warming up on cold mornings

warming up on cold mornings

Author
Discussion

tvr totty

Original Poster:

423 posts

264 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
hi people,

just a quickie!! - car is used everyday so at 7am when its chilly, what temp should oil get to before heading off, or is there a specified rev limit until oil reaches 50 degres. can't see anything in the hand book - but wanted to check

cheers

judas

6,154 posts

273 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
Starting up and driving off straight away is best, just keep it below 3000 rpm until the oil temperature hits 60 degrees. Leaving it idling until it warms up is not recommended

shadowninja

78,492 posts

296 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
yep, drive off from cold, but actually i keep it below 2000rpm until 80C.

Noticed it uses a lot less oil too.

NE1961

2,420 posts

295 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
John Ravenscroft recomended the following:-

FROM COLD

When starting, please be careful not to let it rev straight up so please make sure that you do not give it anything more than a tiny bit of throttle while cranking it over and then lift off as soon as it catches.

Then try to avoid more than 3,000 rpm until the oil (not water) temperature has exceeded 40 DegC, 4,000 rpm until 60DegC and 7,000 rpm until 80DegC. If it climbs above 110DegC, please keep the revs below 5,000 rpm until the oil temperature returns to normal.

Nick

Tuscan Planet

33 posts

260 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
I'm a bit conflicted on this as on some wet and cold mornings it is pretty lumpy for a few minutes and can't just "drive off" without cutting out. This means I have to play with the gas a bit to make it idle and I normally let it settle for a minute or two.

Am I causing problems this way?

cacatous

3,169 posts

287 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
I waited until the temp started to climb from whatever temperature. As long as it starts to climb then you're fine.

The engine is lumpy at start by nature but don't worry about that. JUST DON'T THRASH IT FROM COLD!!

plipton

1,302 posts

272 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
There's a 2000 rpm rev limiter which won't let you over-rev for the first few seconds. This allows the oil pressure to build up.

I tend to follow the instructions I got in a letter with the car - let it idle at around 1500rpm for 30 seconds then drive carefully until the oil warms up.

Letting it idle at start up will foul the plugs (found this out the hard way 3 days into ownership. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere)

shadowninja

78,492 posts

296 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
Tuscan Planet said:
I'm a bit conflicted on this as on some wet and cold mornings it is pretty lumpy for a few minutes and can't just "drive off" without cutting out. This means I have to play with the gas a bit to make it idle and I normally let it settle for a minute or two.

Am I causing problems this way?


can't you balance the throttle to make it drive smoother?

cacatous

3,169 posts

287 months

Thursday 6th November 2003
quotequote all
plipton said:
There's a 2000 rpm rev limiter which won't let you over-rev for the first few seconds. This allows the oil pressure to build up.

I tend to follow the instructions I got in a letter with the car - let it idle at around 1500rpm for 30 seconds then drive carefully until the oil warms up.

Letting it idle at start up will foul the plugs (found this out the hard way 3 days into ownership. I was stuck in the middle of nowhere)


Mine wasn't affected in 9 months of ownership doing this...

tvr totty

Original Poster:

423 posts

264 months

Friday 7th November 2003
quotequote all
thanks everyone, appreciate your advice as always

x

Chewbacca

58 posts

262 months

Friday 7th November 2003
quotequote all
But this thread has advice which is totally the opposite !!

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=65562&f=5&h=0

Not of interest to me now (since I got my refund) but since my car did not start on cold mornings I would love to know what is true is it...

a) Idle the car at 1500 for a little while before pulling off

or

b) DONT idle the car, just pull away

Since the advice here suggests that TVR have told customers that BOTH of these ways of doing things will foul the plugs.

Anyone have a REAL answer?

ehasler

8,573 posts

297 months

Friday 7th November 2003
quotequote all
I think it depends how long you define "a little while" to be.

The best advice seems to be:

1. Start engine and rev to 1500 rpm for 30 seconds or so, which prevents it from stalling when you fire it up.

2. Drive off and keep revs below 2500/3000 rpm until the oil temp warms up.

Some people chose to leave the car idling for longer, which isn't good for the engine.

Also, the engine will warm up more quickly if you put it under a bit of load (i.e., drive it slowly rather than sit there idling).

Mine starts perfectly even when it's cold and damp, and once it's been run for a few seconds at 1500 revs seems happy to idle without stalling or pull away. The car is parked outside as well.

>> Edited by ehasler on Friday 7th November 10:50

Podie

46,646 posts

289 months

Friday 7th November 2003
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Ed & Alf... don't forget to watch out for K reg Sierra's with dodgy alarms...!

ehasler

8,573 posts

297 months

Friday 7th November 2003
quotequote all
And Tuscan tyre valve covers

Podie

46,646 posts

289 months

Friday 7th November 2003
quotequote all
ehasler said:
And Tuscan tyre valve covers


Bloody tea leafs...

robp

5,799 posts

278 months

Friday 7th November 2003
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Driving off promtly is better for the engine, oil does not work when its thick and cold...the quicker you get the oil up to temp the better and loading then engine makes this happen quicker.

mcspreader

328 posts

275 months

Monday 10th November 2003
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I've found that the oil temp trails the water temp considerably. The suggestion that waiting til 80 degrees to give it some is, I think, a lttle conservative. I always wait for the OIL to reach about 60 degrees but with a solid lifter equipped car I wonder why? With hydraulic tappets it is important to hsve the right viscosity of oil pushing at the valves but with a solid lifter the oil has higher viscosity when colder thus giving extra protection as long as its had enought time to circulate fully. Although I believe this in theory I don't have the confidence or wallet capacity to check it out on a daily basis. What do our resident mechanical genii think?

Isley

58 posts

260 months

Tuesday 11th November 2003
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There is a lot of talk about what I percieve to be quite high oil temperatures. I have never seen mine go above 60 degrees so far