Technical Warming up an engine?

And if your engine has a factory turbo, how it is started may be less important than how it is turned off.

Jon.

 

He was a very careful driver and smooth as glass along with being lightning fast. Very easy on equipment including tires. We won a lot of races when he drove my car.

 

I generally let my vehicles idle for a half a minute or a minute before i drive them, and don't drive them hard until I see the temperature gauge(s) starting to settle to their operating temperature.

The only vehicle I let idle longer than that before driving, is my 46 willys jeep when it had the factory 3 speed T90 transmission. On cooler socal winter mornings (40 degrees or so) I had a hard time telling if the transmission was in gear, or in neutral and it felt very sluggish, wouldn't shift smooth when cold.

So, I'd put the transfer case in neutral, and leave the transmission in 1st or 2nd gear and the motor idling at around 1500rpm for a few minutes to get the transmission warmed up before I'd leave for work. I kept a block of wood next to the driveway to put behind a tire to keep it from rolling backwards when I did this. I'd put the piece of wood vbehind a tire, fire the engine up and get the transfer case in neutral and transmission in gear, bump the idle to 1500 or so, then hop out and go get my lunch bag and back pack with my things I needed to bring to work. by time I got back to the jeep with my things loaded, the transmission would feel much better.

I know most HAMB hotrods don't have transfer cases, but that worked for my jeep

 

No choke and a lumpy cam in the 440, it doesn’t like to idle until I get a little heat in the motor. I normally drive off right away and take it easy until the temp gauge starts to register. I do the same with my ‘58, although it has a fully functioning choke system.

The only thing I let warm up is my daily driver when it’s subzero , more so for comfort than anything else…

 

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I am in good company! My Dad taught me to start a cold engine and bring it up to 12/1500 rpm immediately. This gets the oil flowing and slinging off the crankshaft to lube the cam and cyclinder walls. Ford back in the day had the rpm at 1750 on top lobe of the automatic choke.
He also would not let the engine set and idle , warming up! If the vehicle had no hand throttle it started moving or you kept the throttle at 1200, until warm.

No full throttle or heavy work for any engine untill it was at operation temperature!

I get the vehicle going as soon as it will move, driving easy until hot!
I think some old engines are ruined by letting the idle cold. New OT engines, not so much.







Bones

 

I’m in the south. Crank it up and hammer down the road. By the time I’m down the driveway it good to go

 

A motor with forged pistons will require some warm-up to minimize piston slap.

 

If you notice, the "newer stuff" will run at high idle for a moment and settle back down. Even the old engines do similar with the choke and high idle.

Another thing that's related is running an engine long enough, to get hot enough, to burn off most of the condensation.

Many of the old engines when ran cold, not driven and shut off after a few minutes will condensate in the crankcase. This can cause vapors/sludge that break down the oil. If done enough, (running a cold engine for a few minutes and not allowing it to reach temperature) it can leave a surprising amount of water and other nasties in the crankcase and the exhaust systems. The old vent or road draft systems can compound this issue.
The bottom line is engines need to be ran for several minutes to burn off condensation.
In the fire service it's recommended that the trucks idle at least 20 minutes or so each morning to burn off condensation and keep the batteries up.

 

Depends on the temperature. Cold weather I tend to let my stuff warm up a bit more than in warm weather. I like the heater to start blowing a bit warm before I take off. My semi truck doesn't like to go in gear as well in winter until you let it warm up a bit. The drivers with automatics don't seem to be as bothered as the manual transmissions with the heavier gear oils. Even the T5 in the Ranger is stiff when cold.

 

I always let all of mine run a couple minutes before I take off.

 

At my dept I put out an order to “ never “ let the engines idle! Either turn them off or bring them up to 12, hundred and lock the throttles. Some of the new trucks have this option and if you let the truck set fir a while idling, it will kick it up to “ hi-idle”.
Contrary to popular belief it is not good to let a diesel engine( or any other engine) idle!







Bones

 

That high idle on newer shit is primarily to heat up the O/T cat convertors quickly...But I believe a cold engine is happier if the idle is a bit higher than normal..

 

If I'm burning gas, I want to be moving. That being said, it takes me a minute to get there. When I fire my car up cold in the morning, it's usually dark and early. My garage is right against my daughter's bedroom, so I try to get it out fast, but then it sits in the driveway a minute or so while I shut the garage door. Then I drive it easy until it's fully up to temp. At the end of the day leaving work, I fire it up and drive away, being easy on it again until it's fully warm. But I live in a temperate environment.

Devin

 

I have 8 bays but they are full while my damn truck is torn apart and taking up more than it's fair share so rather than kick my wife's jeep out of the garage (I don't dare do that...again), I park my new OT parts hauler in the back yard. It has remote start and knows if it is cold out to also warm the steering wheel, defrost the mirrors/windshield and heat the drivers seat. When I leave in the morning all is right with the world. Well, once I roll through the Dutch Bros for a cup of coffee, then everything is alright.

 

I can still recall during sub zero winters in the 70's that the 3 and 4-speed transmission gear oil would be so thick that the trans wouldn't shift until it was warmed up. Add in 'square' bias ply tires that shook for 1/2 a mile until they warmed up and became round. Let the engine warm up until it came off high idle.
In spring/summer/fall it was fire it up and go for daily stockers. Modified engines had to warm up.

 

Man, Bandit Billy, you sore enough got it ruff!






Bones

 

I say the same thing to my wife and she tells me to fix my own drinks. Rude, just rude. Thanks for understanding man!

 

Some of these guys could not survive waking up to -30 temps

 

^^^^I proudly raise my hand and say “that’s too effin cold”

Being raised in the automatic choke days, when cold it took a few minutes to kick it off high idle. Sorta carried over to every engine I’ve had.

 

Im in the warm it up camp, every thing I own.

 

Born in Hawarden lived in Hudson, yup it would kill me now

 

Primarily, I listen to the engine.

Everything is turned off before startup, no fan/radio or other noisy devices.
Start it up and keep it revved ~1500 rpm regardless of choke/dashpot warmup settings on OT vehicles.
Wait for it to sound smooth and go.

One of the OT vehicles lives mostly in an underground garage. Even when it's 80°F outside you can see your breath in the garage, it can be uncomfortably cold. That car gets the 1500rpm idle/wait for smoothness/wait for the needle on the temp gauge to move to the first tick before being put into gear. When it's actually cold out, wait til the exhaust stops steaming.

Vehicle that sits it gets the ignition off, cranked a few seconds and wait for oil pressure before ignition is turned on. And then wait til the temps start to come up. If exhaust is steaming a bit, let it high idle til it blows out most of the moisture. But in the end I always listen for that smooth running.

With the very OT Hybrid, just hop in and George Jetson it.

 

old clunker - run it enough for the oil to get around, if its cold and Im going out in traffic, warm enough to idle reliably new engine - let it get warm , most wear occures when its cold , taxi engines go forever cause they dont do cold starts. new HP engine - depends on clearances - I wouldnt drive something hard that has close clearences in the bore. Was it Grumpy Jenkins who said stinking hot engines run faster ( or words to that effect)

 

Location, Temp at the time and what you were taught have a lot to do with if you do or don't warm one up before putting it in gear and how long you do warm it up.
I've got to believe that in cold months a lot of us in the north will warm a rig up long enough to get at least warm air out of the defrosters just for self-preservation. It isn't fun to have the windshield fog up before you get to the stop sign down at the corner. Plus a lot of our old hot rods or customs with carbs get real fussy if they don't get warmed up a bit. I ran the 48 with a Holley with no choke for a couple of years back 40 years ago because that is how I got the carb and that carb was the Nth degree of cold blooded. By the time I got done fighting with it to get it to smooth out a bit in the driveway the temp gauge was moving and the oil pressure gauge had settled out.
It's about 350 ft from where those cats are sitting to the light poles flanking the driveway. My buddy called it a row of tank traps as it isn't all that smooth but that keeps the riff raff out. Going slow enough to not bounce around usually has most rigs warmed up enough to cruise up the road pretty smooth.

 

^^^ I think I see aliens ready to attack!

 

That has been my experience also, couldn't have said it better. There are also driver's (the real deal) that can drive any unit in the yard and get back with no problems. Others, if you put them in a different unit than they are used to you will be dealing with them all day long.

 

Back when I was living in the upper midwest, there were winter days where I never shut my El Camino off. 10 to 20 below for weeks on end changes your thinking. Hell, one time it was for four days straight. Didn't even shut it off at the pumps. While others were bitchin about freezing their asses off, batteries and radiators exploding, and being stranded somewhere, I'd just get in my toasty ride and drive. Can't say I hurt it much either, as that BBC lasted about 200 thousand before it showed it age. Sometimes you do what you gotta do....

 

Soon as I slurp enough coffee that it won't spill it goes in gear.

 

I idle for about 2 minutes - just getting situated, buckled, radio, directions if needed.

In the winter, light load the first 2 blocks getting out of the neighborhood. First turn onto major road is 55mph and have to jump in the flow.