Engine warm up

[jeff kushner]

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.

This is exactly the reason when buying a used car,bike or truck....that I want to see them start it from dead-cold. I have seen owners start a dead-cold engine and begin revving it because they think YOU want to hear it. If they just let it warm on it's own, I can hear the engine and how things sound cold.....they never lie.

I'm not going to tell guys they have to do anything to their trucks....it's all yours, do what you want....just own the results as being due to those choices.

I never knew so many 5.4's were on duty in adjoining industries Flex....& you're 100% right...Fire Marshall requires testing monthly with a written log hung inside the enclosure if the Gensets are engaged in Life Safety power.

jeff

 

[Boostedbus]

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:

Yeah I was surprised 2 years ago after building a customer a new pool house to go with his new state of the art pool, he decided to have a generator set to power everything on his 189 acre farm. Some company came in and set a propane powered Modular Ford V10 with a turbocharger! I was jealous as hell as I gawked with awe at the beast! I joked with the owner about swapping it out with my 5.4 in my utility van telling him that he didn’t need all that power. Of course I would have had to leave the doghouse off to fit it.... but that would’ve been ok because she sure was impressive to look at!

 

[Motorcity muscle]

Laptop been acting up, finally got it working. Good feedback on long high idle, will plan on a tune up in spring. Oil life at 38% already, not even 2,000 miles, wondering if it's running rich and thinning oil, getting 17 miles highway and 13.7 int town.

 

[ExplorerTom]

I don’t think the oil life monitor is able to actually sample the oil when it’s determining the % remaining. It makes a “best guess” based on a number of parameters that it can measure (engine run time, temp, rpm......).

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Laptop been acting up, finally got it working. Good feedback on long high idle, will plan on a tune up in spring. Oil life at 38% already, not even 2,000 miles, wondering if it's running rich and thinning oil, getting 17 miles highway and 13.7 int town.

I don’t think the oil life monitor is able to actually sample the oil when it’s determining the % remaining. It makes a “best guess” based on a number of parameters that it can measure (engine run time, temp, rpm......).

ExplorerTom is correct. It's essentially just making an educated guess.

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/understanding-ford-service-indicator-lights-by-brent-minderler

 

[Plati]

The IOLM article is interesting. So for people who do extended idling , 3000 mile oil change intervals are advised. How appropriate!

 

[jwas1]

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]

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.

The 5.4L uses forged pistons, my understanding is that forged pistons are prone to cold piston slap despite being heavier duty.

GM LS motors get piston slap commonly, does not really hurt the engine in the long run but sounds like hell when cold.

 

[Motorcity muscle]

ExplorerTom is correct. It's essentially just making an educated guess.

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/understanding-ford-service-indicator-lights-by-brent-minderler

Good article, now has me thinking about changing coolant with the aluminum heads. Is there a test for coolant or just replace at 100,000 M.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Good article, now has me thinking about changing coolant with the aluminum heads. Is there a test for coolant or just replace at 100,000 M.

The specific gravity testers should be accurate as far as freeze protection. In terms of corrosion protection, I'm sure you could send it off to a lab, but I'm not aware of any simple method of testing.

 

[Boostedbus]

The 5.4L uses forged pistons, my understanding is that forged pistons are prone to cold piston slap despite being heavier duty.

GM LS motors get piston slap commonly, does not really hurt the engine in the long run but sounds like hell when cold.

Yeah I also have 09 Can Am Outlander 800 Atv that has a really bad (noisy) case of piston slap. My 2011 Outlander 800 is quiet as a church mouse but doesn’t run as good as the 09 slapper. That thing just flies.

 

[08T1]

Yes just let the vehicle warm up a bit.

 

[TobyU]

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.

That article admitted it was solely based on fuel and emissions.

I don't think anything needs to idle or warm up over 10 minutes but it can have a beneficial effect on longevity or at least wear on engine and some other parts vs starting and taking off like it was 70 out.

I always baby a cold car only lightly cracking throttle for first few minutes. But heck, I never pass 1/4 throttle in the whole time I own some cars. "Old man in Lincoln"

 

[JExpedition07]

I try to give my engines Wide Open Throttle occasionally. It’s good for them, runs the oil through hard, cleans carbon deposits, etc. Always been a believer engines like to be run and need to be run hard every now and again. That being said I too go light on the gas until warmed up. No good to ram the gas cold.

In the boating world we always give them nice long Wide Open Throttle runs every few rides to keep them exercised and clean. Some like to baby engines......I’ve never been one to do so....I religiously maintain (tune ups, oil, etc).....but I run them hard now and again.

 

[TobyU]

I used to say " I give them gas, water, and oil. If they blow up it's the engines fault!"

I've had more blown up than I care to remember. Lots of thursday night test and tunes and fri and sat running the streets light to light until we we had enough gas to get the last person dropped off and get the car back home. So you could bum some gas money from Mom the next day or monday.

It is good to blow the carbon out every now and then. But on the old modulars in cars with plastic intakes I have purposely made them fail more than once.
There was a recall for police/taxi/limo and myself and friends had several that qualified.
This was when ford wanted 640 for the intake and job was about 1100-1200.
We could get a new intake mail order for 349.00 at the time but if it was covered...

It had to break though.

Amazing how many cracked and leaked with one or two good kick downs on the highway. 20mph 1st gear kick down to shift to 2nd usually did it.
These mods with ohv are know to flex around more. Some people don't like ohv because of the head/cam flex.
But this was usually enough to pop them.
We were 14 miles from dealer or choice. We would hop on highway and kick it down and when we go there look for leaks and key drop it in the lot or drive it back if no cracks.

I have JB weld topped with rtv several to get them there.

If you have something that is going to break soon or eventually anyway....kicking them down can very well break it NOW. If you keep babying it as you have been, you might never "straw" and break that camel's back. You might sell it or trade it in with nothing having broken yet.

So it's a catch 22. On my play cars. I drive them like I stole them. They are play toys and if it breaks I will replace it with something better, stronger, faster (cue music..dum dum da daaaa) Steve Austin astronaut..we can rebuild him.

My daily driver and wife's, son's, useful ones..I don't have time, patience, money to fix...so it's "Old Man in a Lincoln" driving for everyone!!!
Or " No soup for you"

 

[Boostedbus]

I try to give my engines Wide Open Throttle occasionally. It’s good for them, runs the oil through hard, cleans carbon deposits, etc. Always been a believer engines like to be run and need to be run hard every now and again. That being said I too go light on the gas until warmed up. No good to ram the gas cold.

In the boating world we always give them nice long Wide Open Throttle runs every few rides to keep them exercised and clean. Some like to baby engines......I’ve never been one to do so....I religiously maintain (tune ups, oil, etc).....but I run them hard now and again.

You especially had to air out the old 4bbl. carbureted engines every now and then or the secondary linkage would sieze up. My grandad showed me when I was a kid, he’d take me out in his old 472 ci. Coupe DeVille Caddy and as he always said “blow the carbon out”. He’d even take me in his Sisters old 425 ci. Nail head Buick out once a year at Christmas time when we were all together and blow the carbon out! She always swore it would run better when we brought it back. I remember it would cough and sputter when he’d kick into it the first few passes and then it would straighten out after a few good whind ups.

 

[JohnT]

I hate those EPA puff pieces that assume everyone lives in California. Up here in -40C you plug your car in overnight if you can and remote start it 10 minutes before you get in. Otherwise the windows freeze up on the inside, power steering pumps blow lines, and the driver is in danger of frostbite before the car warms up. Further north the diesel guys let their engines run all day if it's really cold.

 

[cmiles97]

Whether in FL , Alabama or now Albany, NY. Since I've owned fuel injected vehicles, I startup and go without warmup, unless I need to clear snow & scrape the windshield. I hate wasting gas for no reason. I do this for my motorcycles too.

No issues so far.

Now if the owner's manual said it was required, then I would do it but would wonder why.

Edit: I grew up near Canada in NYS and have had 3 V-8 camaros (2 while living in PA). 3 Dodges with v-8s.

 

[jimz]

If the vehicle is operating as it should why aren't designed features enough to do their jobs. Like engine oil pressure for proper lubrication or other operating limits. Why wouldn't starting the motor and driving off be OK? Otherwise, The owner's manual should tell us of dangerous conditions. I start the motor, wait for passengers to have seatbelts on and then check to see if it is clear to move. By then, the oil pressure is up and all should be good to go.

 

[Plati]

I hate those EPA puff pieces that assume everyone lives in California. Up here in -40C you plug your car in overnight if you can and remote start it 10 minutes before you get in. Otherwise the windows freeze up on the inside, power steering pumps blow lines, and the driver is in danger of frostbite before the car warms up. Further north the diesel guys let their engines run all day if it's really cold.

Do you know (or think) that engines wear out sooner with that COLD stress? What parts fail more prematurely, if any? Many say the most stressful time for an engine is cold oil startup … until all the parts normalize to an operating temperature, so that should be observable in engines up in the COLD north of beautiful Canada. Do they start to burn / consume oil sooner than a les stressful environment? My 2003 5.4 consumes a quart at 180K miles on the clock … by the time the 6K oil change rolls around. Just an estimate, dunt really know, just know I have to monitor and add oil once or twice.

minus 40 Celsius is equal to minus 40 Fahrenheit … only temp that happens (same number)!