Warming the car in winter
 

I was bored at work, and flipping through some old books. I came accross this:

http://dolemite.dyndns.org/albums/al...hart.sized.jpg

This book is circa 1984, but shows just how important warming that engine is in the winter months! Or in general I spose.

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

Nice find :thumbup:

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

thats over 60 hours though....i doubt the minute or so it takes to begin to warm up while driving has much effect, plus that chart doesnt say anything how rpm changes things...good info, but i doubt ill let it warm up more than the little time i do now

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

Well WTF? My S10 has a high idle when you start it up. That can't be ------- good. It's wearing the ---- out of my motor. :o

I always wait for the idle to drop before taking off and I take it easy for the first few minutes. It's always in my mind. Ever since someone told me that 70% of the wear and tear on your motor is done at start-up. I think that might be one of the main reasons my B7 lived so long even with the abuse I put it through.
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Re:Warming the car in winter
 

the higher cold idle is to help it warm up to reduce wear, kinda cyclical though. My car doesn't care that it's winter, it's in my heated garage!!!

of course it's still below that 180' goal...

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

I think that chart was made for advocating the use of a proper thermostat more than 'let your car warm up in the morning'. I know a lot of people who throw those 'racing' 140-160 degree thermostats in and obviously they're only harming the car. Not only is the car never going to get into closed loop, the bore wear dramatically goes up. It seems like a little but that ---- sure does add up over a year of driving.

On the warmup side of things.. I could datalog this for you guys, but on a 30 degree outside day like this, it takes my 1995 Civic EX about 7-9 minutes idling to get to 180 degrees usually. If I'm in a huge hurry and take off w/engine cold it takes 3-4. So lets say the avg is 5 mins.

60hours * 60mines = 3600mins. 3600 / 5 = 720. So if I hopped in my car over 2 years (which I know LOTS of people who dont warm up their cars over winter/mornings.. I'm sure you do too)I'd have added 0.010 of bore wear to mah car.

Anyway I know its all just playing w/numbers. Iwas just bored and posted that ;)

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

And on the right side of the graph is vertical, wat does that mean, youll have infinite wear at like 35°. I think its just some guys guess on what happens to warn people about thermostats. The interior of your engine cant be that cold for very long since your burning fuel in there. I bet he just set up a wear test with lubricated cold metal on metal and said the conditions in the engine are the same.

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

Well the graph was claimed to be provided by Continental Motors, who was one of the leading manufactors of aircooled piston engines for aircraft.

Perhaps going vertical means there is a threshold of maximum wear. The wear is caused by the expansion (or lack there of) ... metal can only expand/contract so much.

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

I always let mine warm up for a little. And im in freakin florida. And I never drive hard until I know its at operating temp.

Re:Warming the car in winter
 

i warm my ---- up every time i start it, even if it means starting it and going back in the house for a bowl of cereal or sumptin ;D i never get on it (even if it's warmed a little) until it the temp gauge is in the middle. my wife never warms up her ---- and i want to beat her ------ head in b/c i pay for it, i even took the extra step of putting in lighter oil las time i changed her oil b/c i know she doesn't warm it up and it's starting to get cold. i'm gonna position a big dildo under her seat that mechanically rams her in the ass if she drives the car before it has reached normal operation temp. ;D