tend to cruise at 2500rpm. 5000rpm is visited regularly, and the redline is seen daily.

 

So, 97OBW, I would actually suggest that you occasionally "thrash" your engine a bit once it is warm. 5000rpm will do, and it gets the plugs and heads hot enough to burn off soot.

[97OBW]

5k and redline is visited reg. for your jollies, or keeping up with traffic?

[subie94]

i normally let her run for about 10-15 mins.all the while just running the trans through the gears wihout letting out the clutch(loosens it up)

 

still take it easy on the shifting (shifts to 2nd are hard sometimes,unless i do it slow and gentle) an rpms untill it's fully warmed up.

[mattocs]

The only reason I let my carwarm up more than a minute or so is because I don't want to get out and scrape snow or ice off the window :-P

 

I let it run like 20 seconds before takeoff usuly..I get my radio set and all that. I try and take it easy until the temp gauge is halfway up.

 

I redline it once or twice a week, and see the higher RPMs daily

[97OBW]

how do you know when the oil pressure has maxed or full? rpms start to lower?

[frag]

how do you know when the oil pressure has maxed or full? rpms start to lower?

 

In my case there is no guessing : I have an oil pressure gauge. That same gauge also tells me when the oil has reached it's normal operating temp cause then the gauge registers around 11-12 psi at 700 rpm. On cold mornings there is a 5-10 minutes difference between the time the coolant gets to normal (according to the temp gauge at least) temp and the time the oil does the same.

[SakoTGrimes]

I always let my car warm up fully before driving. 4-5 minutes in the day and 7+ at night depending on the temp outside. I learned to do this when I got my first car with an oil pressure gauge, it would shoot all the way up if I just turned on and drove. Warming up uses hardly any gas and your engine will last longer.

[97OBW]

warming up uses a TON of gas. on cold days its way up at 1800rpm and on top im not moving anywhere (getting 0 mpg) imo i think everyone should be fine even if you did drive it hard right after start up.. i mean just because its "cold" doesnt mean oil isent doing its job.. i was reading a consumer reports article from their used car buying guide and looking at their tips on saving gas, and it said a car should never be idled or "warmed up". They say a car warms up faster by driving it in the first place and would be "warmed up" within a couple of miles of driving with no harm to the car.

[theflystyle]

After reading all these posts, all i have to say is thank god for my remote start lol... all i have to do is look out my window, start my car and let it go. it then times itself and turns off after about 12 mins. the gas may be an issue, but well worth it to come to a car thats warm..

 

my 2 cents

 

-ali