Sunday, November 15, 2015

Should you warm up your engine before you drive?

With winter approaching1 I thought that I'd share a post that I sent around to family and friends several years ago about warming up your car engine before you drive.

John Elder Robison owner of J.E.Robison Service, Co in Springfield, Massachusetts specializes in antique motor cars of which many of these Northstar System Cadillacs are, or rapidly approaching.

In his short blog post, Robison takes the interesting approach of explaining from the engine's perspective what all takes place when an engine is started; how temperature makes metal expand and contract and the potential deleterious effects of placing a load on a cold engine.
If you don't have time to read it, just remember, year round:
The simple takeaway – five minutes of warm-up will keep your motor alive longer, with fewer leaks and less risk of failure. And when you do drive . . . go light on the throttle until everything is up to temperature! ~ J.E. Robison


1 In response to a reader comment about if warmup is "just a (sic) critical when the weather is warm to mild?" explained "Yes . . . the desirability of warmup is the same spring or summer. When the motor is hot the metal is about 200 degrees. WHen (sic) it's sitting cold its the temp of the air. Whether that is 30 degrees or 70 degrees it still has a long way to go to warm up." See, https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2906463626789064900&postID=5263568428347778241

2 comments:

  1. Do not warm up a Northstar. This comes directly from an engineer on the Northstar design team. The lifters are lubricated via splash lube (oil), idling the engine at say 625 rpm the oil pressure is about 10 psi and it is about 35 psi at 2000 rpm. At 10 psi there is little or no splash lube. Get in a drive it, drive it easy but drive it, the engine will warm up faster and higher oil pressures will splash lube the tops of the lifters. bodybyfisher (caddyinfo)

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    1. Thanks for that info. It helps a lot.

      Another question that it brings to mind:

      At the first cold start (or any other) do you as a rule or generally, wait to put in gear, until after the 2ND Air Injection System powers down from the 30 seconds or so it takes to light off the catalytic converter?

      Mine idles around 1200 rpm then lowers to around 950-1,000 for several seconds before finally resting at 800 rpms.

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