Rick:

The topic of warmups is one full of opinions and sorcery... but it is very hard to pin down.

A statistic I remember from my engineering studies showed something interesting. Everyone in the class was asked what was the most significant variable in the wearing-out of an engine. Most said that it was mileage as we have been trained that way... but in fact, it was the time the engine spent operating cold.... by a threefold greater significance in r-square for the variable.

The example our professor mentioned were Oil rig Chrysler Hemi's that often would clock the equivalent of 2 million miles without even stopping. Never cooled off, so never went through the high wear phase. The professor went on to explain that what destroys engines is the time the engine spends working with the parts not yet at working temperature, and thus not at working SIZE and Fit. The suggestion was therefore to drive your engine at a moderate workload so that it would warm up as quickly as possible.

Idling up to full temp he said maximized the time the engine had to run at non-full temperature equilibrium and was thus suboptimal.

Just another theory I'll grant, but it makes sense to me.

Dan.

ps... never seen greater than 3 bars

[This message has been edited by Skarv (edited October 30, 2000).]

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Rick Hesel:
[B]How many bars do you need to see before you drive off when you start from cold?

 

I think I've seen that advice, too. Start up and drive off slowly right away. Don't sit there letting it warm up at idle. Just wanted to be sure that's the advice for the S2K.

 

I agree on the warm up but I'll add, one of the worst things is to never let the engine warm up completely. Don't drive it 2 miles and turn it off. I think I read somewhere it takes something like 5-10 minutes for everything to get fully warmed up. I don't remember why it was so bad. Seems like it had something to do with burning off the accumulated condensation inside the motor.

 

i keep a can of sterno in the trunk and put it under the oil pan prior to starting for around 20 minutes. that seems to help....

 

guys, keep in mind that most temperatures gauges these days are not linear. that is, that they sit in one spot for a somewhat wide range of temperatures, and only begin to rise more drastically when you go beyond a certain operating range. if anyone has an infrared thermometer, someone could put it on the thermostat housing and make some measurements. anyone?

 

If you are really curious of what happens with Mugen Thermostat installed, here it is.
Still three bars but takes little longer to get to three bars now when the temperature drops. If the heater is on, it can bring it down to 2.

 

I have never seen more than 3 either...the book says never to Vtec before 3, but I would wait even longer to make sure fully warmed up.

I started out with 1 bar, too, once rpm's drop. 2 bars come on quick, 3 bars from home along same route seem to come within a 100 yds always same place on my route, within 2 miles from home...

 

Never seen 4 bars. I'll admit that I let my stook (and my other car too) idle in the driveway or garage until at least 2 bars before I drive anywhere. Never had any problems with my cars by doing this. I don't VTEC until I've driven a fair distance and I know for sure that the car is fully warmed up.

 

I drive off gently...it usually takes me a 1/4 mile to get to the second bar...then by the time I get to the freeeway (1/2 mile) I have 3 bars. I never take it over 5K when it is below 3 bars...I usually stay under 4K.