Warming the engine
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Discussion

mav 1

Original Poster:

209 posts

277 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
How do you warm the engine on your car?

Just been reading last months Sprint article about the 125,000 mile Tamora. The article recommends starting the engine, revving to 1,500 revs for ten seconds then driving immediately at no more than 2,500 rpm until oil temp is over 60.

The dealer that I bought my car from 2 years ago recommended revving the engine to 2-3k immediately to clear out the cat then letting it idle until warm (gives you time to take the roof off, etc) or keep it below 3k rpm until temp is over 70

What do you do? Is letting the car idle bad for the cams?

Is it a different process for different engines? - the Tamora is a Speed six engine, I have an RV8.

ShadownINja

80,068 posts

312 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
In brief: Keep it below 2000 rpm. No unnecessary revving, no waiting on the drive. Search PH for various explanations.

I noticed that going up to 3000rpm when cold used more oil (Chimaera 4.0).

KillerJim

972 posts

233 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
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My very complex method is... I rev to 1500 for a few seconds (PSI guage reads 50+) then let it idle at about 1200 til the water temps has raised a few degree's (aka 15 seconds) then drive off

Nothing above 2500 and no loud pedal (aka feels like driving a 1.4 ford biggrin ) - I don`t care if people wonder why I`m slowly joining motorways or moving off from lights

I also try to keep the rev's at 1000 when she's sitting at lights, etc.

J

dirty boy

14,859 posts

239 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
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Start the engine (throttle depressed on Cerb so revs rise quickly - I presume that splashes a bit of oil around straight away)

Then drive straight away, keeping below 2500 until water up to temperature, then keep below 3500 for another mile or two allowing oil to catch up (no idea how long - but staying on safe side)

Got my new fangled oil temperature guage to fit though smile

Zippee

14,128 posts

264 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
On my old Chim I'd start and then drive off keeping below 3k until the engine temp had hit 70 and more importantly I'd seen that slight dip in oil pressure indicating the oil was up to temp.
The T350 I start with no throttle, blip it to 2k to start the oil flow and then drive off. Keeping to 2500 rpm until 40deg oil temp and then 5000 rpm until 70deg oil temp. Or rather in this weather guestimating based on time as the bl**dy oil temp sensor is directly in the cold air flow and is hard to get over mid 40s. Same as the chims water temp sensor really.

ph1l5

5,027 posts

232 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
I just start it and leave for 10 mins outside my garage.

Englishman

2,253 posts

240 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
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RUSSELLM

6,002 posts

277 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
In most cases I drive straight off. Keep the revs below 2500 for first 20 mins (oil pressure down to it's lowest reading)

KillerJim

972 posts

233 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
In the cold weather I find using oil pessure is a good confirmation of actual temperature. For me I don`t get below 25psi until 60c+ and 20psi at 70c+ (@ ~1000rpm)

softtop

3,172 posts

277 months

Wednesday 18th February 2009
quotequote all
The speed six and the V8 are different designs, the 'drive off and keep the revs down' works for both and yes the load on the Speed 6 at tickover is greater than when you are moving.

Ozmira

1,175 posts

219 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I turn her on, have a smoke and by the time Ive finished smoking she ready to go. I never give her to much stick untill I've covered about 3-5 miles. My 500 has covered over 100k.

George 500

653 posts

248 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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From what I understand the oil passageways are quite restrictive to the top of an RV8 so the one thing you absolutely should not do is just start the thing and leave it sitting. Apparently the oil drains away from the camshaft and hence if you just start it and give it no juice it doesn't have the ability to get oil back up to the top of the engine and hence you are effectivly running the camshaft "dry". This anecdotal evidence seems to be backed up by the fact that wear on the camshaft is one of the weak points of the engine.

Apparently the best thing to do is to drive off pronto as by putting the engine undersome load the oil warms through quicker and is then driven up onto the camshaft lobes.


RichB

56,285 posts

314 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
quotequote all
George 500 said:
From what I understand the oil passageways are quite restrictive to the top of an RV8 so the one thing you absolutely should not do is just start the thing and leave it sitting. Apparently the oil drains away from the camshaft and hence if you just start it and give it no juice it doesn't have the ability to get oil back up to the top of the engine and hence you are effectivly running the camshaft "dry". This anecdotal evidence seems to be backed up by the fact that wear on the camshaft is one of the weak points of the engine.

Apparently the best thing to do is to drive off pronto as by putting the engine undersome load the oil warms through quicker and is then driven up onto the camshaft lobes.
that's right, the start it up and go for a smoke brigade will wear their cams out sooner. All the above plus the cam followers are designed to turn so they don't wear on one spot but they only do this once the revs are over about 1,800-2,000 revs so letting it "tick over" on the drive is actualy very bad for the engine.

grahamw48

9,944 posts

268 months

Thursday 19th February 2009
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I drive straight off, no ticking over, then like a woman until the engine's up to temperature. smile

Light up when I hit traffic. irked


dinkel

27,787 posts

288 months

Friday 20th February 2009
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RUSSELLM said:
In most cases I drive straight off. Keep the revs below 2500 for first 20 mins (oil pressure down to it's lowest reading)
This is the procedure that works best for most engines innit?

Sebster36

90 posts

222 months

Friday 20th February 2009
quotequote all
RUSSELLM said:
In most cases I drive straight off. Keep the revs below 2500 for first 20 mins (oil pressure down to it's lowest reading)
+1

mav 1

Original Poster:

209 posts

277 months

Friday 20th February 2009
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So the Speed Six and the RV8 are both similar in that they do not like to idle from cold then.

dinkel

27,787 posts

288 months

Friday 20th February 2009
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I can't think of an engine - apart from stationary engines - that like to idle from cold.

short_t

77 posts

215 months

Friday 20th February 2009
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well what do you do?? as a cnc engineer we have to warm up the spindles before loading, "admitted they dont have cam shafts" lol
Surely any mechanical device would perform better if allowed to warm up without load, and with oils as they are now surely camshafts are lubricated from start up what ever the conditions.
having said that every BMW we have owned states "do not idle form cold, drive off immediatly.....
Now that Paul at Austec has rebuilt our engine it would be nice to know what to dorolleyes

That Daddy

19,450 posts

251 months

Friday 20th February 2009
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Start the engine run up to fast idle say 2k for 30 seconds then drive off,driving under 2k is just not neccesary just dont scream or load up the thing until its warmed thru,dont sit there warming the thing up,if you let the RV8 idle from cold until warm you will shed your cam lobes very rapidly wink

Edited by That Daddy on Friday 20th February 22:47