Engine sounds better when cold?

[xain]

Hi all,

Has anyone else noticed that the exhaust node sounds better when the engine is cold? On my 500 I get a fabulous gentle howl from somewhere at around 3000rpm, but it goes away a bit when it warms up.

It's either from the exhaust or the intake. I just wondered whether it could be due to the mixture being richer at startup. I tried SuperUL but that made no difference to the exhaust note.

[GreenV8s]

If you ever plan to sell the car to anyone on Pistonheads, you'd better keep this to yourself, revving it hard from cold is very bad for the engine!

[JonRB]

[xain]

Well you can hear it kick in at about 2.5K, and it reaches it's peak at 3K. That's not really thrashing it, now is it? Especially since there are some people out there who won't ever let the engine drop below 2K rpm. Doesn't leave them a lot of room to play with.

[Gerrard]

"..don't go over two and a half thousand rpm until the water temperature is over 70 degrees." - so sayeth my dealer.

[GreenV8s]

quote:
Well you can hear it kick in at about 2.5K, and it reaches it's peak at 3K. That's not really thrashing it, now is it? Especially since there are some people out there who won't ever let the engine drop below 2K rpm. Doesn't leave them a lot of room to play with.

I misread your original post, I thought you said 'from around 3000 rpm' meaning above 3000 rpm, presumably under some load. Sorry, withdraw my comment.

Could it be your strange noise is caused by an exhaust leak that is closing up as things get hot and expand?

[MikeyT]

quote:
"..don't go over two and a half thousand rpm until the water temperature is over 70 degrees." - so sayeth my dealer.

But that is the water temp and not the oil temp, so I aways wait until I've done 10-15 miles before going over 3000rpm. Trouble is, I'm sometimes there by then!

[paul-wh]

Mikey,

Haven't you heard of taking a long cut? The junction of the A1 where I join to go to work is only 5 minutes away which means the engine is still cold when I get there but it is oh so easy to take a diversion and warm the engine up first. Just one of the chores of TVR ownership

[xain]

>But that is the water temp and not
>the oil temp, so I aways wait until
>I've done 10-15 miles before going
>over 3000rpm. Trouble is, I'm
>sometimes there by then!

That's probably worse for it :-( The problem is, what happens if you pull onto a dual carriageway right after starting up. You *have* to do about 2800 rpm. Surely the revs aren't so bad (assuming we're talking below 4K) it's the loading that's worst. If you light throttle it like you would cruising on the motorway, that's got to be the best way to get it up to temp with the least stress?

Just curious

[Steve _T]

Quick question on a related note. I watch the oil pressure as a means to gauge when the engine is warm. I wait until the pressure drops to around 15ish when idling (starts at 40ish when cold) and only then go above 2500 rpm. Is this right or should I be doing something else.

Thanks,

Steve