Cold Tuscan?

[boxterbasher]

I'm a fairly new owner of a 2000 Tuscan 4.0 looking for some advice. Dealer and handbook both talk about importance of warming up to normal operating temp of 80 degrees plus for oil, mine takes forever to get there, regularly half an hour in slow traffic. Any ideas before I drag it down to the workshop? Or is this normal?

[Big Al.]

80! sounds a little over the top. 60 degs is the norm.
Just start it up and drive normally to get the oil to 60, then....... it's up to you.

[zippee]

Might be worth getting the sender checked or replaced as shouldn't take that long to warm up, especially when in traffic...

[Mustang Baz]

Ken - propose you also spend time reviewing the Tuscan forum as tonnes of posts on there about running temps. In short, I warm the car up to an oil temp of 60c, never taking it above 2.5k revs. This is actually more prudent that original John Ravenscroft recommendations, but has worked for me. Once above 60, generally keep to < 4k revs until 70c and then free to play! I always check the oil at the end of the journey, ideally within 30 secs of switching the engine off. Final item - do not simply switch the car on and leave it running, but warm the oil/water up on the go. Should take about 10 mins to get to 60c in normal, mild temps, but depends on time of year and the nature of your drive. Straight onto a m-way in winter tends to keep the oil temp on the screen below 50!