warm it up!

[boogz]

Hey Guys,

Just want the general consensus and potentially technical guide on warming up before driving off...

On another thread I mentioned I warmed up my car for about 5 mintues before driving on the road and was kindly told that it was probably doing more harm than good. Probably true, but want to hear from everyone else as well. Plus it's an exuse to get a thread going... hehehe...

Would love to hear your input....

[Manaz]

Interesting question - one I've thought about myself quite a bit.

I generally don't spend a lot of time warming my car up - but I do try to drive sedately until the temperature needle starts to swing upwards.

I don't know that warming up is necessary these days with oil technology being what it is, but I'm no mechanic, and would definitely like to hear the opinion of someone with better knowledge than I!

[Arctra]

My understanding is that with Diesels it's better to do what Manaz said. The diesel engine needs to work in order to not glaze the bore. Start car and drive sedately till the engine is warm before caning it. Usually 5 to 10 minutes of driving depending on ambient temps and how hard the engine is working. The temp needle is usually for your coolant temp, not oil temp, so I wait for even longer than when the needle hits ideal temp.

[WABIT]

lol, there is no need to warm up new cars, some vw models even have pre warmed water flowing through the radiator upon startup!

warming up is old news now

dom

[rayray086]

Yeah I remember reading my Golf's manual and my sister's Polo's manual (both Mk3) and it says in bold writing that there's no need to let the car sit, rather just drive once you started but not to give it stick. Their reasoning was that using the car straight off will help warm up the car faster than if it was just idling away.

[SoVeReIgN]

I usually let car idle just long enough for it's initial high idle to calm(~1minute) and get oil flowing, baby it until it hits operating temp, then drive sedately for 5~10mins after that to get the oil up to temp.

All my cars get treated nicely.

[Flaps]

lol, there is no need to warm up new cars, some vw models even have pre warmed water flowing through the radiator upon startup!

warming up is old news now

dom

I disagree.

It takes 15mins from start up for my Oil Temp gauge to reach 90-100 degree's where it stays for normal driving. It takes 5mins for the water temp gauge to reach middle(90) and by this time the oil temp still hasn't moved from 60 degrees(bottom of the dial).

I start mine and let the auto choke finish then I move off keeping the revs down for the first 5 mins.

[WABIT]

lol how can you disagree if volkswagen have this feature on there t4 caravelle?

dom

[brad]

I disagree.

It takes 15mins from start up for my Oil Temp gauge to reach 90-100 degree's where it stays for normal driving. It takes 5mins for the water temp gauge to reach middle(90) and by this time the oil temp still hasn't moved from 60 degrees(bottom of the dial).

I start mine and let the auto choke finish then I move off keeping the revs down for the first 5 mins.

So are you saying you like to have the car sitting idling for 15 minutes before you drive?