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How do you all warm up your cars fastest?


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If I have the oppurtunity on a cold morning I turn my car on a few minutes before I leave, but if I wanted to warm my car up quickly whats the best way to do it? I've read on here that its good to just drive it normally without boosting too much or revving high but at the same time I noticed a lot of "smart" automatic transmission make it so when the car is cold it holds RPMs higher before shifting as to make the car warm up faster. Whats the fastest/best way to get your car heated up, Ohio weather really sucks :mad:
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Drive your car between 2k and 3k rpm until it's at normal operating temperature. I think the so called "smart " transmissions hold gears so as not the shift up to quickly and drop the rpms to a point where your car is labouring. Oil pressure is especially important when your engine is cold.

 

Dave.

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Typical start/drive process for me (cold start) is to start the car, cycle the ACC to auto, buckle up, turn on the seat heaters, back the car out and head out. I don't rev high, and keep the rpms below 2 to 2.5K for the first 2 miles before I get on the freeway. Then I just keep it under 3.5-4.0K for the rest of the trip.

OBD-II emissions requirements (implemented circa 1996) were designed to get most engines to operating temps in just a few minutes with each year required to accomplish this a little bit faster. I know the difference in warm up time between a 98 2.5L and an 01 2.5L is significant and an 05 2.5T is even faster.

Within just 2 minutes of cold start, the 01 is moving off the temp gauge and blowing warm air from the vents. At 3 minutes, the 98 temp gauge hasn't moved and the vents are still blowing cold air.

Comparatively, the 05 2.5T guage starts to move almost immediately and within 2 minutes, the vents are blowing hot air and the temp gauge is in it's normal operating temp range.

And remember after a cold start, just because the temp guages says that the car is warmed up, it really isn't. It'll take 10-15 minutes of normal driving to get everything (engine oil, coolant, transmission oil, etc.) up to normal operating condition. Just take it easy on the car until all its parts get up to normal temps.

SBT

- Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum -
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I just start it up and let the oill circulate 30 sec - 1 min, then gently drive it 'til the temp gauge starts to move off of "C". When it's extremely cold I'll let it idle for a few minutes first before driving off.

 

My normal comute lends itself nicely to the initial gentle driving. From home it's a half mile of residential streets within the subdivision, then 4-lane with speed limits of 30-40 (most everybody's doing 40-45). It's a good 6-7 miles before 45-50 mph road. On the way home it's starts with about a mile of road posted at 25 mph (everybody does 40-45), then it's 55 mph 2-lane.

 

If you need to get on soon after leaving, like to merge or make a turn onto a busy road, then I'd just let it idle a little longer to get the juices flowing.

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I start both cars in the AM, turn the seat heaters on and set the ACC for 72. I make my breakfast shake and by the time we go downstairs to leave, the motors are up to operating temp and seats and ACC are warm (maybe 5 minutes).
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Bore wash happens when more fuel than is necessary enters the cylinder and "washes" past the rings, causing the rings to not seal properly, combustion to occur improperly and the oil to become quickly diluted with gasoline. More importantly, it washes the protective oil off the sides of the cylinder.

 

In my experience, this typically happens with vehicles that are running overly rich, e.g., race cammed, improperly carburated engines, but can occur in fuel injected engines where the injection system is not working properly, e.g., fouled or improper injector application for a specific engine

 

SBT

- Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum -
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I typically let the car warm up for 1-2 minutes then keep it under 4k rpms until it reaches normal operating temps. I think the real key is to keep the revs low until it warms up fully, redlining it before its warmed up is where you can start to induce more wear then normal.
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Subietonic is very accurate in his description of bore wash. :)

 

I heard/read that on cold days modern car ecu's had a cold start map that increased fueling to make the car run smoother, a bit like manual choke's did on old cars.

 

I'm not scaremongering as I'm probably talking out of my ass, but I tend not to leave my car idling for more than a couple of mins in the morning.

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In GT and M3 Worlds, you can drive off straight away as long as you dont rev over 4K for the first few miles. As the temp starts to pick up, then you can go a bit harder. I leave mine running for approx 3 mins, then again I start off slow.

 

The engine oil might be up to temp but the rest of the systems are not including Transmission, clutch, brakes and tyres to name a few.

Happy Warming....... BTW 96F here today :D

Adam.

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In GT and M3 Worlds, you can drive off straight away as long as you dont rev over 4K for the first few miles. As the temp starts to pick up, then you can go a bit harder. I leave mine running for approx 3 mins, then again I start off slow.

 

+1

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With the advent of emission controls and particularly the OBD-II protocols, manufacturers needed a way to "heat" the engine system at an accelerated rate. What most people don't realize is that the new generation cars reach operating temperatures much faster than any previous year vehicles.

 

If you can drive the car easy (< 3K rpms) for the first 1-2 miles, by the time you hit mile 3, your car is at peak internal operating temp. So rolling out of the driveway, under limited power application, with a 20-30 second initial warmup, is probably a good thing for the car.

 

The longer your car idles, the more chance there is for, and the likelihood there is of, carbon buildup in your intake, valves and cylinder walls. It may be miniscule at first but over time/duration, it accumulates.

 

As agtr, kanoswrx and others have mentioned, keeping it initially under the 4K (I keep mine well below 3K) point the better chance you have of maximizing the engine's onboard bring-up process for normal operations. This will enable the rest of the system (trans, diffs, linkages, bearings, etc.) to come up to operating temp at a more steady pace.

 

Everyone approaches their vehicles differently, and each vehicle is subtly different from the next so follow the manual's recommendations, and the keep tabs on your temp meter

 

SBT

- Pro amore Dei et patriam et populum -
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Just remember, it DOES depend on what sort of climate you live in as well and what sort of Oils you are running too. If you are unsure, just let it sit for approx 3 - 5 mins and just start off slow. Remember to keep yr eye on the Temp guage and just see how long it takes to get up to that level. Obviously in Winter it will take an extra few mins/miles to get to Peak Operating Tempreture.

Adam.

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With the advent of emission controls and particularly the OBD-II protocols, manufacturers needed a way to "heat" the engine system at an accelerated rate. What most people don't realize is that the new generation cars reach operating temperatures much faster than any previous year vehicles.

 

SBT

 

Subietonic is right.. The ECM guys at work have told me that current vehicles go into closed loop mode within 45-60 seconds after startup. While the map is a bit enriched to ensure good running, current systems are far quicker to lean out after cold start than they used to be. Cats light off quicker thanks to new designs, and heated EGO sensors get up to temp real quick. Seems that anymore, they just rely on raised idle RPM to heat the engine.

 

For reference, it takes my 15 year old Integra about 5-7 minutes to get into closed loop mode (according to my AFR meter) in the cold. Of course, it has an unheated EGO, which doesn't help.

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  • 7 months later...

Quick question. I got my LGT in teh summer and I'm new to a manual transmission. I've noticed the last couple of mornings (frost on the car/ground) that it is really hard to make the shift from 1st to 2nd the first time. After that it seems to loosen up.

 

I have a kartboy shortthrow installed. Could the front bushings be too tight? Or is this normal for a MT and I just need to warm the car up longer? Cycle through the gears one time before leaving?

 

Any thoughts much appreciated...

 

V

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Get in the car, start it, and immedialty floor the gas until hot air comes from the vents.

 

hahahahahaha J/K someone will probably do this now...

 

Anyway get an astro car starter. they work in teh manuals too

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