How's Best To Warm Her Up?

[84Stoney]

Can anyone help settle a discussion i was having with a mate over the weekend...

Obviously i know not to thrash my car from cold (especially not with the charger).

The question is, how is it best to warm it up to running temp?

Leave it ticking over until warm? (when time allows!) Or drive gently (keeping below 3k revs)?

Or does it make any difference?

[SHAHZ]

manual says to run for around 10 secs before pulling off (if i remember rightly), i keep the revs as low as possible until its warmed up

[shake]

what shahz says.

remember its illegal to leave the car running without a person in the drivers seat(they must have a valid licence). i remember someone left their car running on their own drive, they got done by the police.

[Rikos]

I heard that someone got done for leaving their car running, thats another stupid reason for the police to give you a fine or points!! If it gets stolen it's their own fault and insurance is invalid anyway.

[84Stoney]

remember its illegal to leave the car running without a person in the drivers seat(they must have a valid licence). i remember someone left their car running on their own drive, they got done by the police.

That does ring a bell actually, now you mention it. On the road maybe, but surely on private land they cant enforce that!

I heard that someone got done for leaving their car running, thats another stupid reason for the police to give you a fine or points!! If it gets stolen it's their own fault and insurance is invalid anyway.

Well obviously you would be doing that at your own risk. I leave it outside my flat, in a reasonably nice area, and lock all of the doors (though not alarmed) for a couple of minutes. Only done so a couple of times thou.

Slightly but on a similar note. My mate was told by Police that it was illegal to bump-start his motorbike with a dead Battery, as your apparently not allowed to ride it without the engine running, even for a few seconds, in an emergency!

How mental is that? To obey the law he was told to push it home on the pavement if it would not start! Obviously he waited for the fool to leave then bumped it. Have you ever tried pushing a motorbike 18 miles home!!!

[Scorps01]

I do it a lot when its cold in the mornings.

I start her up, lock all doors from the switch inside then ulock drivers door get out then lock drivers door with the spare key and go inside and have a cuppa while it warms up but i do live in a cul-de-sac :D

[Hostile Smoker]

I used to do that with my last car, but then it didn't have door handles so was perfectly safe...

You can get remote start on Clifford alarms (& no doubt others) so you can start it up without leaving the house, if anyone jumps in & tries to drive off it just shuts the engine off without the keys. But yes, on a public road it is illegal (same as turbo timers)

[WylieCoyote]

Letting it warm up idle is bad for the engine. The advice is to give it a few seconds and then drive gently until warm.

[84Stoney]

I start her up, lock all doors from the switch inside then ulock drivers door get out then lock drivers door with the spare key.

Yeh, thats the method.

I looked into alarms with remote starters that keep it alarmed and would be easier to use (no need to leave the house!), but couldn't justify the cost! So are these people (all the top names do them) making alarm systems that promote ILLEGAL actions then?

Letting it warm up idle is bad for the engine. The advice is to give it a few seconds and then drive gently until warm.

That's the answer i was fishing for! I thought i had been told this before, which is why i hadn't done it very often! But is nice to have the climate control and seats up to temp!

[Hostile Smoker]

So are these people (all the top names do them) making alarm systems that promote ILLEGAL actions then?

Not really, the idea is that you use them whilst your car is on your drive, which is perfectly legal.

(Just like companies who make illegal numberplates or lights or other bits for your car are ok because they're sold for 'show' use etc.)

[WylieCoyote]

I start her up, lock all doors from the switch inside then ulock drivers door get out then lock drivers door with the spare key.

Yeh, thats the method.

I looked into alarms with remote starters that keep it alarmed and would be easier to use (no need to leave the house!), but couldn't justify the cost! So are these people (all the top names do them) making alarm systems that promote ILLEGAL actions then?

Letting it warm up idle is bad for the engine. The advice is to give it a few seconds and then drive gently until warm.

That's the answer i was fishing for! I thought i had been told this before, which is why i hadn't done it very often! But is nice to have the climate control and seats up to temp!

It is nice to have things up to temperature for the drive to work. It warms up faster if you put the air recirculation on (just don't forget to turn it off again) and if that still doesn't warm up fast enough, a nice thermos cup full of Columbian coffee works wonders lol!

[shake]

That does ring a bell actually, now you mention it. On the road maybe, but surely on private land they cant enforce that!

it was on his drive, off the road. i personally would never leave my car running even if i had a remote start or even turbo timer. you'd kick yourself if it went faulty and someone actually nicked it. plus remote start is an easy excuse for insurance comapanies not paying out.

[DJ Wozza]

Sorry guys, I saw the title of this thread and totally isunderstood :o :winky: :o

[Lexus2D]

Sorry guys, I saw the title of this thread and totally isunderstood :o :winky: :o

Y am i not suprised

[adrian71]

an ex work colleague started his terrano up outside work on a frosty morning after a night shift and left blowers on, locking it with his spare set of keys, at 6am when we left work it wouldnt unlock so he had to wait 2hrs for the AA to turn up while the engine was running lol

[84Stoney]

So are these people (all the top names do them) making alarm systems that promote ILLEGAL actions then?

Not really, the idea is that you use them whilst your car is on your drive, which is perfectly legal.

(Just like companies who make illegal numberplates or lights or other bits for your car are ok because they're sold for 'show' use etc.)

Yes, fair enough point. But read this whole thread, people do apparently get done on there own drive!

Question is, when they fit it, do they tell you that is illegal for on road use?

[adrian71]

take it turbo timers are illegal then? though car would be alarmed i spose (not that i have one )

[maneesh]

i thought this thread was about women before i opened it up

[Hostile Smoker]

did you nearly offer some very different advice then?

Yes, fair enough point. But read this whole thread, people do apparently get done on there own drive!

Question is, when they fit it, do they tell you that is illegal for on road use?

Yeah I saw that, a picky copper will do you for anything though if you let them, even if it's not strictly illegal.

I just had a good look on the Clifford site and it says nothing about being illegal on the road, only that it can only be fitted to automatic vehicles so not sure really.

take it turbo timers are illegal then? though car would be alarmed i spose (not that i have one )

Yeah turbo timers fall into the same category.

[84Stoney]

I just had a good look on the Clifford site and it says nothing about being illegal on the road, only that it can only be fitted to automatic vehicles so not sure really.

Yeh im sure they dont make a big point of it! I have seen the clifford system on a manual thou, so can be done! just make sure ya dont leave it in gear or you'll most likely be sorry!!!

[VVProtocolVV]

Letting it warm up idle is bad for the engine. The advice is to give it a few seconds and then drive gently until warm.

? what u mean its bad for the engine if you switch the car on and let it idle until its warm, which in my case when i see the revs drop to below 1000, which takes roughly 2 minutes.

[P4VVS]

? what u mean its bad for the engine if you switch the car on and let it idle until its warm, which in my case when i see the revs drop to below 1000, which takes roughly 2 minutes.

I do this all the time, start it in the end of the drive, go inside, brush my teeth! and then drive off, why is it bad for the engine?

[84Stoney]

Someone please explain WHY it is bad to idle a cold engine then?

[Parthiban]

I don't know much about the mechanics of an engine, but my educated guess would be that it takes much longer for the engine to heat up when idling. Therefore you could have it running for 10 mins to get to the same temperature as you would in about a minute while driving..........all of this is bad as the engine oil is not at temperature for a much longer period so it will not be operating at its optimum.

Again I don't know for sure, but is it right that engine oil is actually quite thick when cold, and gets much thinner when warm? If that's true, then that's my guess :winky:

[Rikos]

I believe your right about the oil and it is the oil that needs to come upto temperature, hence they big selling point of most oils is that it start working from the moment you turn on the engine blah blah blah