Hi All,
I recently moved to an area where I have about 1/4 mile drive from my house to the "Main" road, which is about a 7* grade with a speed limit of 50mph, however most traffic averages closer to 60mph. Pulling out going down the hill is no problem, but when I have to turn and head up hill, especially during heavy traffic times, I question if I am causing excessive wear with the engine being worked hard when cold.
I have a manual transmission, so I choose my own shift points. My question is, on a cold engine, when still warming up, which would be the lesser of two evils? Am I better off holding the gears longer under a lighter throttle input, or giving it more gas and keeping the rpms lower?
I realize ideally I would find a way to let the engine warm up more, but on the days when we are having single digit and sub zero overnight temps, that kind of time is not always available. I have been trying to do much like an automatic would and find a "happy medium," but in some cases when I have to get up to speed quickly I am left with the options above, more throttle or more rpm. I avoid full throttle high rpm unless absolutely necessary until the water temp has been in the normal range for a while.
I have friends who claim to go WOT from a cold start all the time and have never had any issues, but they don't keep their cars as long as I do either...
FWIW, the car is an 07 Accord with the 2.4l. Vtec engages around 2200 - 2300 rpm at anything over about 1/4 throttle.
I am really more curious than I am concerned. Is there any science behind this?
I recently moved to an area where I have about 1/4 mile drive from my house to the "Main" road, which is about a 7* grade with a speed limit of 50mph, however most traffic averages closer to 60mph. Pulling out going down the hill is no problem, but when I have to turn and head up hill, especially during heavy traffic times, I question if I am causing excessive wear with the engine being worked hard when cold.
I have a manual transmission, so I choose my own shift points. My question is, on a cold engine, when still warming up, which would be the lesser of two evils? Am I better off holding the gears longer under a lighter throttle input, or giving it more gas and keeping the rpms lower?
I realize ideally I would find a way to let the engine warm up more, but on the days when we are having single digit and sub zero overnight temps, that kind of time is not always available. I have been trying to do much like an automatic would and find a "happy medium," but in some cases when I have to get up to speed quickly I am left with the options above, more throttle or more rpm. I avoid full throttle high rpm unless absolutely necessary until the water temp has been in the normal range for a while.
I have friends who claim to go WOT from a cold start all the time and have never had any issues, but they don't keep their cars as long as I do either...
FWIW, the car is an 07 Accord with the 2.4l. Vtec engages around 2200 - 2300 rpm at anything over about 1/4 throttle.
I am really more curious than I am concerned. Is there any science behind this?