What do you consider "low"? I have to go up a steep hill right at the beginning of my drive. It's pretty much impossible to stay under 3k, and if I did it would probably do more harm dragging the engine up the hill.

 

agreed, warming engine is also hard on the catalitic converter. Another problem is that if you warm up the motor and then drive hard, the motor is the only thing that got warm (ie: the tranny didn't). By driving hard after sitting there warming up, you are stressing the transmission and drive train.

better to drive off nicely as per the manual and let the entire system warm up together. I'm a little surprised the the manual states a long warm up time of 30? seconds.

 

Warming up was necessary when cars had cast iron blocks and cast iron heads and used weak materials in all the hoses and piping in the cooling system, transmission, etc.. I am not going to ask if anyone here deals with any kind of carburators... LOL

Nowa day, all the rubber is synthetic and plastic and there is nothign cast iron to warm up. In my opinion, give it just a little while for the fluids to circulate and take it easy on the car for the first few minutes of driving. Increase both slightly when the weather is colder. Anything more than that you are proly just wasting gas.

 

No foreplay necessary, I just taxi it the 75 yards to my main street and then unleash the dogs.

 

What do you consider the 'softer range' for rpm, and a satisfactory temp needle?

- Frank

 

LOL I like your style

 

I usually let that car sit for about 10-15 seconds when it's cold then keep the RPM's below 2k until the temp needle is normal. Soft would be considered anything under 3k.

 

get a remote start then your problem is solved for waiting

 

+2. Wait 30 seconds, accelerate slowly until car gets in the normal operating range.

 

Thanks for all the great replies...

Couple small things just to re-iterate...

1. Probably going to let it warm up for about 30 seconds, just for the hell of it...and then drive "gently".

2. How do I drive "gently" when I live off a busy street? I literally drive about 1/4 mile out of my neighborhood, then hit a 50mph busy street.

3. When driving "gently", how long should you do it? Is it more based on time, or miles?

4. Let's say tomorrow I have to hop on the highway in the morning, which is only about 2 miles away, what's the best thing to do?

5. Let's say I'm trying to keep it under 3K RPM for however long?, can I accelerate fast to 3K rpm? Or must it be slow acceleration? It seems like everytime I slowly accelerate to 3K rpm, I have a car right up behind me.

Thanks,

Brad

 

Warm for 30-45 seconds, then drive off. Keep revs under 3k until temps is 1/2 way (doesn't take that long in LA) and then unleash the beast.

 

let it warm up also myself. i normally allow it to get to 1.2krms if not one then take off

 

1/2 way? Or do you just mean normal operating temperature? I thought when you hit operating temperature, the transmission still has to warm up too?

Also...does it matter how quick I accelerate to 3K?

 

I usually wait until its down to about 1k rpm. Other then that you can still hear the cold exhaust raoring.

 

Even though everyone says its ok to just drive off, I still wait. It has become a habit for me to start up the car in the morning, wait until the engine is warmed up to operating temperature, then drive off. I tried "driving soft" without letting it warm up once, and all I can say is, I'm never doing that again. It felt like my engine didn't have any juice and it didn't have power. I'll stick to my daily warm up.