Proper warming up and cooling down of the engine

Ok guys, two questions:

1) What is the proper length of time to warm up your engine?

1) What is the proper length of time to cool down your engine?

Let me tell you how i do it. Then we can go from there. Every time i start my car from a cold start, i let it warm up to operating temperature. (In between the two middle lines. Thats about 220 degrees or so?) takes about 5-10 min every time depending on the temperature outside. In previous winters it took about 15-20 min. I have never turned the car on and driven off immediately. The most extreme case for me has been where i let it warm up past the very first line on the bottom end. (Sorry for lack of terminology and knowledge! :lol: ) when i go to cool down, say after some WOT logs, i drive around for another 5-10 minutes at 40 mph+ then i turn off the car.

Not sure how these engines are exactly when it comes down to those two questions. When i worked at Acura, the cars would get started, left idling for 10 seconds, and driven off. Then again they were automatic and cold start revs were at or under 1k rpm.... Where as my car is at 1.5k rpm for at least 3-4 min after a cold start.

Am i overdoing it by waiting so long? Help me understand! :lol:

Where does your car idle at when she is nice and warm?

Around 800 or so once its almost at full operating temperature.

I have Defi gauges installed (oil temp & pressure and
Once car has been started it's driven straight away, but off boost.
Once oil temp has reached 80 degrees then it's given some
Depending on weather and temperature, I typically see my oil reaching 80 deg about 10-20 mins after water has reached the optimal level

As for cool down
Approaching a parking spot at home, work etc..., I'm typically not on full boost for the last 1/2 mile or so, so when I arrive engine is shutdown straight away. It is not left idling for a minute or longer, this is not needed

even when leaving a track, the slow driving off boost to the parking space whether that takes e.g. 15 secs to a minute, you have effectively go through a cool down period and safe to turn off engine.
leaving these engines idling for minutes at a tine can do more harm than good.

my car is running an aftermarket ECU, and map, mine idles at 1k cold and warm

In short, yes I think IMO, you are overdoing it

You may be over doing it a little but you do want to give things a chance to warm up. Once the temp needle begins to move your oils and such should be doing their job which is your main reason to not start and go. Far as running hard and allowing things to cool, your main focus here is giving your turbo and exhaust a proper cool down break when you are at the track you are usually on the car pretty hard lots of time the turbo will be glowing giving the car a minute to bring things down a level with the flow of coolant, oil, and fans will help prevent premature turbo failure and other issues, but take in account your easy 5mph back to staging area is included in this time.

How is the engine potentially being harmed by letting the car warm up a bit longer?

In the winter, I let the car warm up for 5 minutes, or until I see coolant temp. needle movement. At pretty much anything above 40 degrees, I let the car idle for 30-60 seconds and pull out slowly, I creep down my street or through the parking lot at work and when I need to get out on the main road, I stay as much in vacuum as I can for a minute or two of driving which is more than sufficient to come up to operating temp.

After a run at the track, I open my hood and let it idle for at least 3 minutes or more before shutting down. I have an EGT gauge, so I generally watch that and make sure the temps settle at 'warm idle' (800-900*F, iirc) before shutting down.

Cold start: make sure you put the accelerator to the floor right after you start it.

Cool down: put the accelerator to the floor as you turn the key to the off position.

I love you.

Do you mean BEFORE i start the car, keep the accelerator pedal to the floor?

That works

I wont lie. I got a good kick out of reading that post. :tup: :lol:

:lol: you guys crack me up.

On a serious note, if you have some crazy built motor, warm up times might be more critical. I'm sure the guys with engine building experience can explain the differences in oiling clearances in the motor and so forth. For example, some people say they hear piston slap in their built motor until it warms up and the clearances are reduced due to heat expansion of the materials. In this case, I think you also would be running a heavier oil weight that would also benefit from a longer warm up time. IIRC, under normal conditions, most engine wear occurs during cold start ups.

Maybe thats why my engine is so healthy! :lol: i let it warm up every damn time!

Seriously though, I think your absolutely fine with what your doing.

Thanks. I hate driving the car if it isnt warmed up. Happened once or twice because of emergencies. Its unbearable for me to experience that ever again.

I ride it hard and put it away wet. Startup, drive slow till its warm/ish, beat the shit out if it until i park it, shut it off, and walk away. No cool down time with water cooled turbos. When we took it apart this year, i had "the cleanest motor they had ever seen!" at the machine shop. It was funny. I change the oil every 1500-2k miles, and beat the crap out if it in between.

Alin said:

Thanks. I hate driving the car if it isnt warmed up. Happened once or twice because of emergencies. Its unbearable for me to experience that ever again.

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First world problems?

I do hear some slap until its warm, but its usually up to temp in about 5min. By the time im out of my neighborhood its ready to rape. Im running BradPenn 15-40

35r said:

I do hear some slap until its warm, but its usually up to temp in about 5min. By the time im out of my neighborhood its ready to rape. Im running BradPenn 15-50

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Second time that brand came up this month... I was asked if I've ever heard of it before. (I have not) And now you come out and tell us what blood you drink. I'm curious to read up on it. Have you ran Amsoil dominator in your car before?

Brad Penn Racing oil is local to me, there is a distributer literally 1/4mi from my house, and the refinery itself isn't too far away.. Thats what the shop puts in all the new motors, and thats what i use. Never had any issues with it at all. It goes in green and comes out green. And its a hell of a lot cheaper than Amsoil. I can get 12qts of ANY weight for About $55. I think 5qts of that Amsoil garbage is $75..... Screw that. Brad Penn Racing oil is in the 1000whp TPG 1g talon... Thats more than enough reason for me to use it !