Hi everyone,

I only found one thread about this from 2008 called “warm up time” in which someone asked if it was normal that in summer, it would take 2-3 minutes to warm up (engine coolant temperature gauge on panel shows the needle in the middle).

I’m wondering if in general, you’d want to start running, but leave it idling until you see the coolant temp gauge needle in the middle (horizontal position) as mentioned above, before driving at all, or if there’s any other consideration that should be taken when starting up and driving off.

Can anyone help me understand this a bit better? I’ve been warming up the vehicle by starting up, then waiting til the coolant temperature needle becomes horizontal.

 

Start it up and go

 

start it up and go, but do not give the engine heavy throttle until the gage starts to move.

 

Is it bad to wait until the needle is level? What is considered heavy throttle? Above 3,000RPM?

 

I remember reading in an old BMW owners manual that they recommended just starting it and driving. They reasoned that the fastest way to raise oil temp is to drive it. Don't mash the throttle or anything, but the oil temps take way too long to reach operating temp if its just idling in a driveway - which means prolonged wear times.

 

As said above, it's not necessarily a good idea to let it idle for long periods. I would normally not touch the throttle for a few seconds, until there is oil pressure. Actual throttle setting would be more important than RPM, as you will still cause high cylinder pressures with high throttle settings and low RPM. But 3000 RPM is still probably a good Max until warmed up.

 

The highest oil pressure is cold
your temp gauge is useless and you need a ultraguage ASAP
or you will have bigger issues

what is the temperature of the coolant when the gauge is in the horizontal position???
170? 180 ? 220 ? 240 ?

 

I’ll make sure that I simply start up and drive off. Most of the time, I’d be leaving from my house, which is up on the mountain and the drive doesn’t require much throttle at all, so I suppose it’s nearly the same for me.

I have noticed that the accelerator feels like it’s stuck when the truck is first started. Is that normal or anything I should preemptively deal with?

About the temperature gauge, with the Discovery II, will a bluetooth OBD-II system that connects to a smart phone be able get more accurate information about this? I’d like to be able to read this data. I think there was a suggestion in the past about a particular system - I’ll have to try to find that and get it going.

Thanks everyone

 

I have a bluetooth OBD adapter (BAFX ELM327 Bluetooth OBD 2 CAN V1.5) and Torque Pro. Allows me to read coolant temperature and much more (including reading codes and clear them). You can find ELM327 adapters for under $10 on ebay, Torque Pro is $4.95.

When cold, I wait until RPM goes down (takes about 30 seconds), before I start driving it like a granny for 10 minutes.

 

Warm up for a minute or so, the reason the oil pressure is higher on start up, especially in colder climates...is...the oil pump is trying to force oil with the consistency of syrup through the oil filter. Higher oil pressure at start up...in no way...resembles or signifies better lubrication to the top-end or through oil galleries. We lose more cams at work, fleet mechanic, to drivers hammering the fuel pedal...than anything else. You may have enough oil leftover from previous drive time for bearings, but the cam lobes need oil protection...before you start driving. Just my two cents...based on forty some years of being a mechanic and seeing the insides of more motors than most.