jeff8932612

how long do you guys let your engine warm-up before driving? should i wait till the temp needle begins to raise or is it ok to start driving before it begins to raise? thanks -Jeff

djantlive

1 min should be enough. The engine should hover smoothly after about a min. keep the tach low until the temp is at the middle.

jeff8932612

how about if i am letting it cool down?
BTW are turbo timers worth the money??

Tommy

Unless you feel like sitting in your car for a few minutes after driving then a turbo timer wouldnt be a bad idea. I've heard that letting your car sit and idle while its warming up isnt a good idea.....think i read that off of pettit's site. Anyway, just dont get into any boost until you know the car is fully warmed up.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

For warm up, I let my idle settle down, then drive without boosting until the temp gauge rises a bit.

As for cool down, I don't have a turbo timer, not sure if I'm going to get one. If I've driven the car hard, I drive around for about another 5-10 minutes without boosting, then park the car and let it run for another minute before shutting down. If I haven't driven hard, then I just park it and let it idle for a minute or so, depending on how good the song is that I'm listening to..

neevosh

I'll usually warm my car up for a minute or two before driving. And I'll keep off the boost till I see my thermostat open.

Dr Wankel

Depends on how cold it is where you are. My car usually takes close to 15 mins to fully hit normal temp 84-85 C. I try not to boost or hit high RPM until it is fully warmed up

WANKEL POWER

I usually go (on cold starts) about 1.5-2 minutes warming up, and then keep the rpms low on my way out of my neighborhood (it's about a mile to the main entrance) and by then the temp needle is at the middle

If I let it sit for over 2-3 minutes, i begin hearing popping sounds (is that backfire?):o

As for shutting down, I try not to boost on my way to the house and idle it for ~30 secs before shutdown, I don't see the point in turbo timers though....

Toadman

Turbo timers are for those not wanting to be inconvenienced by turbo-ownership and are in a damn hurry all the time.

CantGoStraight

Well now if you don't mind the waiting and you have done the fan switch modifacation you could do this for shut down:
Before getting to destination or ( when you get to destination) turn fan switch to on let car idle till fans turn on (2min) after fans turn on you can then turn fan switch off and wait another (30 to 45 sec.) and turn ignition to foo and get out of car...fans run for 10 min. and circulates air through engine compartment and across radiator. If your in a hurry don't drive in boost range for several min (turn fan switch on at this time) when you get to destination turn fan switch off wait 30 to 45 sec. turn ignitin off.

jeff8932612

what exactly is the fan mod? how do i do it? and how much might it cost?

CantGoStraight

The fan mod is very easy to do. You will need one switch (I used a low profile one) mounted to the right of the steering column just in fron of the accelerator. You need one male spade crimp on connetor, one ring terminal, two push on connectors and a 7 to 10 foot piece of wire (doesn't have to be too heavy (18 to 20 ga. is fine) on the passenger side. Pull the scuff guard up carefully, remove the two plastic pins in the kick panel and remove the kick panel. Your looking for a black wire (may have a yellow stripe) with a female plastic spade connector. Crimp the male spade connertor on one end of the wire and push it into the female spade connector, run the wire over to your switch (up under the dash) and cut to length, crimp on one push on connector and hook to one side of switch. With the wire you have left crimp on the other push on connector and hook to other terminal on switch. You can run the wire over the steering column and find the ground lug on the drivers side kick panel (may have to remove it too) Cut wire to length and crimp on ring terminal and ground to chassis. Now if you have the switch off nothing will happen, when the switch is on it will ground the fan test wire on the ecu and operate as described in the previous post. You don't want to leave this on all the time as it puts a slight drain on the battery, like an interior lamp. Hope this helps, Jack

RonKMiller

Never idle a cold engine. Drive it gently to let it warm up for at least 10 to 15 minutes. It may take much longer in really cold weather. A good rule of thumb is if your heater is blowing HOT air you are there. There is tons of damage and wear done by not letting any engine warm up completely before any kind of boost, heavy torque load or high RPM. Engines LOVE hot oil.

New Lexus's actually have a rev limiter that holds them to under 4K RPM until the engine is warmed up. I personally hate it when manufacturers start doing this for "our own good". Must be why I drive a car without cupholders.

djantlive

A couple of comments on previous replies:

What does the fan mod have to do with engine cool down? The point to idle the car is for the turbo to spin oil off of turbine fan, not to cool off engine bay. Of course, popping the hood or getting the fan going doesn't hurt to keep the temperature down so the plastic parts don't go brittle from the heat. However, it's not the primarly reason for the cool down.

In response to RonKMiller, the manual says not to drive until the RPM levels to normal. It's probably not a good idea to drive off right after you start the car, even if you defeat the accelerated warm up system that revs up to 3k RPM. I think a minimum of 30 sec is necessary for the engine and longer than a minute is wasting gas.

Just some thoughts, no flames please!

rx7_lover

hmm...

here what i see in the manual is...

on the page 3-5, "Money-Saving Suggestions",

- avoid long warm-ups. once the engine runs smoothly, begin driving

on the page 4-4, "Engine Cold",

- To help warm up the engine, the engine speed is automatically set at 2,500~3,000 rpm for about 20 seconds after it starts.

- ... (ellipsis) ... once you're sure the speed has been reduced, you're ready to drive.


boring~, i usually warm up for 1 min then drive with keeping rpm low until im sure the car is fully warmed up. no boosting until the car is FULLY warmed up.