speedyman_2 Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Just curious. Do you guys let your cars warm up in the morning before you go anywhere. I usually sit in my car and let it idle for about 3-5 minutes before I go. I used to have to do this in my '65 Stang or I wasn't going anywhere. After that I've always let me cars warm up. I cringe when I watch someone crank they're car and put it in drive all in the same motion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevyorange Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 I heard modern cars need only 30 seconds or so before ready to drive. Of course, I wouldn't recommend putting a lot of power down until the temp comes up but have found the heater seems to warm up faster underway. However, on very cold days with my '62 Chevy I'd let it warm up! Carbs and all being finecky! Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adallak Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 The GURU used to say that the best way to warm up the engine was driving the car as soon as you started it. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHE Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 A warm up period is not required with these cars - granted, I wouldn't hammer it immediately but there is no problem with starting and driving immediately. With gas as expensive as it is, I wouldn't be inclined to idle the car needlessly... Kevin '93 Fleetwood Brougham '05 Deville '04 Deville 2013 Silverado Z71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 No warm up necessary according to the guru. Start it and drive away. Here are his words: "There is absolutely no reason to let the engine "warm up" on a cold start before driving. The best way to "warm it up" is to drive it. Period. The engine runs richer when coldstarting since less of the fuel vaporizes when cold. The faster you can warm up the engine the less time it spends running rich. Driving it warms it up much quicker than idling. Drive it. That will result in less fuel into the oil and less wear and tear on the oil and the upper engine from excess fuel washing down the cylinder walls. Idling will slowly raise the coolant temp but has little effect on oil temp. You can idle for hours in cold weather on a cold start and the oil stays quite cold. Warming up the oil takes some RPM and load...i.e...driving. The lube system is designed to work at all ambient temp cold starts so operating the engine cold has absolutely no ill effects on it. Realize that the fact that the oil is thick on the cold start means that it will not circulate as quickly (this is the "bad" fact) but that also means that the bearings need very little oil since the higher viscosity oil in the bearing has tremendous film strength and will stay in the bearings much longer than hot (thinner) oil (this is the "good" fact that is often overlooked in the rant against running the engine cold)." We have had this discussion before http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?sho...=warm%20up&st=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Just curious. Do you guys let your cars warm up in the morning before you go anywhere. I usually sit in my car and let it idle for about 3-5 minutes before I go. I used to have to do this in my '65 Stang or I wasn't going anywhere. No. These are fuel injected and run just as well cold as warm. It can even be harmful to sit there and let it idle for a while (see the quoted post above). My '84 Cutlass was carbureted, and yeah, you had to let that idle for a 15-30 seconds before the choke would engage and the high idle to step off and the intake to warm up and evenly distribute the mixture, etc. All that is nil with modern cars. They're fuel injected (port fuel injected at that), and don't have the mixture problems you used to have. Start it and go. This Cadillac has seen almost 150k miles of "start it and go", and runs EXCELLENT still. I do want to get new spark plugs in it at some point in the future (the PLUGS have almost 150k miles of "start it and go"). Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67coupedeville Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Alright, I have been doing the "start it and drive it" for a while, ever since I read about it. Does this apply to my 92 Chevy truck? It is Throttle-Body injected, should I let it idle for a couple seconds to warm up the intake manifold as you say Jason or just drive? Spence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Alright, I have been doing the "start it and drive it" for a while, ever since I read about it. Does this apply to my 92 Chevy truck? It is Throttle-Body injected, should I let it idle for a couple seconds to warm up the intake manifold as you say Jason or just drive? I would just drive it. With the carburetor, the engine would run rough when the engine was stone cold, but that's back when the intake manifold had a choke crossover and the choke was thermally-controlled. The days of fuel injection really put that problem to bed I think. Interesting...that '84 Olds had traditional style Oldsmobile heads. Large, tall intake ports. I think 2" x 1.5" or something. Big suckers. The '87 Regal I had also had an Oldsmobile 307 engine, but it had a roller followers on the camshaft and had the newer style cylinder heads (1.3" square intake ports) with squirl port combustion chambers or something. It started and drove cold much better than my '84 did. Sometimes I didn't even have to pump the carburetor to start it. It drove like it had fuel injection. I think engine design probably has as much to do with cold weather driveability than carburetor vs. fuel injection does. But I'm no expert... Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 I agree with everybody. Just start it up and drive it. I had to laugh though as it brought back memories of my first car. '61 Ford 390 with straight pipes (cause the pipes were rusted off the mufflers and the lake pipe caps were cracked open). In cold wx that puppy would not move an inch til she was warmed up for at least :10 min. ......... every morning before I went to school. My neighbor used it as an alarm clock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stsjoe Posted October 17, 2005 Report Share Posted October 17, 2005 Sorry have to let it warm up, dew is so heavy at 5 am you can't see out the bloody windshied ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Sorry have to let it warm up, dew is so heavy at 5 am you can't see out the bloody windshied ! That makes sense but you would probably be better off wiping the windshield with a squeegy or microfiber cloth to save your oil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Fenwick Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Aloha, I don't know where you guys live, but here I have about 3/4 mile 25mph speed limit before I get to the main road. This gives the engine enough warm up. I do wait in the garage until the revs go down some though! Ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stsjoe Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Sorry have to let it warm up, dew is so heavy at 5 am you can't see out the bloody windshied ! That makes sense but you would probably be better off wiping the windshield with a squeegy or microfiber cloth to save your oil just clouds back up, but the up side is I have enough time to FIND the newspaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stsjoe Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Aloha, I don't know where you guys live, but here I have about 3/4 mile 25mph speed limit before I get to the main road. This gives the engine enough warm up. I do wait in the garage until the revs go down some though! Ed wait in the garage, I hate you guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 Aloha, I don't know where you guys live, but here I have about 3/4 mile 25mph speed limit before I get to the main road. This gives the engine enough warm up. I do wait in the garage until the revs go down some though! Ed Ed, Is that on those frigid mornings when it drops below 65 degrees. My heart bleeds for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevyorange Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 No kidding... 65... bah! Seattle weather is still pretty mild... but when we went shopping for our first house (still in it) I was more worried about a two car garage than how many square feet the house has. Fairly small house - two car garage. Even on cold days it is a few degrees warmer in the garage for the STS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 No kidding... 65... bah! Seattle weather is still pretty mild... but when we went shopping for our first house (still in it) I was more worried about a two car garage than how many square feet the house has. Fairly small house - two car garage. Even on cold days it is a few degrees warmer in the garage for the STS. My wife and I were shopping for our first house in 2003. My only requirement was a two-car garage. We're still there, and after living in my parents house and in apartments and college dorms where the car had to park outside, I love having the vehicles under cover. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIMDTS Posted October 18, 2005 Report Share Posted October 18, 2005 I let my cars warm up at least until the fast idle kicks off. In the winter mine get pretty warm I let the defrosters do most of the work Beats scraping the ice Makes it a little easier to remove the ice..when the defroster is doing it's job blowing hot air Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefank Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 No idle warm-up with my cars. First of all, it's strictly illegal where I live. Second, why disturb the neighbors? Third, why shouldn't the car being driven when the engine is cold? Of course, it's no good idea to push it hard before the engine is warm, but gentle driving is okay. Stefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OynxSTS Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 No idle warm-up with my cars. why shouldn't the car being driven when the engine is cold? Stefank. You are correct... The arguments go like this: 1) On a cold engine all of the oil is in the pan... metal on metal... Bla bla bla... Ever taken the valve covers off of a running engine? I have... Oil pumps, even lousy stock ones on 30 year old motors move lots of oil and move it fast! I would bet so fast in fact that by the time your hand has moved from the key to the gear selector the engine is full of oil and is fully pressurized. 2) On most cars the block is cast iron and the pistons are aluminum as they heat up they expand at different rates. When the engine is cold the pistons are extra loose, and this will cause piston slap and could cause damage... Even if this was true, our blocks are aluminum too and will expand at roughly the same rate as the pistons. 3) It is difficult to get the air fuel mixture just right on a cold engine. Excessively rich or lean mixture can damage an engine. This one is true; Carbs were hopeless, and EFI systems need a warm O2 sensor(s). So the argument is how can we warm up the O2 sensor fast... Again on Northstars the fastest way to get these sensors into operating range (and ours preheat to help in this cause) is to drive the car. Under load the engine dumps hot exhaust over the O2s and gets them and the Cats to operating range as quick as possible. In short idling in your driveway is hard on your car, hard on the environment, and costs you money. Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac, I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back ZZTOP, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonA Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 1) On a cold engine all of the oil is in the pan... metal on metal... Bla bla bla... Ever taken the valve covers off of a running engine? I have... Oil pumps, even lousy stock ones on 30 year old motors move lots of oil and move it fast! I would bet so fast in fact that by the time your hand has moved from the key to the gear selector the engine is full of oil and is fully pressurized. Very true. On my Grand Caravan (Dodge 3.3L V6), after I change the oil and start it, the oil light will appear for about 2 seconds. Normally, no. On the Cadillac, the oil light doesn't even stay on after an oil change, let alone after an overnight sit. If the light's out, the engine has plenty of oil. Jason(2001 STS, White Diamond) "When you turn your car on...does it return the favor?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaddyChris Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 1) On a cold engine all of the oil is in the pan... metal on metal... Bla bla bla... Ever taken the valve covers off of a running engine? I have... Oil pumps, even lousy stock ones on 30 year old motors move lots of oil and move it fast! I would bet so fast in fact that by the time your hand has moved from the key to the gear selector the engine is full of oil and is fully pressurized. Very true. On my Grand Caravan (Dodge 3.3L V6), after I change the oil and start it, the oil light will appear for about 2 seconds. Normally, no. On the Cadillac, the oil light doesn't even stay on after an oil change, let alone after an overnight sit. If the light's out, the engine has plenty of oil. hmmm, thats interesting that you bring that up. On the 67 when I start it, the oil light comes on for about 1 second. I figured it was because there was no oil up there. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this....I guess not. Sometimes the 67 will sit for a month or 2 w/o being started. My 94 never does that, although I started it the other day and it sounded dry(not so smooth) for about a second. I guess that's why they say most of the wear is from starting the engine...right? Chris Christopher Petro 94 sts 67 coupe de Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 19, 2005 Report Share Posted October 19, 2005 Chris what oil are you using? I used 10W40 in my 68 Coupe Conv, if you are using 10W30 I could see you having lower pressure. I don't think that one second is a big deal, remember that the bearings are still coated even though the light stays on for a second. Your oil pressure sender could be slow to react. If I recall, you may be able to shim your oil pump relieve valve spring to increase your pressure, but don't quote me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaddyChris Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 Chris what oil are you using? I used 10W40 in my 68 Coupe Conv, if you are using 10W30 I could see you having lower pressure. I don't think that one second is a big deal, remember that the bearings are still coated even though the light stays on for a second. Your oil pressure sender could be slow to react. If I recall, you may be able to shim your oil pump relieve valve spring to increase your pressure, but don't quote me. Scotty, Hey, I'm using 10w30 I believe. I'm not really too proficient about the different oils and weights. 10w40 is thicker? Hmmm, I'm not too worried about it either. I definately don't know about the oil pump relief valve. I think it's just the nature of the beast. I mean it is 38 years later. Anyways, thanks for the reply, its due for a change, I'll try 10w40 next time. Btw, I have a valve tap, is it ok to put in 1 quart of tranny fluid mixed with the oil? Also, I had the 67 out on Sat and I've always had a vibration from the driveshaft but it got much worse. Took it out on Sunday, put a new balljoint in it but It was pretty much mangled. I need to get it rebuilt. The 67 is down, it sucks cause its the perfect time of year to take it out to look at the trees. I'm gonna post a new topic about local driveshaft rebuilders. Christopher Petro 94 sts 67 coupe de Ville Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 20, 2005 Report Share Posted October 20, 2005 Try the 10W40! I think it will solve all of your problems! Valve tap and all.. Using 10W30 in those engines in those days was unheard of.. I had a constant velocity driveshaft go in my 66 Caddy, OMG the vibration and noise was deafening... You need to rebuild the CV joint in your driveshaft a local machine shop should be able to handle it. Call General Sales Cadillac (they were in West Chester) and ask them if they know of any shops that can handle the driveshaft.. Ask for the service manager, my parents were long time friends of George Ruggerie the owner. General Sales is a reputible dealer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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