Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Up until now ive been going out in the morning, setting the turbo timer to 9 minutes and letting the car warm up while I finished getting ready. I still wouldnt drive it hard when I left, but it allowed the engine temp to warm up a bit and allowed windows to de-mist if needed :blink:

I mainly notice my clutch bites really hard or isn't as smooth if I dont warm up the car first. Obviously, this is more of a case in winter, where it makes little difference in summer.

While this isn't a complete solution for warming the car up and I still drive it slowly to begin with until engine temp is right where it should be, is this actually bad for my car? Ive been doing this for over a year now almost daily. What problems would it cause if its bad?

Which all goes to prove that the engine won't warm up at idle, even after 9 minutes.

The problem is that when tye engine is cold, the ECU dumps a load of fuel in to keep the engine running. At idle, the spark plugs aren't at optimum temperature, so the spark isn't as good, and the fuel doesn't burn fully. The excess fuel washes oil from the cylinder walls, and may dilute the oil, thus reducing its lubricating ability.

You would all be aware that taxis run forever without an engine faulure. The reason is that basically the engine never gets cold. The greatest amount of damage is done to an engine while it is cold. So forget what Gillie and his old man say and do - just get in, turn on, and go.

There is another thread that discusses the pros and cons (mostly cons) of letting the engine idle to warm it up. The main point I can make here is that if you are warming up by idling, you are burning fuel but going nowhere. No wonder you have shite fuel economy!

Interesting, I've always warmed up my cars letting them idle for a few mins for a different reason. All the Auto's I've driven seem to shift smoother once the transmission oil has a bit of temperature in it. I've got a fairly expensive Auto tranny in the Pulsar so I give it a bit of respect.

  • 5 months later...

Sorry resurrect an old thread.

Although most of you say its better to start the car up leave it for a bit and then drive away not leaving it to idle in excess of 5 mins.

My question being how long do you let it idle before you take off?

Dezz stated he lets his idle for 30 seconds but does this very in different weather? eg 30 seconds for normal weather and 1 minute for cold weather?

Just an interesting topic :)

On a cold day I turn the car on and let it sit for about 2-3mins just to let the oil anf other fluids cycle then drive off boost for about 5 mins to warm everything up then you can hit boost.

Summer days I still let it sit for abit even tho the atmos temps are higher, the car still needs to warm up.

Only fluids that would warm up are your oil and water if your car is just sitting there. I have never let my car sit there idleing from a cold start for more than 30 seconds. I just jump in, turn on the engine, put on seat belt, tune in radio/cd and then start driving.

Things such as your gearbox and diff oil would still be cold, so in essence all warming up your car is the morning does is cause more wear to the engine than it should and burn petrol for no reason.

I've always just turned the key... ...Buzz the electric gate (which takes about a min to open)... ...Belt on... ...and off I go...

In winter I find that the heater will tell me when the car has warmed up... ...I turn it on and it stays on 1 fan until the system heats up and then it blasts on 4 fans... ...Usually by then I'm out onto the Hwy on my way to work...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Thanks for that, I'll check it all out. I can always do the brakes last anyway if its a problem.  The 16's are super cool, if they do fit I'll cruise around with them for a bit.  
    • Well, that's kinda the point. The calipers might interfere with the inside of the barrels 16" rims are only about 14" inside the barrels, which is ~350mm, and 334mm rotors only leave about 8mm outboard for the caliper before you get to 350, And.... that;s not gunna be enough. If the rims have a larger ID than that, you might sneak it in. I'd be putting a measuring stick inside the wheel and eyeballing the extra required for the caliper outboard of the rotor before committing to bolting it all on.
    • OK, so again it has been a bit of a break but it was around researching what had been done since I didn't have access to Neil's records and not everything is obvious without pulling stuff apart. Happily the guy who assembled the engine had kept reasonable records, so we now know the final spec is: Bottom end: Standard block and crank Ross 86.5mm forgies, 9:1 compression Spool forged rods Standard main bolts Oil pump Spool billet gears in standard housing Aeroflow extended and baffled sump Head Freshly rebuilt standard head with new 80lb valve springs Mild porting/port match Head oil feed restrictor VCT disabled Tighe 805C reground cams (255 duration, 8.93 lift)  Adjustable cam gears on inlet/exhaust Standard head bolts, gasket not confirmed but assumed MLS External 555cc Nismo injectors Z32 AFM Bosch 023 Intank fuel pump Garret 2871 (factory housings and manifold) Hypertune FFP plenum with standard throttle   Time to book in a trip to Unigroup
    • I forgot about my shiny new plates!
    • Well, apparently they do fit, however this wont be a problem if not because the car will be stationary while i do the suspension work. I was just going to use the 16's to roll the old girl around if I needed to. I just need to get the E90 back on the road first. Yes! I'm a believer! 🙌 So, I contacted them because the site kinda sucks and I was really confused about what I'd need. They put together a package for me and because I was spraying all the seat surfaces and not doing spot fixes I decided not to send them a headrest to colour match, I just used their colour on file (and it was spot on).  I got some heavy duty cleaner, 1L of colour, a small bottle of dye hardener and a small bottle of the dye top coat. I also got a spray gun as I needed a larger nozzle than the gun I had and it was only $40 extra. From memory the total was ~$450 ish. Its not cheap but the result is awesome. They did add repair bits and pieces to the quote originally and the cost came down significantly when I said I didn't need any repair products. I did it over a weekend. The only issues I had were my own; I forgot to mix the hardener into the dye two coats but I had enough dye for 2 more coats with the hardener. I also just used up all the dye because why not and i rushed the last coat which gave me some runs. Thankfully the runs are under the headrests. The gun pattern wasn't great, very round and would have been better if it was a line. It made it a little tricky to get consistent coverage and I think having done the extra coats probably helped conceal any coverage issues. I contacted them again a few months later so I could get our X5 done (who the f**k thought white leather was a good idea for a family car?!) and they said they had some training to do in Sydney and I could get a reduced rate on the leather fix in the X5 if I let them demo their product on our car. So I agreed. When I took Bec in the E39 to pick it up, I showed them the job I'd done in my car and they were all (students included) really impressed. Note that they said the runs I created could be fixed easily at the time with a brush or an air compressor gun. So, now with the two cars done I can absolutely recommend Colourlock.  I'll take pics of both interiors and create a new thread.
×
×
  • Create New...