"GRawesome" (GRawesome)
01/23/2014 at 08:47 • Filed to: None
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"GRawesome" (GRawesome)
01/23/2014 at 08:47 • Filed to: None | 0
| 21 |
Living in South Florida, this doesn't happen often but it was 45 degrees when I got in my car this morning. That got me thinking - how cold does it have to be for you to "warm up" your car before driving it?
Have a Gallardo Spyder on sunny Ocean Drive for your time. Bonus points for whoever can ID the yellow car in the foreground (I don't know what it is so I can't say if you are correct or not, but I'm sure someone here will have it correctly ID'd within 10 seconds)
Jayhawk Jake
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 08:51 |
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I live in Kansas. It gets cold here.
You know what I do? Start the car, and drive. 'Warming up' the car by sitting in it idling does you no good. It's made to drive, get it moving. Just don't go crazy and rev it out until the engine has warmed up, which would be whenever your temp gauge reaches its normal operating point.
Even in the coldest weather, it'll only take 5 minutes or so of driving for it to warm up. You'll be fine.
If you don't trust me, consult your owners manual.
spanfucker retire bitch
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 08:52 |
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The amount of time it takes for me to clean the snow off my car. Or, if there's no snow, the amount of time it takes for me to get in, put my cell phone in its cubby, and buckle up.
Cars warm up faster when you drive them. The only reason I'd let it sit and idle is if I want the cabin to be warmed up when I get to it.
Sn210
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 08:55 |
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I'm jealous of your 45 degree weather, it was 1 when I left for work this morning. You shouldn't need to worry about warming up your car at 45.
Yellow car guess: Opel Gt?
gometz
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 08:57 |
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I'm thinking Ferrari but I can't get the model.
GhostZ
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 08:59 |
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If I remember right, warming up the car is designed to get the oil and transmission fluid to the right temperature/viscosity before driving off in it. Too high revs without getting the oil warm first can result in excessive wear and tear on the metal components, just like if you don't change your oil regularly.
I would think you're fine anywhere over 32F, and I wouldn't recommend revving the engine below 0F.
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GhostZ
> Sn210
01/23/2014 at 09:01 |
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I don't think it's an Opel GT, there's plastic mesh on the inside of the scoop, and I don't see the flip-up headlights.
That being said, I have no idea what it might be!
Stupidru
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 09:04 |
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If you live anywhere where it gets around 0°, then you're just kidding yourself by "warming up" your car. Please... you could fly the Concorde across the Atlantic before your car is "warmed up" here. Not to mention leaving your car idle for anything beyond a stop light is bad for the engine. The best thing you can do is get in and drive it gently until you get heat. And don't forget that it takes about 20 minutes until the oil has actually achieved its proper operating viscosity, so please, don't hammer on it as soon as heat starts coming out of the vents.
Oh, and for your application, a minute should do just fine. Or, don't be a pussy and get in and drive it. You'll get heat out of the vents faster that way.
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Sn210
> GhostZ
01/23/2014 at 09:05 |
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Yeah it's not. We should be able to see the headlight next to the scoop. I realized it after I looked up a picture but Kinja wouldn't let me edit!
BadMotorScooter
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 09:24 |
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Looks Japanese to me and vaguely familiar, but I can't place it.
Xesty
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 09:32 |
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Up here in North Florida it has been 32 and below most mornings. I typically let it warm up when its 32 (while i scrape frost and sometimes ice off my windshield). Anything above that though my engine doesn't feel bogged down if i drive it right away.
Casper
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 09:57 |
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The thing is that it all depends on the car, temp, and environment. These people who say things like "well I just ..." are the same people who just do the same thing for every vehicle and then will blame the car if it has a problem.
Here's how the logic check list I follow works:
* Start assuming the car just needs 20-30 seconds to get fluids moving before driving and a few miles before being stomped on.
* Is it an all aluminum engine? Add a minute or so of idle time.
* How large is the oil capacity? Add a duration to the warm up driving time proportionally.
* Is it turbo charged? Add a little idle time, add a little warm up driving time.
* Is the turbo journal bearing or ball bearing? Add a little warm up idle time for journal as well as a little cool down time.
Everything is dependent on the design of the car. If it's a Chevy 350 where the tolerances are give or take an inch, it's not as critical as an S2000 where the engine may actually not even be able to move if it's too cold. Likewise, if it's a turbo car and the oil has all drained from the turbo, it needs a little time to get oil moving again before you start boosting... otherwise you lack cooling capability for the turbo for beginning of the drive and are shorting the life of the turbo (especially if it's journal bearing).
If it's an old work vehicle/cheapo economy car, just let it get the oil moving and start it out easy, no real warm up. If it's a tightly fit all aluminum sports car, give it a bit to heat and expand to operating specs.
case-sensitive
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 10:13 |
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Yellow car = TVR Griffin?
As for warming up, get in and drive. It was -1 here at 8AM, got into my car, started it up, and drove away.
gt6xxer
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 10:24 |
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The only reason I let my beater blazer warm up is because it has an issue with the engine speed slowing when I try to shift. It takes about 4 minutes after I cold-start it for the idle to creep from 1,000 to 600. If its not lower than 800, I can drive it up to 2,000 lift/clutch in, but the engine speed stays at 2k. It operates normally after warming up.
Any idea whats happening?
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GRawesome
> Jayhawk Jake
01/23/2014 at 10:27 |
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That's exactly what I did, didn't think the car needed much warming up so I just drove off and took it easy the first few minutes. I wasn't worried about it, the temperature just got me wondering so I figured I'd go to the hive mind for an answer.
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GRawesome
> Stupidru
01/23/2014 at 10:32 |
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Don't worry I wasn't "being a pussy" I drove off straight away and just took it easy for the first few minutes. As I said in the post, we don't see those temperatures often and it just got me thinking about what the threshold for "warming up" the car before driving it was. I thought anything above freezing you don't need to worry about, but I figured everyone here who lives in colder climates could provide some more thorough answers.
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GRawesome
> Casper
01/23/2014 at 10:35 |
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This is the most thorough post yet, very helpful. Thank you. I didn't think mid-40's was worth warming up the car before driving, if it got below freezing I would start to considering it.
I'll have to keep all this in mind if I ever move to a colder climate. Hopefully that won't be any time soon though!
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GRawesome
> Sn210
01/23/2014 at 10:37 |
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Yeah I wasn't too worried, it just got me thinking and figured it would be a good discussion for OPPO.
I thought Opel too, then maybe Ferrari but all the models I GIS'ed proved fruitless. This is turning into a tough one, I figured someone would have it within minutes.
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GRawesome
> GhostZ
01/23/2014 at 10:39 |
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Thanks, that's was kind of my train of thought too. Anything above freezing and there is no need to worry. I still took it easy the first few minutes though, just to get the oil moving. The temperature just got me thinking and I figured I would post up here and get a discussion going.
Andy Sheehan, StreetsideStig
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 10:39 |
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15-30 seconds of warm-up time is all you need for modern, fuel-injected cars. Most people "warm up" their cars because they don't want to get into cold cars, not because it's good for the engine. So they'll go start their cars, go back inside and eat breakfast, and come back out, never realizing that they're just wasting gas and that their cars would warm up much faster driving.
Here's a blatantly sales-focused blog post I wrote about it.
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GRawesome
> spanfucker retire bitch
01/23/2014 at 10:44 |
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That's a good way to do it, figure it takes as long as it takes to remove the snow. Thankfully we don't have any snow down here, though I 've heard it snowed here once in the 70's or 80's but melted about a foot off the ground and turned to rain.
I do kind of miss the parking lot hooning in the snow though... oh well, I'll forgo that for good driving weather year round.
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Casper
> GRawesome
01/23/2014 at 10:46 |
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There are a lot of factors. When the operating temp of a vehicle is over 150 degrees, 40 degrees is a big difference. When you consider aluminum expands at almost double the rate of iron, and the engine is designed around the expanded size for operation, it's a big difference. Same goes for oil, a single weight synthetic is going to be much more tolerant than a varying blend oil when first firing up.
Here's a little materials sheet that's interesting to think about.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-expansi…
The real problem as I see it is most people don't understand what "warming up" is. They think it has something to do with the gauge on the dash or when warm air comes from the vents, which are completely unrelated.