Do you guys let your engines warm up to normal temp before driving? Am I supposed to?

I generally keep it under 4k rpms until the engine hits normal temp, but I don't idle it till normal temp.

What about reving the engine to 9k, it's probably not good to do it cold, but how long after you hit normal temp? It only takes my car about 5 minutes of driving to hit normal temp, is it ok to floor it then? or wait longer?

 

BTW, reason I ask is I have a friend with a Boxter and he says that he has to warm his up before driving. I never asked why.

 

There are two schools of thought on this, and both make an interesting argument. Some say that letting a car sit genenrates more wear for various reasons... less oil pressure, longer time to operating temp due to no load, etc. They advocate what you do, running low revs/loads until 3 bars.

My theory is this... you can faintly hear piston-slap on thsese engines when really cold (here in Chicago.) It takes until about 2 bars for the noise to subside. I don't feel comfortable driving until I see 2 bars.

As for redlining, three bars doesn't mean that it's up to temp. I have noticed that the heat doesn't kick in until about 5 minutes of driving after three bars are reached. Of course, this is on a 25 degree day. In warmer climates I'd suspect this to be much less. I would recommend waiting a minute or two before driving away, and then waiting a few minutes after you get three bars before you stomp on it... HTH! And when you stomp on it, make sure you STOMP on it!

 

Just keep the revs reasonable (<6K) until you get 3 bars on the gauge. It is not necessary to let the engine idle until warmed up.

 

Ahh, cool, thanks for the advice guys.

 

The most common recommendation is to drive very gently after starting without waiting for a warm up, although in extremely cold climates a brief idle first may be prudent.

The engine should not be put under load or high rpm until the oil is up to temperature. From a cold start this may take more than ten minutes, so without an oil temperature gauge it is a judgment call.. in cold conditions it is normally takes more than five miles of driving.

 

Chris, have you installed that oil temp gauge yet? As we have discussed before, oil temp is the best indicator of an engine up to operating temperature. One of these months I intend to get serious and install an oil temp and pressure gauge. Big question of course is where to put it!!

 

I guess I am also waiting for a well integrated solution.. may be a long wait.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Big Al
[B]Chris, have you installed that oil temp gauge yet?