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Start car.

Start playing eye of the tiger.

Wait for chorus.

Sing chorus.

Drive away knowing your precious 18 year old engine is ready for battle, with alll its warm bits, that you dont know what they are or do, spinning happily.

Here are my 2c. Some of it is not applicable...Unless you live at Mt Hotham.....

Having lived in Canada and started cars quite often at -40C or colder there is more to it than just starting and driving away. When the oil is really really really cold even the best oils are like treacle. No make that peanut butter. So what happens when you start the car, even with a block heater, you can see oil pressure on the gauge, but the oil may not have made it to the bearings. (ie the oil is still making its way through the oil passages. Plus for anyone who has primed an oil pump with a drill, you know how hard it is to turn at pressure - just imagine how hard it would be to run with peanut butter in it... lots of stress everywhere...... So in this situation you have high pressure, and very very little flow.

So when it's really really cold I did let my car idle for a few mins before driving off. One crazy cold night when it was -55C I let our F350 6.0L Diesel fast idle all night as there was no way it was going to start the next morning.

For my Stanza race car I have an oil pan heater and a block heater. That way when I start it, the oil is warm and the engine water is also warm.

For my GTR (standard) I start it and just drive off slowly and don't run boost until the oil is at operating temp.

Jeff

I've always used a general rule of thumb to keep it under about 3,000rpm and half throttle until it's up to temperature, then go for broke, but really it boils down to not driving like a dickhead until it's warmed up.

  • 2 months later...

Sorry for noob question but what is normal oil temp? Just cruising around town barely coming onto boost my oil temp is reading 90-93 deg? I'm sure there is some variance pending on mods, driving conditions etc but I guess I'm just wondering what is "safe" and what to expect

Here are my 2c. Some of it is not applicable...Unless you live at Mt Hotham.....

Having lived in Canada and started cars quite often at -40C or colder there is more to it than just starting and driving away. When the oil is really really really cold even the best oils are like treacle. No make that peanut butter. So what happens when you start the car, even with a block heater, you can see oil pressure on the gauge, but the oil may not have made it to the bearings. (ie the oil is still making its way through the oil passages. Plus for anyone who has primed an oil pump with a drill, you know how hard it is to turn at pressure - just imagine how hard it would be to run with peanut butter in it... lots of stress everywhere...... So in this situation you have high pressure, and very very little flow.

So when it's really really cold I did let my car idle for a few mins before driving off. One crazy cold night when it was -55C I let our F350 6.0L Diesel fast idle all night as there was no way it was going to start the next morning.

For my Stanza race car I have an oil pan heater and a block heater. That way when I start it, the oil is warm and the engine water is also warm.

For my GTR (standard) I start it and just drive off slowly and don't run boost until the oil is at operating temp.

Jeff

Hi guys, I live in -55c temps. Will this oil be fine?

ET4070-5-medium.jpg

Sorry for noob question but what is normal oil temp? Just cruising around town barely coming onto boost my oil temp is reading 90-93 deg? I'm sure there is some variance pending on mods, driving conditions etc but I guess I'm just wondering what is "safe" and what to expect

That would be normal temp

  • 3 weeks later...

I like the idea of warming it up for 3 to 5minutes so the pistons can expand and aren't loose in the bore, I cant prove its the best thing or not, I like to put some Lucus upper cylinder Lube in the tank so theres lube in the fuel , that way the cylinders shouldn't be getting washed of their oil and are protected when its being thrashed. I don't think it matters that much in a stocker, in a big horsepower engine , its going to be pulled down

from a broken ring landing or big end bearing before a cold start wears it out.

Edited by AngryRB

I tend to turn my car on, reply to any messages / set Google maps / start music or whatever i'll need before my drive then drive slowly until it's warmed up.

Never had any issues, my suburb is full of speed bumps, pot holes and old angry women so i can't go fast anyway lol

I tend to turn my car on, reply to any messages / set Google maps / start music or whatever i'll need before my drive then drive slowly until it's warmed up.

Never had any issues, my suburb is full of speed bumps, pot holes and old angry women so i can't go fast anyway lol

Best way to warm up a cold car lol.

With many German cars like BMW the manufacturers recommend to turn the car on, let it idle for a minute and then drive it nice and easy till it reaches the operating temp. This way the motor and gearbox warm up together.

There is no mention of idling the car for any length of time in the user manual of my BMW & from what I've read on the BM forums, most people don't idle warm up neither, just drive off & keep the rpm < 2.5k until oil temperature is around >/= 90 deg C.

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