Engine warm up

[Motorcity muscle]

When starting my '07 when it is cold, well below freezing, the engine stays on high idle for three or four minutes before returning to a normal idle speed. Curious how many let the truck return to a normal idle before driving off. The only vehicles I remember with this long of a warm up had a carburetor. Wonder if this has to do with peoples differences in the cam phasers/chain problems.

 

[JExpedition07]

Mine did the same last winter, would sit at 1,250 RPM for a few minutes. During the summer I did a full tune up (plugs, boots, fuel filter, air filter). It no longer has a prolonged high idle this winter post tune up. It goes back down to 1000 RPM within a few seconds.

 

[1955moose]

Could be the worn plugs or other worn secondary ignition parts is telling the computer to stay in closed loop longer. That and the colder temps are going to vary how long the enrichment cycle activates. As a vehicle gets older, along with various sensors slowly failing, it's a wonder it works at all. In the old days when I was a young moose, we had carburetors with heat sensitive coil springs on the carbs. They worked either by electric current, or in earlier ones by a tube from the exaust up to the carb. Most times they worked, but when any little thing went south, power loss to choke, exaust pipe breakage/ blockage, you pumped the throttle 2-4 times and hoped for the best. Ah the good old crappy days!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

I just wait until it drops a tad before I head off. In warmer weather I let it level out completely, but I'm not sitting there for 5 minutes in the cold.

 

[lbv150]

We let all our vehicles warm up to normal operating temperature before driving. If that means running for 15 minutes on cold mornings so be it.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I let it idle as I scrape the windows (but I park in a garage at home).

And then there's this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...driving/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bed548fad1ce

But some people also change their oil every 3,000 miles.

 

[JExpedition07]

I let it idle as I scrape the windows (but I park in a garage at home).

And then there's this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...driving/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bed548fad1ce

But some people also change their oil every 3,000 miles.

I disagree with this article but agree with you. I always let it idle down. Half that article is EPA BS, they just don’t want you to idle because of pullution. They could care less about your engine. It’s simply untrue what they say about idling. Shutting down and restarting the engine instead of extended Idling causes more wear and damage to starters.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Tons of cars with that "auto start" feature where the engine shuts off at stop lights.

 

[JExpedition07]

Tons of cars with that "auto start" feature where the engine shuts off at stop lights.

Valid point. Relatively new tech though and the few studies done on it show it to be a loser as the saved fuel is low and won’t cover extra starter replacements. Maybe they have it to the point of better reliability though, jury is still out there. Many owners of newer expys have opted to disable the feature. Sorry I brought us off topic here.

 

[Plati]

Start my 2014EL 5.4 up and its idle drops to 750rpm in less than 30 seconds then I'll slip it into gear and go. Drive easy first few minutes until it warms lives & limbers up.

The extended idle warm-up routine is so 1970's.

 

[jeff kushner]

"when I was a young moose, we had carburetors with heat sensitive coil springs on the carbs. They worked either by electric current, or in earlier ones by a tube from the exhaust up to the carb."

That is some funny stuff right there!

My dad used to drive an XKE w 12 cylinders in a row, he also had a Conentinal. They weren't new but he liked them. When the first gas crunch hit in 73, he bought what was the Civic. The choke was a rod to the plate going up through a "cup" filled with wax. You got in, pressed the petal once or 100 times, the rod stuck in the wax & choke activated until the heat of the engine would melt it allowing the rod/plate to open. Not sure if the EGR ran though as it did on many cars but it still holds "my record" for weirdest but cool tech.

Yeah, I warm my engines since "cold engine/cold oil" & "hot engine/cold oil" combinations are both #2 & 3 on the most destructive time any engine is run(startup is #1).

jeff

 

[Boostedbus]

My 08 van with the 5.4 2v has a case of piston slap since about 10,000 miles ( now has 102,000 mi.) . If I don’t let it warm up it sounds like it’s gonna fly apart until the pistons swell and close the tolerances. I’m definitely not taking advice from the EPA or the DOE. Once the engine is operating temperature it sounds and runs great. A lot of piston slap problems with newer engines are because of shorter skirts or skirtless pistons designed for less rotating weight for fuel mileage. Thanks EPA !

 

[Plati]

My 08 van with the 5.4 2v has a case of piston slap since about 10,000 miles ( now has 102,000 mi.) . If I don’t let it warm up it sounds like it’s gonna fly apart until the pistons swell and close the tolerances. I’m definitely not taking advice from the EPA or the DOE. Once the engine is operating temperature it sounds and runs great. A lot of piston slap problems with newer engines are because of shorter skirts or skirtless pistons designed for less rotating weight for fuel mileage. Thanks EPA !

First time I've ever heard anyone complain about shorter skirts. Ha!

 

[Boostedbus]

First time I've ever heard anyone complain about shorter skirts. Ha!

Lol! I knew that was coming! My real complaint is that I don’t like my piston slapping around in the hole! I like it tighter and gliding smoother!

 

[Plati]

This is actually a bit more complicated than I originally thought. You have a lot of factors in play at startup. Temperature of the oil and related viscosity. Oil pressure and flow. Parts expansion and tolerances. Rich fuel air mixture and related washing of lubricant. Fuel economy aspects (few care about this one). Clearly engine startup is the highest engine wear event ... In an otherwise healthy system.

 

[Flexpedition]

My company has thousands of generators across the globe. Dozen in every large city. A fair number of the smaller fixed ones are Generac ranging between 50kW - 90kW, most of them powered by...... Ford 5.4L V8s.

Once a month they are test started and immediately throttled up and full load applied. Makes no difference if they are gasoline, propane, or CNG powered. Ran full and hard for 30 minutes and then shut down for the next 30 days or until the local electric company has an outage. (outage = meth head recycling copper)

Example out of its enclosure:

 

[ExplorerTom]

We let all our vehicles warm up to normal operating temperature before driving. If that means running for 15 minutes on cold mornings so be it.

So let’s be clear: even in the summer, you let it idle and get up to 192+ degrees before driving? How are you even determining that it is up to temp anyway? The dummy gauge on the dash?

 

[Clemson82]

So let’s be clear: even in the summer, you let it idle and get up to 192+ degrees before driving? How are you even determining that it is up to temp anyway? The dummy gauge on the dash?

I didn't understand it that way. The original post states "when it is cold, well below freezing". I think he's responding to what he does in this type of weather.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I didn't understand it that way. The original post states "when it is cold, well below freezing". I think he's responding to what he does in this type of weather.

So at 40 degrees (above freezing, but not by much) is the engine still allowed to get to operating temp before driving? At what temp do you just get in, start it up, let come off high idle and go?

 

[Trainmaster]

Either you let the engine and transmission warm up a bit or you drive very lightly until it warms up. Only a woman would nail it when the thing's cold. Good way to wear things out fast.

Many folks don't realize that the government's EPA pays media outlets millions to print propaganda pieces like the one mentioned. Don't trust much you read in the mainstream. It's paid content.