Engine Warming

The throttle pedal has a ridiculous long travel on my Z3. I almost never floor it, although I change up below 3 until I feel the car has warmed up, which is effectively my whole commute :(

I try not to put too much load on it from cold but it's quite a torquey engine so this can be hard to judge :p
 
Matt82 said:
Both of mine take about 2 mins to get to full water temp, oil temp follows shortly after

I do laugh when I hear a neighbour thrash their car off up the road in the morning.

Some cars get such an awful life
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Warms up very quickly.

Took my Xsara/306's a lot longer than that to reach oil temperature.

Coolant temperature was reached quite quickly but I'd say 10 minutes at least for the oil.
 
Some of you are living in the 60s
Modern oils get upto temperature very quick as well as the engine, so there is no reason not to open up after 2-3 mins of normal driving.
 
After 1 mile your car/bike should have warmed up sufficiently to thrash/drive/ride it like you stole it. An engine does not warm up correctly by leaving it idling, this creates hot spots only in certain areas which can be damaging for the engine. An engine warms up through use, up to 60mph for the first mile then your good to go. If its taking much longer under those conditions then you need to have it checked out.
 
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My car (which has an old Chevy 305) sounds awesome when cold (and when warm), nice and gurgly, and it feels like it has slightly more power probably because there's more fuel going in there vs. air when it's cold. It might just need tuned. I would never give it any revs when it's cold though. They build everything with a little tolerance for temperature anyway.

I'm a big fan of Wheeler Dealers and a lot of fans hate it when Mike Brewer goes to see a classic car, and the first thing he does is turn the engine on and (cold) rev the crap out of it.
 
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Dr Who said:
Waste of fuel, causes bore wash with premature wear...

Drive it carefully rather than letting it idle.
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Correct in what you say, but also letting a car idle from cold causes a build up of water in the exhaust, and it will rot from the inside out.
 
The BMW F10/11 has an oil temp gauge as standard now. Much better than the E60 that had no indication on the dash for water or oil.
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
Probably to let you know that the engine hasn't burnt up all the oil and there is still some in there :p.
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Haha yeah probably! The head gasket went on my 55 plate 206 16v Sport at only 29k miles!!! Lost oil rapidly then till I could get it done.
Its got an oil temp gauge and it definately makes a hell of a difference to the feel once its warmed up. Which luckily doesn't take long as its only 90bhp n I need to be able to go for it if I'm late for work! LOL
 
I start the engine and give it a few seconds before I move off, a few more seconds in the winter, and then just take it steady till they have warmed up.

I can get to work in my Astra in this weather without the temperature gauge moving at all.
 
atpbx said:
I start the engine and give it a few seconds before I move off, a few more seconds in the winter, and then just take it steady till they have warmed up.

I can get to work in my Astra in this weather without the temperature gauge moving at all.
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Short cold journeys are really not good for engines, I hope for your sake you give it a good run in between.
I work in a car auction and we get loads that are choked up due to that.
Especially mazda RX8's! Thats why they've got a bad reliabilty rep. People buy them as a family car and dont drive the bloody things enough or rev them high enough. Its a shame, they're lovely cars :(
 
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