Driving habits and shifting with cold engine/oil?

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
My neighbor drives a new Mustang GT. His rule is that once the starter is completely disengaged it's a signal that the engine is completely warmed up and full throttle is the order of the day. He claims that since he only keeps a car 2 years it makes no difference how he drives other than the rear tires don't last very long.


That's how I drove my first car. 2 pedal positions - idle and floor. Bought it with 58k and it was still running strong at 175k. The body was the weak link.

I drive them normally - if I need power and it's cold, the pedal goes to the floor. If I don't, it doesn't. I try to keep it that simple. And it seems to be working.

 

[Delta]

Originally Posted By: il_signore97
My Benz (like most German cars) has a secondary air pump, and almost never has a high idle. In sub-freezing weather, it may idle around 1,000 RPM for 10 - 15 seconds after start up, but that's it. Right back to 650 rpm immediately after the initial 10-15 seconds. The secondary air pump turns on for about 1-2 minutes (depending on outside temp) to warm up the cats.


That's the way my Jetta is. It's a noisy little bugger though, the loudest cold start of all the vehicles I've owned. But like you mentioned, it might idle 10 seconds at 1,000rpms and then taper off to normal. Typically when the car is cold I'll shift at a little bit lower RPM's and take my time getting up to highway speeds. The state highway is about a mile from my house, not much warming up gonna go on so I just take it easy till the temp gets up.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I always accelerate slow,and also shift nice and easy at low rpm until the temp gauge rises.


I drive this way always, not just in the cold. Makes bearing EPA mileage numbers easy.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
The only thing I do different on my Camaro between a hot day and a cold day, is I'll rev the engine to ~1700 rpm instead of letting it sit at idle speed when the engine is cold to quiet the piston slap. Otherwise, in daily driver use in Detroit Metro traffic, my normal shift point is 2300 rpm, and my normal throttle setting for acceleration is ~1/8" of depression on the accelerator. And I still outrun traffic. The Camaro is so overpowered for normal use, I can go for weeks during the winter without getting WOT or revving over 3000 rpm. Then when spring comes, it's time to let the beast loose.


Same here.

In fact, I even put a 5000 RPM 'pill' in the shift light, and lower the rev limiter to ~5850 revs, just to remind myself it is winter. (In case I get carried away.

)

The ONLY time I will go crazy/WOT is when I go back to Joyzee.
The engine/trans is FULLY warm/heat soaked by the time I get to the uphill entrance to RT. 78 east (about 50 minutes of highway driving in), so I do a few "Italian Tuneup" style pulls up to ~5800 revs for a few seconds, then back down to a steady 4500 revs for a few miles just to 'clean out the pipes'.

 

[hpb]

With a manual trans, from cold I change up at whatever half the redline is, for example if the redline is 6000rpm, I change up at 3000rpm. There is no rhyme nor reason for this, it's just something I do! In an automatic, I just let the car decide for itself. I consider 2 or 3 kilometers of driving to be enough of a warm up. And I never idle my vehicles prior to driving. Pretty much start the engine, put my seatbelt on, go. With my motorbikes I'll start them, put on my neckwarmer, helmet and gloves, go.

 

[il_signore97]

Originally Posted By: Clevy


Now that's interesting. I didn't know that about a secondary air pump.


Here in sask we get real cold for a couple months. I plug in my vehicles once ambient evening temps go lower than -10. Coolant blows warm air almost immediately,even when it's -30.
I let my vehicles warm up when it's real cold. Once I get warm air from the vents I'll start driving.



Almost all German cars have the secondary air pump (not sure how long ago this trend started though), but there are a very small quantity of domestic cars that ended up with one of these as well (Oldsmobile Aurora comes to mind - again, not sure which years / sub-models). It's nice because there literally is almost no high idle - which is really nice for all of us manual transmission users. With my old Altima, I would try to drive off after a couple of minutes, but I'd have to pull the clutch out with the thing running at almost 2000 rpm (no gas pedal at all of course). Really annoying. Either had to let it run for 5-10 minutes, or kill the clutch needlessly.

I love block heaters as well, but being in Ontario, we definitely don't get as much of an opportunity to use them like you guys do!!!!! (Thankfully)

Originally Posted By: Delta
That's the way my Jetta is. It's a noisy little bugger though, the loudest cold start of all the vehicles I've owned. But like you mentioned, it might idle 10 seconds at 1,000rpms and then taper off to normal. Typically when the car is cold I'll shift at a little bit lower RPM's and take my time getting up to highway speeds. The state highway is about a mile from my house, not much warming up gonna go on so I just take it easy till the temp gets up.


Some of those pumps can be pretty loud! My friend used to have a VW Beetle (early 2000's model with the 2.0 L) and it sounded like a central vacuum cleaner when cold lol.

I often also have to get straight onto an interstate-style highway when the car is still very cold. I just keep to myself on the right side of the highway, keeping up with speed but not pushing too hard at least for the first 5 min or so after entering. If the RPM has to creep up, so be it. I prefer to drive fast enough to be safe rather than be a road hazard, especially in winter! Don't want to cause any accidents on my behalf

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: hpb
With a manual trans, from cold I change up at whatever half the redline is, for example if the redline is 6000rpm, I change up at 3000rpm. There is no rhyme nor reason for this, it's just something I do! In an automatic, I just let the car decide for itself. I consider 2 or 3 kilometers of driving to be enough of a warm up. And I never idle my vehicles prior to driving. Pretty much start the engine, put my seatbelt on, go. With my motorbikes I'll start them, put on my neckwarmer, helmet and gloves, go.


Just how cold does it ever get there, even in the middle of your winter??

 

[spasm3]

I accelerate easy, i try to keep it under 2500 for the first few miles.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: SnowDrifter
So there are 2 trains of thought I have with this, but I'm not sure which is more accurate

With a cold motor: Do I short shift a bit to keep the RPMs down / higher torque from motor since the oil is cold and thick - avoid sending the oil pump into bypass?

Or do I shift at normal speed, but go easy on the gas - higher RPM and lower torque. Maybe lower torque because parts of the motor haven't expanded into tolerance?

Yeah I'm probably overthinking this... But the general population would say we over think most things on here anyway

The higher the rev's the greater the rate of wear and if the oil pump is in by-pass mode, less throttle and therefore a lower engine load is preferable.

On nice thing about having an oil pressure gauge is that you can use it as a variable red-line during warm-up, shifting before the OP hits the oil pump by-pass (relief) setting. As the oil heats up and thins out you'll be able to use progressively higher rev's before hitting by-pass. This way you never have overly restricted oil flow.

Of course if you're running a heavy low VI oil grade on a very cold start you're oil pump will be in by-pass the second the engine is fired up and remain so even on idle. All the more reason to run the lightest, highest VI oil available that still allows you to maintain the required OP when the engine is fully hot...

 

[fdcg27]

Slow and easy until the oil is warmed up.
This means light throttle as well as staying below 3000 revs.
If other drivers object to this, they're welcomed to pass.
I will idle a car in the driveway if needed to loosen ice that I can't scrape off or if the morning temperature is below 0F.
I usually get in, start and go.
The engine warms pretty quickly while driving, more so than it does idling in the driveway.
OTOH, you could probably floorboard the thing from cold and your engine would probably last the life of the car as a whole anyway.
I just hate being hard on equipment and consider that kind of use to be ignorant, as well as wasteful of fuel.

 

[Alltherage]

I try to drive easy but honestly I agree with it guy....I've had work trucks that I drove regular when cold and they never leaked or burned oil.

 

[hpb]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: hpb
With a manual trans, from cold I change up at whatever half the redline is, for example if the redline is 6000rpm, I change up at 3000rpm. There is no rhyme nor reason for this, it's just something I do! In an automatic, I just let the car decide for itself. I consider 2 or 3 kilometers of driving to be enough of a warm up. And I never idle my vehicles prior to driving. Pretty much start the engine, put my seatbelt on, go. With my motorbikes I'll start them, put on my neckwarmer, helmet and gloves, go.


Just how cold does it ever get there, even in the middle of your winter??


Where I live, it is rare for the temperature to get below 0 degrees celsius (32F). And I'm quite happy with that!

 

[Fordtrucktexan]

On a cold day, I cycle the glow plugs a few times and fire the truck up. Most of the time I let the oil get up to at least 150*F, but if I'm in a hurry I throw it in drive and drive easy until the oil gets up to temp.

 

[Shannow]

Have a hill outside our place, so on the turbodiesel, I have two choices...pull out then run to 2,500-3,000 to the end of the street, or try to snatch second on a cold gearbox.

Can't snatch second, you have to float it through the first change of the day, which being on a hill, means that you need to have enough speed to lose some on the change. You can't get first back if you flub it without a double clutch, and by then you come to a near stop.

3,000RPM is actually the most mechanically sympathetic without upsetting other drivers if they turn into the street.

Best plan of all is parking nose down the hill, and short shifting into second, but I've been ticketted for that (parking wrong way).

Yes, the oil pump is in bypass, which means absolutely nothing to a cold engine.

 

[Oil Changer]

I love these threads.

Exactly like oil recommendation threads, BITOG push and shove each other to post in a warm-up thread.

Exactly like oil recommendation threads, the responses are entirely predictable. My favorite are the ones from the guys South recanting how they just jump in and go. Then the guys from SoCal quote that and add that anything else is poisoning the atmosphere and wasting fuel. No one thinks about the mother with the newborn when it's -20.

Exactly like oil recommendation threads, there is only one correct answer to the warm-up question. I quote from from a recent oil recommendation thread:

"There's no hard and fast rules I guess when it comes to lubricants. There are too many variables to make a blanket statement so each application must be considered on a case by case basis."

Learn it. Live it.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
No one thinks about the mother with the newborn when it's -20.


As I advised my mate back in 2000...put M1 0W40 in your car (Subaru, symetrical thing), as your wife will be thinking of your newborn son ahead of anything that you might tell her about warming up said vehicle.

Was right, she was nearly in third before she got the key out of the start position.

Driving habits and shifting with a cold engine are not something that you teach mothers with newborns, regardless of location.

 

[fdcg27]

Common sense has to be applied.
When we had small children, you can bet that the car we were taking off in got some idling in the driveway to get heater output going in very cold weather before I put wife and kids in it.
Another case where it would make good sense to warm the car at idle would be when departing in freezing rain.
You'd be amazed at how quickly freezing rain will glaze over a windshield without heat to defrost it.
You can guess how I discovered this.

 

[Droopy]

Honestly I idle any engine I have(Nitro motors for my rc's, 2 cycle rc engine I have, lawn equipment and so on). For my car I let it idle until the temp gauge comes up a tick which varies from 2 minutes to about 5 minutes depending on the temp outside. Then I drive it easy until operating temp and then drive normal. On my Accord when I have the Eco button on, the rpm's aren't effected when I put the heater on. On other cars I've had the rpm's would increase whenever I put them on.

 

[oilpsi2high]

I start it up and then drive like there's an egg under the gas pedal until it's fully warmed up.

If it's single digits or below I'll let it idle for a minute before driving off. Also if my windows are frozen I'll let it idle with the front and rear defrosters on while I am scraping the windows.

Never a problem.