Warming up the car
Discussion
In principle you should wait till the water reaches a steady temperature then add around 5-10 min to allow the oil to heat up.
If you have an oil temperature gauge, you will notice how the oil temperature lags behind the water temp. The oil's viscosity changes with increasing temperature and this affects the way it works. This is less of an issue with the multigrade oils that are used as std, but a variety of engine components will function / last a lot better if oil is able to function as intended. You don't want to be booting a car when the oil is so cold it flows like treacle.
If you have an oil temperature gauge, you will notice how the oil temperature lags behind the water temp. The oil's viscosity changes with increasing temperature and this affects the way it works. This is less of an issue with the multigrade oils that are used as std, but a variety of engine components will function / last a lot better if oil is able to function as intended. You don't want to be booting a car when the oil is so cold it flows like treacle.
Motorbikes tend to run hotter and with higher revs than most cars, but in many ways Lotus cars run the same as they are performance cars.
All bike manuals ( and even the Lotus handbook ) say you must not warm up through extended idling. You start up, then drive off on low but crisp revs/throttle openings.
BMW manuals used to have a massive 'VERBOTTEN' tag on the idling warm up thing.
The reason is that the engine then helps work the oil warm by 'crunching' it, or using it. It takes far, far less time to warm oil this way than by idling, and idling just creates hotspots.
BUT...as the oil is cold, it needs to be warmed gently. I think 3000 revs still gives about 60-70 mph in a S1, so it is not a hardship to keep the revs at 3k or so for 15 minutes or so.
After that the oil should be warm , the water up to temperature too - so now you can cane it and chase down that Nissan Micra who thought he was Nigel Mansell when he overtook you 10 or so minutes ago.....
All bike manuals ( and even the Lotus handbook ) say you must not warm up through extended idling. You start up, then drive off on low but crisp revs/throttle openings.
BMW manuals used to have a massive 'VERBOTTEN' tag on the idling warm up thing.
The reason is that the engine then helps work the oil warm by 'crunching' it, or using it. It takes far, far less time to warm oil this way than by idling, and idling just creates hotspots.
BUT...as the oil is cold, it needs to be warmed gently. I think 3000 revs still gives about 60-70 mph in a S1, so it is not a hardship to keep the revs at 3k or so for 15 minutes or so.
After that the oil should be warm , the water up to temperature too - so now you can cane it and chase down that Nissan Micra who thought he was Nigel Mansell when he overtook you 10 or so minutes ago.....
Ignore the revs, its not these that are the enemy of a cold engine, in fact in many ways high revs help as it gets the oil pump working harder and oil circulating better around engine, which will also warm the oil faster. Its high loads you should avoid. My usual routine, would be to start car up, immediately drive it, and generally leave it in a lower gear than I maybe normally would so third gets used a lot until its warm. Once the water is up to temp I leave it another ten mins or so before using all the juice.
LivinLaVidaLotus said:
3k revs up to a steady 87-89C on the stack, then max of 4k (maybe 4.5k briefly) for another 5-10 mins (depending on how cold it is out). Then it can have the full beans.
Mine doesnt reach that kind of temp in normal driving conditions so does that mean i should never put my foot down? 
Seriously though, mine does only hover around 83/84 in normal conditions (no traffic jams)
I let mine get to about 88-90 on the stack before giving it some welly. Even if you're journey like mine starts on a dual carridgeway 70 in 5th is about 3k revs.
To slightly hijack this thread, I understand it's just as important to let the car cool properly...how does one go about that? Is it just a case of not thrasing it when you're almost at your destination or what?
To slightly hijack this thread, I understand it's just as important to let the car cool properly...how does one go about that? Is it just a case of not thrasing it when you're almost at your destination or what?
boobles said:
LivinLaVidaLotus said:
3k revs up to a steady 87-89C on the stack, then max of 4k (maybe 4.5k briefly) for another 5-10 mins (depending on how cold it is out). Then it can have the full beans.
Mine doesnt reach that kind of temp in normal driving conditions so does that mean i should never put my foot down? Seriously though, mine does only hover around 83/84 in normal conditions (no traffic jams)
lee111s said:
I let mine get to about 88-90 on the stack before giving it some welly. Even if you're journey like mine starts on a dual carridgeway 70 in 5th is about 3k revs.
To slightly hijack this thread, I understand it's just as important to let the car cool properly...how does one go about that? Is it just a case of not thrasing it when you're almost at your destination or what?
I think this is only an issue if you have been tracking the car or it is extremely hot but the fan has not cut in ( or just gone off as you stop ).To slightly hijack this thread, I understand it's just as important to let the car cool properly...how does one go about that? Is it just a case of not thrasing it when you're almost at your destination or what?
Reason being, that when you turn off the ignition there is an immediate heat surge through the engine and radiator - try turning the stack back on a few seconds after, and you will see the temperature has gone up about 3-6 degrees.
So if you stop and the fan is about to cut in, let it do so, let it runs its cycle and bring the temperature down, then kill the engine. The 'surge' is accounted for!
Likewise, if you stop and the fan is on, let it run its cycle.
I think the surge factor and K series engines is what tends to make Lotus owners worry more about this, but I'm pretty confident it only matters after hard track abuse...and even then not too much.
It's the oil that needs to get warm, not the water; I have an Audi that takes about 5 mins to reach oil temp of 60 degrees, after the water has reached medium. After it reaches that temperature the dash info ( typical nazi attention to detail) indicates that it is OK to 'red line' the car, but I wait until it hits the upper 90's which is the regular operating temperature.
The K series has a relatively low water capacity and I understand that most of the HGF's etc are due to thermal shock.To check that the engine has warmed through, the best way forward is an oil temp gauge.
If you do not have an oil temp gauge, I understand that it is possible to put an oil temp sender unit in a spare 'plug' in the engine and share the water read out on the stack with a small button - Someone on SELOC can probably give you a full tech spec with all of the details required!
Or you could get the AA mechanical cover and let them worry about it.....
The K series has a relatively low water capacity and I understand that most of the HGF's etc are due to thermal shock.To check that the engine has warmed through, the best way forward is an oil temp gauge.
If you do not have an oil temp gauge, I understand that it is possible to put an oil temp sender unit in a spare 'plug' in the engine and share the water read out on the stack with a small button - Someone on SELOC can probably give you a full tech spec with all of the details required!
Or you could get the AA mechanical cover and let them worry about it.....
Tin Hat said:
The K series has a relatively low water capacity and I understand that most of the HGF's etc are due to thermal shock.
True, but from a thermal shock perspective it's water temperature that matters rather than oil temperature. Not that you should thrash any engine when the oil is cold, but K-series engines suffer no more from this than any other engine. wantalotus said:
The rev limiter is 'interactive' so if the engine is cold it cuts in earlier, sometimes as low as 4,500 rpm. Bes wise to wait 'till the coolant display shows a temp I think, before giving it some.
The 'interactive' rev-limiter isn't bound to the oil temperature though, it's water. Giving the car 'some' just after the ECU unlocks the 2nd cam isn't a wise thing to do. My Exige generally takes around 5 to 10 minutes after the water temp hits 87°C until the oil is at the recommended 70+°C spot.I never understood why a "sportscar" never came with an oil temp guage...I mean most german family saloons have them these days
mostyly good advice here ...all I did with mine was the same, drive it gently, keep the revs down until the oil was over 60deg
youd be surprised, especially if you have a car with an oil cooler fitted (S2111S onwards I think) just how long the oil can take to get up to temp in the winter
mostyly good advice here ...all I did with mine was the same, drive it gently, keep the revs down until the oil was over 60deg
youd be surprised, especially if you have a car with an oil cooler fitted (S2111S onwards I think) just how long the oil can take to get up to temp in the winter
bogie said:
I never understood why a "sportscar" never came with an oil temp guage...I mean most german family saloons have them these days
It may be a sportscar but it's got a shopping trolley engine. How many Toyotas do you think get warmed up carefully? The K-series has a known flaw which means you need to get the water temperature up but given how much lighter the Elise is than the Rover/Toyotas that the engines come from, I think being too fastidious in warming them up is a bit silly, personally. Have there actually been a significant number of wear related Toyota engine failures which have been attributed to cold oil?
Gassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff