It is starting to get a bit chilly up here and I was wondering how long I should technically let the car warm-up before driving? I am sure that there is a recommended lenghts of time and an actually lenght of time that people are doing it. So, lets hear it...how long?

-Britain

If I didn't let Punkin warm up for 5 minutes it ran very bad. Felt like running on 3. If I started & drove off w/o warming it'd continue to run like that until I shut it off & re-started. Then it would run fine.

One of the many reasons for giving up

.......b

Initially, I warm it for one minute. Varying the throttle. After about 30 seconds it's pretty smooth (webers).

By then the head temps are almost 200 degrees and the egt reads 1000 degrees. However the oil is still cold.

I have a thermostat on it's way from HPH and plan to install it for the upcoming cooler season.

That's my routine!

If I remember correctly, Porsche recommends no real warm-up period. They say to go ahead and drive, but keep the RPM's below 3000 until the engine warms up. I think this is because an air cooled engine just takes too long to warm up when at idle.

Demick

Let it idle until it feels "smooth", then pull away and drive gentlely until it's actually warming up. On the one air-cooled car I have with an oil temp gauge, I'll wait until the needle comes off the stop before using much throttle. The idling step usually doesn't take more than 30 secs unless it's actually cold outside (like 40dF or less). The gentle driving step can take several minutes.

The Type 3 has no temp gauges at all, but I can really feel the difference in idle quality from immediately after startup to 30 seconds after startup, so I wait for that change before putting it in gear. The 914 has a CHT, and it hits 300dF after about 30 sec of idling.

I've been asking that question since my first aircooled engined car back in 1965. Most people told me to get the engine up to operating temp. as soon as possible. You can let it idle for a long time and maybe never reach operating temp. or you can drive it easily and reach op. temp. relatively quickly. I start my car, let it idle for about 30 seconds, insure it has oil pressure and then drive it. I never, ever drive it hard unless the oil temp is at least 180 degrees.
Cheers, Elliot

Good input.

I don't have any oil temp, head temp, etc. gauges in my early 1.7L. I usually let it idle for about a minute or two before taking off.

-Britain

Just read the manual last week.

It says, "Do not let idle, instead drive at low rpm until warm".

Start, blip throttle till stops spitting. (love them webers)
Backout of Garage and down driveway. Drive lightly till down the road a piece. head temps come up quickly. After that I drive like a normal person till the oil temp needle moves then drive it like I stole it.

QUOTE (Joe Ricard @ Nov 2 2005, 01:03 PM)

Start, blip throttle till stops spitting. (love them webers) Backout of Garage and down driveway. Drive lightly till down the road a piece. head temps come up quickly. After that I drive like a normal person till the oil temp needle moves then drive it like I stole it.

word.

i sit in my car. start it up and blip it. wait 3-4 minutes and drive SLOWLY in first gear down the street. wait till oil temp comes up a tad (sometimes a while with 7qts) and then drive it hard

QUOTE (Britain Smith @ Nov 2 2005, 12:02 PM)

It is starting to get a bit chilly up here and I was wondering how long I should technically let the car warm-up before driving? I am sure that there is a recommended lenghts of time and an actually lenght of time that people are doing it. So, lets hear it...how long?

none ...
the best way to get it to operating temp is to drive it!

idle-warmup won't do your engine any good ...
Andy

I agree.
Push some horsepower through it!!

Stupid question.. How easy it to install (?) all these different temperature gauges..? Something I definitely should have on my new engine?

As you can see from the responses, it depends a lot on where you live.The colder climates require/need a little more warm up time to warm up the oil enough then drive it easy til up to temp. In the cold days here, you will need a bit more warm up time to defrost your windows enogh to see, extremely cold days that could be 5 minutes plus. it is a good idea to check what oil you are using, go thinner when cold weather is expected will help more than you think. I like the castol 5w50 synthetic, good all year round, use it in all my cars. No I'm not a Castrol rep!!

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

I dont ever drive my car hard (over 3.5k) untill the thermostat is open (160).

That way I dont blow off hoses.

I also have some cold running issues I have to tune out in my efi...

but asside from about a 30 second warm up at idle... I drive just about every car we got...

Not much help

But I did used to warm up my 2.0 with the AAR valve open for 2 minutes (or untill it raised the idle to 2k), then I closed the aar valve, and if it idled... I drove away!

Wait until you can't stand it anymore....then GO! Really, no warm-up just make sure there is oil in the engine....

Start car, have cigarette, drive car...
Same goes for a jump start..hook up, have a butt, start dead car...

This is also recomended n how to keep your aircooled car alive book...

Rich

When we bought the SC, we were advised to keep it below 4k until it warmed up.

OK, time to hear from the barbarian.
I've been known to throw a towel over the engine lid...leaving uncovered only the side holes to do a quick warm up.
I trailer my car to the AX and am usually too busy to do any kind of decent warm up. When the gauge mooves off the peg
(50C), it's time to go. Last AX, it never got to 80C.
this stuff is gonna cause my motor to expire before it's time

I agree with JP, depending on the temperature I actually used to use duct tape on the grille. This way I could control engine temps for teh drive to work. If I was only driving a few miles each day I would cover more grill to allow the engine temp to come up quickly. If I was doing some sort of road trip I would leave it uncovered and let it warm up normally.

As everyone else has said. When I was running webers I would let it warm up it quit spitting and the idle settled down. That ususally took about 45 seconds to a minute. Then I just drove off leeping it under light load. Ford actually did a study back in the day and found out there was more wear and tear put on the whole drivetrain by letting the car warm up at idle. Since the other parts of the drivetrain didn't warm up at idle it actually increased wear.

last night, i took it very easy (shifted slowly, shifted at 3000rpm, kept revs below that) and the engine actually ran quieter and better i thought.

b (just a bit of useless drivel)

Just an aside on winter warm-ups, since you're new to the NW and all, it is a risky venture to leave a car idling while you step inside to get your coffee. Local tweakers (meth addicts) cruise the neighborhoods looking for running cars with no owners. They steal the cars and use them as a cooking spot (and you don't want it back) or just for joyride and/or sale.

Interesting about not warming it up, i didnt know that. I have been letting it warm for about 2-3 minutes in the morning and it seems to be good after that. What is strange is if I go for a drive again after its warm (just start it and go) it seems to drive like crap. I pull it out and stop, the idle goes down to about 500. Whats the deal?

--Ben

QUOTE (ben1440 @ Nov 6 2005, 12:40 PM)

Interesting about not warming it up, i didnt know that. I have been letting it warm for about 2-3 minutes in the morning and it seems to be good after that. What is strange is if I go for a drive again after its warm (just start it and go) it seems to drive like crap. I pull it out and stop, the idle goes down to about 500. Whats the deal? --Ben

the heads cool off, so when you start it after the initial warm up (visit to store for example) the CHT reistance goes way up to around the cold spec. When you start your car, the ECU thinks the engine is cold for a couple of minutes, while the heads warm back up again (~350F).