Warming your car up time?

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Aerotus
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Warming your car up time?

Post by Aerotus »

Hi everyone,

How many miles do you have on your mk3 and do you idle the engine for a few mins to warm up the engine oil etc?

Do you lengthen the time during cold winter days? Just trying to see what the consensus is here to prolong engine life.

I used to have a Celica GTS and the lift would not work until the engine was warmed up, so does this differ for the z1 engine of the mk3? Thanks

Aero


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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by jimi »

If you have any kind of mechanical sympathy you will warm up any cold engine for a few mins before use ;)
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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by MR2DI4 »

If you had a high performance engine, then worry about a warm up time. Your MK3 is not going to be critical, just don't thrash it until your water temp comes up so probably like 4 or 5 minutes driving. Probably more important is the oil your running and what condition that is in to be honest.
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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by shinny »

My opinion is to get in and get driving... just be gentle (no WOT, high revs etc.) until warmed up. That's why the ZZ engines don't allow lift, for example, until up to temperature.

You've got to spend a loooong time warming up at idle before the coolant and oil are fully up to temperature. Your engine will warm up quicker if you're actually driving so unless you absolutely must have full throttle in the first couple of miles of your trip, just get moving. Don't waste either your time or your neighbours patience by idling on a driveway :th:
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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by gavsdavs »

I get in it. start it, and do the first 100 yards leaving my house without touching the throttle. The high idle pulls the car along up to about 20mph in 4th. Don't do any large throttle openings for at least 5 minutes.
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dinono10

Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by dinono10 »

Good question.

For me, this is what I do.

5 mins gentle drive to the coast road.

10 mins in minus 5 mph traffic

Takes my car 15 mins to get to the halfway mark and heater very warm.

I've noticed that twice now I've had to top up my coolant as it was at minimum.

It's booked in for a full service and mot in 10 days time so will be interesting to see if they find a leak. Obviously the cold stayer) weather doesn't help.

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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by carolineasb »

@ dinono10 - have you checked the radiator? It's a common problem in these cars and it's a cheap replacement so much better than cooking your engine!
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dinono10

Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by dinono10 »

carolineasb wrote: 12/03/19 22:04 @ dinono10 - have you checked the radiator? It's a common problem in these cars and it's a cheap replacement so much better than cooking your engine!
I know I'm being totally thick.. How do I go about checking the radiator? Thank you in advance.
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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by TonyleFrog »

shinny wrote: 11/03/19 3:12 My opinion is to get in and get driving... just be gentle (no WOT, high revs etc.) until warmed up. That's why the ZZ engines don't allow lift, for example, until up to temperature.

You've got to spend a loooong time warming up at idle before the coolant and oil are fully up to temperature. Your engine will warm up quicker if you're actually driving so unless you absolutely must have full throttle in the first couple of miles of your trip, just get moving. Don't waste either your time or your neighbours patience by idling on a driveway :th:
:th:

It's not a good idea to use WOT or high revs until the oil is up to temp.
The difficulty with that is you won't know that unless you have an aftermarket oil temperature gauge.
If you don't, you might be surprised how much longer it takes than the coolant to get there.
Especially in the depths of winter.
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Re: Warming your car up time?

Post by MR2DI4 »

Personally I wouldn't worry about the oil temp that much. The water temp is setting all the clearances in the engine. Again its more important what oil your running and what condition its in than the temperature of it. Lets be honest its a low tech old engine and all the clearances are going to be on the high side. All the oil in the sump will take 4 or 5 times as long as the coolant to come up to operating temperature, the oil is poor conductor of heat. its bad in both directions hard to heat and hard to cool. The oil cooler under your oil filter will be working in both directions, initially to heat and then to cool.

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