Warming up the engine...serious????

I don't know about you guys, but I take off for work at 0-god-30 in the morning. No way would the neighbors tolerate my car idling for 10 minutes at that time.

I fire it up, pull out of the garage, idle out of the neighborhood, and then take it easy on the surface streets to the highway. By the time I hit the highway, the oil temps are fine.

If it's dead of winter and 40 degrees outside, it may take 20-30 minutes for the car to come up to full operating temps -- unless I jam a foam ball down the oil cooler air intake.

 

My times and those of the report are from 75 F ambient. It would take somewhat longer in cold weather.

Water heats up in 2 - 4 minutes. Oil takes as long as 30 minutes.

I keep the RPM below 3,000 until the oil is at least 140 F. I never red line it until up to 170 - 180 F and this is about as hot as the oil in my Maranello or Enzo got (gets).

Misunderstanding oil basics is the major cause of engine wear in many cars, especially sports cars.

aehaas

 

Thanks, Mr. Haas.

There Ken!!

75 degrees F, a balmy day in Florida where he lives with his Enzo, or tropical Galveston Island, down here!

Is the oil analysis provided by The Factory on the Enzo, or is it an elective Dealer Service? I know FoH routinely does it, when they see the cars....

I'm sure my 1977 V8 would make interesting, if disturbing, reading!

 

My car is a 308 QV, and I've always just started it and let it idle for a few minutes without touching the throttle, except maybe just a small tap early on to get the alt. light to go out. The oil pressure comes up in a couple of seconds.

But, once I had to have it towed to Boston Sports Car to repair a leaking fuel tank. The driver/tech showed up to get it and started the car and immediately reved it to about 5-6K just for a second. I said "whoa!- is that the right proceedure?" He said it gets the oil pressure up quickly. I told him before he started the car that the she had not been run in two weeks.

Which is correct?

I would think that initial cold stomp on the pedal would cause some damage?

Thanks-
jwise

 

Sometimes a full thickness chunk of bearing is torn out from cavitation during just that type of start up. It is the WORST thing that can be done to an engine.

I get independent oil analyses from several companies, sometimes just to compare results of the same sample. This is kind of a control. I do sent FNA the results so they can keep track as well. I speak to their tech people at least once a month for one reason or another.

aehaas

 

I live in Florida and it takes about 6 miles. Jamesw

 

This may be a kind of street legend that has been around a long time. Years ago, a factory trained (in Germany) lead Porsche technician & friend Martin Radloff told me the same thing. His take was that the metal expansion took place faster, so the initial "high wear" interval was shorter. Also claimed that multi-grade oil took care of the cold lubrication issue.

I never could bring myself to do this to my 911S - some things just don't feel right, no matter who is trying to sell you on it.

BTW, the ZR1 Corvette has a "power key" that turns off the whole secondary injection system so that you run on only 1 of the 2 intake valves when it is off. It resets to low power every time you start up, and it will not turn on until you have at least 110 on water and oil temp.

James

 

Why the rush? Your driving a Ferrari for Gods sakes, not a souped up MR2 everyone wants to hear wound up. Its "cool" to glide silently through town, low R's, easy on the throttle, keeping her quiet, keeping everyone in suspense. Isnt it?

The other guy said he wouldnt bore you, but I can

Imagine your engine is cold. Now imagine your pistons, and while your thinking of them, imagine they are shaped like inverted shot glasses, smaller end on top. This is because when she fires up, and as piston crown temps start to run in the 300 degree range, the top of the piston will expand to fill the cylinder. During the warm up phase the piston it continuously slapping back and forth as it reciprocates because the piston is yet to small, and the rings are getting a good work out as well as this is going on. With low RPM engines like a Chevy, no such warnings are discussed much as those motors are done making power by 4K rpm. But even those, any motor really, should be allowed to warm up easy before you wind on it. The crank and rods have more spring and give once they warm up, the oil is flowing stronger over heated bearings, the engine has stabilised in temperture so that no longer are there drastic differences in temperture. You really dont want to be hard on it with your cylinder heads getting hot to the touch while the block is still trying to figure out whats happening and the gearbox is stone cold. Do you?Patience my friend!

I start up and back out of the garage. I wont let it idle alone, but I have carbs and dont want it loading up, so if im not gonna leave imediately I shut it off. I drive off slowly, keep engine speed low at first, not much over 2-2500, drive steady. Once I see coolant temp rise off the bottom I start pushing a bit, not hard. Harder you push, faster it warms, sooner you get to happy temps. Blocking off the oil cooler may expedite warm up on cooler days. I also notice the car takes quite a while for the oil to reach full temp. Much more than half an hour even on days about 80 F.

 

All I can say is read the Manual.

My 1977 DOES call for a high RPM warm up.....but I only use about 2000 - 2500 initially....strangely that exact throttle setting climbs to the Manual's recommended 4K as the engine warms up..

I have to back off to reduce it back to 2K, that's when I start rolling gently....

 

I do NOT use the WHOOOP WHOOP WHOOOOP warm up that Risi Competizione uses on the F1 Clienti cars or the 333SP, but those full race engines are a whole different deal and NO TELLING what oil viscosity they have......they do though.

Royal Purple Racing 11 or something like that.......

 

Saw a mechanic with alot of Ferrari experience rev the snot out of my BB 2 or 3 times after 5 minutes of idleing, I cringed.

each Ferrari I have takes about 15minutes to get everything up to proper operating temps and shifting smoothly, even my 355, I am not comfortable reving any of them out until all temps are normal operating range not just warm

 

Well, if oil takes 30 minutes, I think a lot of us are causing premature wear! I know I am at least.

Ken

 

Gee, for what a Ferrari costs, you'd think they'd have put a thermostat on the oil cooler line. Or isn't that doable?

Ken

 

Is it a carb car? If so he probably wanted to clear the plugs. On a pleasant day, after 5 minutes at idle, revving is much less stressful than driving at high revs.

Ken

 

The water is there to cool the engine and as such, is directed through the cooling passages to pickup and exchange heat. The oil is more to lubricate moving parts - it heats up more as a byproduct of being in a hot motor, although it does provide some cooling effect as well.

Ray

 

yes its true
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Excellent post.

My car is not a Ferrari, but I let it idle for 1-3 mins MAX before driving off (10 mins of idling is not that good for the engine I read, either). I keep the revs below 3000 for at least half an hour before fanging it to the upper reaches of the rev range, because I figure 30 mins is long enough for the oil to come up to temperature (I live in a moderate climate). The water temp comes up in 5-10mins, but oil takes roughly 30 mins. I personally would NEVER rev an engine to the redline unless it's been running (not idling) for 30 minutes.

 

Hmm...i've heard different, this is from driving television, a show in BC, (not sure if its all over Canada) but it gives driving tips and car care tips:

Quote: "When you're starting up your car first thing in the morning, there is no need to idle it for longer than 30 seconds, when cars used to have carburetors they needed to be warmed up, but with todays fuel injection systems more cars are ready to go in just seconds"

source: http://drivingtv.canada.com/clips/313/04DrivingTips313.wmv - is a WMA file go to the 2 minute mark...2:00 - 2:14

driving tips: http://drivingtv.canada.com/searchbysegments.php?segtitle=Driving%20Tips

 

It can take 20 minutes of driving to get the oil temp gauge to move at all in my BB512i...so I just take it easy until it does...it takes even longer if you just let the car sit an idle...

 

Yes, this is not inconsistent with what I'm saying. A fuel injected car should not (from what I've read) be allowed to idle for more than a minute or so. However this is not the same thing as getting oil temp up before redlining an engine. In other words, start, drive off within a minute, but keep revs below 3 or 4 thousand for 20 mins to half an hour.

 

I even limit my 'cool engine' rpm in my Z, so I can't imagine not doing this on a 200k car!

 

There seems to be a lot of confusion about oil and cooling. Oil carries away far more heat than the water based cooling system. Unlike the coolant, the oil is in direct contact with the very parts that are generating heat, and the oil carries it away to wash it over the sides of the block, the undersides of the cam covers, and the bottom of the oil pan. This is primarily why you see cooling fins on the engine and gearbox. On the 308 for example, Ferrari went to great lengths to run ductwork to the oil cooler to carry away heat. There have been articles written that speculated using only oil to cool an engine, completely doing away with a water based system. But its never been succesfully tried to my knowledge.

To think all it does is lubricate is selling it short. It is a major coolant, it entrains partcles, its a detergent, it protects metals from corrosion during extended idle periods, and it provides high pressure shock qualities, all in addition to being a lubricant. It also has to operate in the piston ring grooves under very intense heat and pressure and maintain an ability to wash away material from combustion. If its not flushed through fast enough it will burn, so the oil must also have not only a high temperture ability not to burn, but also be able to partially burn without creating large amounts of material and coke.

Also, just because a more modern car has fuel injection, and it starts and runs faster and smoother, it still wont warm itself up any faster. There will still be vast differences of temp inside the engine that will take a while to stabilise.

 

This is a good read. A car with an oil cooler, does need more time to warm up for sure Vs a car without one.

My little 92 M-Benz with 500k miles on it, has NEVER seen a warm-up period, even in the dead of our Canadian winter. The engine has never been opened for so much as a gasket and the timing chain has never been changed. Hell it has never seen a consistant oil change since I bought it brand new. Right now its about 5k over due.

Why has this engine lasted so long with this type of abuse? Why can I jump into it in minus 30 weather, trun the key and go? Soon I will be restoring this car, and will rip into the engine to freshing it up..what do you think I will find?

 

You have me confused. To read how oil works in a car, one might conclude it heats up a lot faster than water. Yet there is the opinion it takes a full half hour! Can you explain why this may be? Since oil is lighter than water, and it absorbs less calories per cc than water before the temperature goes up, what's with the half hour warm up?

Ken

 

BMW boxer twins use or used oil as the only cooling system in some of their motorcycle engines.
If I remember Suzuki also had a very succesful inline four that was primarily oil cooled.

Russell