They aren't made of glass, start it and drive it. Just wait until you reach operating temps before you start boosting.

Letting them sit and idle for long periods of time probably isn't the greatest approach.

 

summer:

Start, fiddle with seatbelts, radio, windows, then drive. 30-45 seconds. Avoid high RPM for the first 2 minutes thereafter or so. I don't avoid boost ever, but it doesn't see WOT until it's warm. 2-3psi is /not/ going to destroy your engine.

winter: it's parked!

 

Mine smokes like a bitch until shes fully warmed up. and i mean LOTS of smoke, like clouds of it, even if its cold on a warm day.

so i generally let her warm all the way up and take it easy until she stops smoking.

 

no one cares about you opening your front gate

 

For those of you foolish enough to let your car idle several minutes to warm up: Is the car now ready to hammer on it? I don't think so. Now you have to drive it easy for a while to get the tranny warmed up. Of course, if you were smarter, you could have done them both at the same time by driving it right away.

Has anyone noticed that the older (more experienced) people on this thread are the ones saying to drive it right away

 

lol For the people wondering why i let the car idle soo long.

My friveway is like 70 feet long dude. It takes a while to get to the front gate

 

seriously i can just imagine these guys sitting in the car twiddling their thumbs waiting for the magic number of 5 minutes or something until they can leave the driveway.

 

Funny story...a couple of days after I got my FD I drove it to the Dr Office. I got out, locked the door and went to my appt. Since the car has a turbo timer I didn't think anything about it still running when I left. Imagine my surprise when I came out over an hour later and my car was still running. Checked my pockets...no keys. Looked in the passenger window and guess what was in the ignition. So here I am 20 miles from home and nobody home to bring me the spare key. Finally, after about an hour of trying, I get ahold of my son at work. He managed to get off work, go to my house, find my spare key and bring it to me. This took a total of about 2 hours. So basically my car sat there idling for about 4 hours. I kept checking the temp gauge, figuring if it even started to creep higher I was going to break out the window. A window is much better than losing an engine. Now I carry a spare key in my wallet...just in case.

 

I usually idle the car until 140 F ish and then drive really gently until 180F. The molecules in the oil provide much better lubrication when they are at operating temp. compared to when it is cold. It warms up faster if you drive the car, but it also is time that you have the engine under a load with cold fluids. So is it better to idle the car under no/little load for longer while warming up the fluids, or is it better to warm up the fluids faster by driving, but operating the engine under load with cold fluids? I guess that's for you to decide.

 

That's not the point of warming an engine up though. It's because engine parts expand at different rates. For instance on piston engines, warming it up allows the head gasket to seal better allowing for longer life.

And some of us have the option to start our cars and not have to worry about them getting stolen while waiting from inside the house.

 

Of course, you are correct. I stated a VERY abreviated (and somewhat inaccurate) version of the effects.

 

I can't see how I am foolish because I let my car warm up. It drives like **** when it is cold, and even stalls at lights. I don't think you should use "experience" as a deciding factor in this case.

After reading this thread yesterday, I decided to try what you guys were saying; driving the car to let it warm up. I left my house today, went about a mile down the road, and the car stalled. I couldn't get it started for about 40 seconds, it just kept starting and dying. Then about 2 miles further down the road, I blew the coolant hose that runs from the radiator to the coolant filler neck. Not sure if/how the coolant hose was affected by this, I just thought it to be strange that I have been fine every other time and this time magically cuased problems.

 

Which "molecules"? This is the reason for viscosity additives and multi-viscosity motor oils, so that proper lubrication can be provided at basically all foreseeable operating temperatures.
See above and below...
When you are using less than 1/4 throttle driving the car to warm up the engine/transmission, you are basically "operating the engine under [very] little load"; that load is inconsequential enough to not be of any harm to the engine in any way, and you'll spend less time operating the engine with "cold fluids".

 

Your fueling at cold engine temperatures is too lean to support proper engine operation. Can't see how it would cause the coolant hose to blow, though.

I don't think a person is foolish to let their car warm up with long idling periods, just unnecessary (except in harsh winter temps). In your case, if the PFC can't compensate, then it might be warranted, so no drama.

 

I agree, there is no rule on how long you have to take to warm up your car. Basically the only downside is that you're wasting gas, i highly doubt that will make any long term effect on the engine in a bad way, unless someone can show me proof.

People have different running FD's, if we all had FD's where it runs like it came off the showroom floor, then yes all the "experienced" ones who posted are correct. But when talking about an old turbo rotary car, its all relative. My car runs like **** too if i start for a minute and drive. The car bucks and seems like the throttle is stiff because maybe the engine is still cold. Not to mention i live in the city, once you get on a main road, you better be ready to get going because people will ride your ***, honk, cut you off and other stupid things.

 

I stand corrected. If your car runs like dog **** when cold, then warm it up. Otherwise, it is a waste of time & gas.

 

I let it idle 30 secs. tops (no AWS)... then drive lightly (no boost, under 3k rpm if possible) until it's warm 78-80C on the PFC. There's no need to be TOO **** retentive about it.

 

I warm it up about 30 seconds, because thats how long it takes to put on the seatbelt and roll out the garage into the street. The longer you idle the longer your oil pressure stays low and the less protection the oil is giving you. Driving very gently with no boost gives much more oil pressure than a 1000 rpm idle.

If your car stalls and bucks when trying to drive it gently before its fully warmed up you have some other issues that need to be resolved. I would start out by checking your TPS, just replaced mine and it fixed all those problems.

 

I let it sit and warm up especially during the winter when its colder so that the oil can warm up so the viscosity isnt quite so low. I'd rather have it flowing warm than cold... dont like that idea with my turbo... gona protect all I can.

 

"warming Up" depends on what you intend to do with the car and what warm up "cycle" the car is in.

If you are just backing her out for a wash or to get access to your garage, then absolute minimum would be 3 minutes before shutting her off - I learnt this the hard way last week with my first time flooding issue.

If it is warm and you are just moving it back to the garage, then I am now waiting to see the temp guage just kick up from the stop - normally a minute or 2 (wow, I am really paranoid after my floodiing issue)

Like most have said, for normal operation a warm up is not really necessary, just use some common sense - a few minutes before you go flooring it.

 

everyone here have different and sometimes conflicting point of views.

I start the car and wait till the temp guage reaches its normal position and thats what i have been told since i came to know what an engine is.

Some say the problem arises when the engine starts reving without having enough lubrication at cold starts and people start putting load on it by driving it where it gets worse. And it is concerned with every engine whether piston or rotary, N/A or turbo.

 

Rotaries are thought to be fragile than a glass, isnt that we all are here discussing how vulnerable it is to strain?

 

Actually when you first start the car your oil pressure is higher than idle. They even recommend you NOT driving the car until oil pressure is at correct reading. Which takes about 5 minutes of idling anyway.

I have been idling for 5 minutes minimum on ALL my cars. I never saw a problem with it so im sticking with it. I dont believe there is a right or wrong.

 

48 responses and we finally hit the nail on the head. As long as you don't start it when it's dead cold and just romp on it you're good.It's just as bad for a piston engine, probably worse. The thread is proof how **** rotary guys are!

 

For me the oil pressure is a good indicator, and I drive the car shifting below 3k when the car is cold. The oil pressure will go up to 100 psi when cold (20w-50) and once warmed up will not go over 60psi. I pretty much follow Dave W. routine of start up fasten seat belt and drive off shifting at low rpm till warmed up.