s4 t2. how long should my car take to warm up?

 

well, dont just let it sit there warming up in your driveway

What i usually do is start it. let it idle for about 30 seconds or so to get the oil and juice flowing... than drive it for about 5-10 min never going over 2500 rpms.. than after i feel and smell (exhaust smell) that the car is up to full warm driving temp. Than proceed to rev her slightly more and more.

It should usually take around 5-8 min. of normal driving before the car is warmed up.

-Markus

 

hrm its wierd though. I can drive to school in the morning and the needle will barely budge!

 

how far away is your school? how long of a drive?

One thing :Never rag on a rotary engine when it's cold.

I have seeing people in the morning (when i'm heading to work) revving out their little economy 4 cylinder engines. I can hear those poor little valves tap. Get your self a good Temp guage.. The stock tach and stock speedo are the only GOOD guages on the cluster.

The rest SUCK! for lack of a better word.

-Markus

 

heh... I guess so. I have been thinking about getting some VDO gauges. are those any good? I don't rag on my car when its cold. highest I go is 3500.

 

Your thermostat may be stuck open. Take it out and check it. If you replace it only use one from Mazda.

 

"well, dont just let it sit there warming up in your driveway

What i usually do is start it. let it idle for about 30 seconds or so to get the oil and juice flowing... than drive it for about 5-10 min never going over 2500 rpms.. than after i feel and smell (exhaust smell) that the car is up to full warm driving temp. Than proceed to rev her slightly more and more.

It should usually take around 5-8 min. of normal driving before the car is warmed up."


- I totally agree with this
I see a lot of people with turbo cars that just let their cars warm up on idle for about 30-60 seconds, then presume that car is warm enough to start thrashing about. Wrong.


Even if you don't thrash your car straight away, it would be a good idea to drive under boost for at least 5 mins- just to be safe.

 

well, my question really isn't about how soon I can "thrash" it. I am getting really terrible gas mileage and am thinking that might be part of the problem.

 

If the engine stays too cool the ECU will keep using the rich mixtures required to run the engine smoothly. This will mean less power and mileage. Check that thermostat.

 

I guess I agree with the idea of checking out the thermostat. On the other hand the good news is that you don't have a overheating problem!

On my 86/87 the needle stays in the lower quarter of the gauge when driving. That's normal.

If you had a digital meter and a wire tap you could look at your pin 2I on your ECU and compare your reading with what I see on my car. I see, at 70mph cruising speed, 0.50 plus or minus .03 depending if going up a long steep hill or going down a steep hill/grade. That pin 2I goes to the water thermo sensor, NOT the output of the water temp sensor. Water thermo sensor has the output to the ECU for the regulation of the fuel.

High figure indicates cold, lower figure indicates warmer. 0.48 is approx 188 degrees. I used a mechanical water temp gauge patched in to figure out what the output of the water thermo sensor figure relates to in degrees F.

Just ratteling(sp).

 

When I had the engine rebuilt I put in all new "tune up" parts" that I knew of to change, which included the thermostat. So I have a new thermo. Maybe its the wrong one? I had thought I got the right one!