Engine warming up through thermal camera

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I usually wait for the engine's idle begin to decrease before pulling away in my truck. On a cold day like this video its approx 2 mins. His was over 5 mins before the idle dropped. Thats longer than any vehicle I have owned.
 
Since where i live it almost never goes below freezing i never have to wait at all, from my experience engines always warm up MUCH faster driving gently than idling.
 
Interesting video. Ive never seen any vehicle keep RPMs that high with coolant temperatures as high as they were...

Weird oil filter placement too...
 
They way I have always looked at cold starting is, motor parts always have a slight coating of oil on them. Hot or cold. When you start a motor cold, that thin coating will protect it until the oil gets flowing. Oil works like it's supposed to when it reaches operating temp, 160-200f. So by letting your motor warm up for a few minutes before you drive off, is better then starting, waiting 10 seconds, and driving away. Really cold oil might take minutes to get completely pumped thru your motor. As soon as the motor starts, it's giving off heat to the oil, coolant and metal parts. If you stress those parts before they warm up, gaskets tend to tear and you have leaks.Like they guy said in his video, if you live in a cold temp climate, get a block heater of some sort. It will make everybody happy.,,,
 
Even if it's -30C outside 0w-XX oil is plenty thin enouh to give good lubrication even when the oil is cold, you don't need to warm the engine for several minutes... oil gets circulating extremely fast even at those temperatures, you only have to let the engine idle for maybe 30 seconds.
Block heaters are extremely good in cold weather, in Finland where i'm from they are commonplace and the majority of the cars that are parked outside overnight are plugged in, nobody warms their engines for more than what it takes to scrape the ice off the windows in the winter.
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
... Really cold oil might take minutes to get completely pumped thru your motor.

I don't think that's true. If so, this would cause a lot of serious premature wear on an engine. I remember seeing data way back when I was involved with camshaft design. We were horrified that one engine we were designing took sometimes a full minute for oil to reach the overhead camshaft in the winter climate. The fix was to put a check valve in the engine to keep some of the oil in the upper reaches of the engine.

It may be a number of seconds for oil to reach everything, but not minutes.
 
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Really cold oil might take minutes to get completely pumped thru your motor.


Not if you are using an appropriate oil for the conditions....

10w30.jpg

5w30.jpg



Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
As soon as the motor starts, it's giving off heat to the oil, coolant and metal parts.


Cold start, the oil is actually heated by it's viscous shear, so thing like mains, big ends, and cylinder walls generate their own heat through the viscous shearing that's taking place in those locations...and that heating is more pronounced on cold, thick oil...

warmup%20shear.jpg


Simply cranking the engine without it firing increases the bearing temperatures.

cranking%20temperature%20increase.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
Really cold oil might take minutes to get completely pumped thru your motor.


Not if you are using an appropriate oil for the conditions....

10w30.jpg

5w30.jpg



Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
As soon as the motor starts, it's giving off heat to the oil, coolant and metal parts.


Cold start, the oil is actually heated by it's viscous shear, so thing like mains, big ends, and cylinder walls generate their own heat through the viscous shearing that's taking place in those locations...and that heating is more pronounced on cold, thick oil...

warmup%20shear.jpg


Simply cranking the engine without it firing increases the bearing temperatures.

cranking%20temperature%20increase.jpg



So.. A minute or 2 warm up is fine for most conditions?
 
Originally Posted By: LeakySeals
So.. A minute or 2 warm up is fine for most conditions?


Easy rule of thumb: Idle 1 second for every 2F/1C below freezing.
 
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