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How many people warm up their Fiesta ST before driving?

How many people warm up their Fiesta ST before driving?

  • I don't

    Votes: 122 34.0%
  • I always do

    Votes: 131 36.5%
  • I do but only on really cold days

    Votes: 106 29.5%

  • Total voters
    359
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Location
Dallas
That's actually far too low; you should be waiting until 160 or higher before going WOT. On the bright side, oil temp is inferred and not actual.

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I had this conversation with one of my car enthusiast buddies recently. While my comment wasn't a hard and fast rule as I don't always go straight to running it ragged at that temp, I'm wondering what those without APs do?

If I didn't have the AP I wouldn't know what the oil temp is at all. Also I believe that at about 120-ish oil temp, the coolant is already at temp and the standard indicator on the dash would imply it is ok to get on it.

So I guess for those without APs I wonder if they have a time limit they wait till they flog their car or if they assume that if the dash gauge says it's at operating temp they think it is ok, when it is actually too low. ..
 


dyn085

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Coolant temp is not an indicator of oil flow and oil is what keeps your engine from wearing excessively.

Anyone without an AP3 should just drive normally for 15 minutes and they'll fine.

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Messages
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Location
Dallas
I actually payed attention to my gauges this morning and it would seem that at the point the dash gauge shows 4 bars, the oil is at about 95 degrees and the coolant is at about 125ish degrees.

Any of you trusting your stock dash gauge are probably getting on it before you need to be. That was my only point. I kinda feel like Ford should have done a better job at indicating temp for a car that is likely to get beat on.
 


neeqness

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I actually payed attention to my gauges this morning and it would seem that at the point the dash gauge shows 4 bars, the oil is at about 95 degrees and the coolant is at about 125ish degrees.

Any of you trusting your stock dash gauge are probably getting on it before you need to be. That was my only point. I kinda feel like Ford should have done a better job at indicating temp for a car that is likely to get beat on.
I always thought that the 4 bars seem to come up way too soon...and the gauge seems to stay at or near 4 bars for too long when starting back up after sitting for awhile.

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Zormecteon

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Kelso
Keep in mind that the bars are WATER temp, not oil temp or pressure. Just because the water is warmed up doesn't mean that the engine is thoroughly heated. While I drive away from a cold start rather quickly, I don't "hit it" until I've driven for at least 10 minutes---just to make sure that the oil is completely warm.
 


A7xogg

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I let it run 30 sec to a min from cold start to get good oil pressure, then I'm in my way. As long as it has oil pressure it don't matter how long after work you start driving it
 


Intuit

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If you've run an engine with the valve cover off, you may notice that there's a lot more oil being flung from the rockers on an engine that has been warmed-up, as opposed to one that's been run for 30 seconds.

Doesn't mean that it isn't being lubed, just that the observation might indicate better distribution once a little heat is present.
 


Based

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Nope
I drive for 5-10 minutes before getting on it. In an ideal world I would wait like 20 minutes but by then I'm already home so I don't wait that long lol
 


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Arlington, VA
Just wanted to mention that you are not just waiting for the fluids to heat up, but for the engine itself to warm up to operating temperatures. Metal expands as it heats up and the pistons and cylinder bore actually change shape slightly as they heat up. Not everything heats at exactly the same rate due to different composition or exposure to heat, so you can have times during warm up where there is more wear in certain spots if you do not have good oil flow or if you are driving it at high RPM or high load. This is why they say most of the wear in an engine happens during warm up and it is important to let everything warm up to operating temp before running it hard. The oil temp gauge on the AP is the best source we have to indicate this, but even that is a calculated value.
 


BoostBumps

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Published Aug 3, 2016 - R&T

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/a30249/why-you-shouldnt-warm-up-your-car/

Reason Why You Should Never Warm Up Your Car...

"It takes longer, wastes fuel, and actually increases the wear and tear on your engine."



"On cold winter mornings, some folks will fire up their cars and leave them running for 10, 20, maybe even 30 minutes, thinking they're reducing wear and tear by letting their cars warm up gently. But Jason from Engineering Explained is here to explain why that's a bad idea for your car.

The conventional wisdom that you should idle your car up to operating temperature comes from the days of carburetors, which needed several minutes of idling to get to an operating temperature where they'd run smoothly. With fuel-injected engines, the ECU can adjust itself to idle perfectly even in sub-zero weather. And as Jason explains, idling an engine doesn't really build up much heat at all, compared to driving it.

Jason goes through the details of what happens in a cold engine, and points out the hidden damage of letting your car idle for a long time on a cold day: Engine oil dilution. It turns out, while you might have thought that letting your car slowly warm up was reducing wear and tear, all that idling time leads to raw gasoline seeping into the oil, breaking down the oil's lubrication properties and increasing the wear.

So what should you do? Start it up, make sure all your windows are clear of ice/snow/fog, and just drive the thing! The engine will warm up faster, and therefore you'll get nice warm heat coming out of the vents sooner, which is what you want anyway.

Watch for yourself as an engineer explains why you should stop warming up your car."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKALgXDwou4

[video=youtube;xKALgXDwou4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKALgXDwou4[/video]

"Cars with electronic fuel injection do not need to be warmed up before lightly driving off. This is because fuel injected engines can compensate for temperature changes. Cold engines run rich to compensate for poor fuel atomization. This means extra fuel is injected into the combustion chamber.

Now fuel is a solvent, so when extra fuel gets on the cylinder walls, it washes away the oil from the cylinders and pistons. Less oil on the cylinder walls means less protection, and because the oil is cold it makes it harder for it to be replaced. This means the longer you spend with your engine cold, the more wear you?ll have. Idling the engine doesn?t put much heat into it, so the car remains cold for a long duration.

If it?s cold outside, you can wait 15-30 seconds to ensure that oil is flowing, but you don?t need to wait for the engine to be warm. It will heat up faster by driving the car lightly. By heating it up faster, the oil gets to operating temperature more quickly, and this is what you want to prevent wear. If it?s really cold outside, the time it takes to scrape off the windows so you can see will be plenty of time for oil to start circulating, so you can get in and go once you can see out the windshield. "
 


Intuit

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Just about everyone has seen vehicles that smoke, only on startup.

I disagree with the text; haven't bothered with the video.

First of all no one here is stating extremes, such as warming up your car until it reaches thermostat open temperatures.

Second, the crux of this person's viewpoint is, you're likely to dilute the oil more, idling than driving, because it supposedly warms up quicker.

I suspect his viewpoint, fails to account for the fact that you're
1) injecting more fuel into a cold cylinder, (intentionally running rich,)
2) at vastly higher RPMs, (more fuel injected more often,)
3) while subjecting it to vastly higher cylinder pressures,
4) before engine parts have had a chance to expand and the piston rings provide a better seal. (why some cars only smoke on startup)

The absolute worse thing you can do to an engine is drive-off with no heat in it. Thumbs down. [thumbdown]

Friction produces heat. If it actually warms up any faster, (per engine rotation,) it's probably due to less lubrication. (and more wear)
 


dyn085

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Entirely disagree. Sitting there with no load on the engine increases the time that any of heat will actually get into the metal and fluids. Idling for anything longer than 30 seconds or so is a complete waste.

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GAbOS

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Entirely disagree. Sitting there with no load on the engine increases the time that any of heat will actually get into the metal and fluids. Idling for anything longer than 30 seconds or so is a complete waste.

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Not when you rely on that heat to defrost glass so you actually drive the car. Just saying. I don't idle longer than 30 in the summer but have zero choice in the colder months.


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Hijinx

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Not when you rely on that heat to defrost glass so you actually drive the car. Just saying. I don't idle longer than 30 in the summer but have zero choice in the colder months.


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Ice scraper?


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GAbOS

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Ice scraper?


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That works for a minute but as soon as you try to drive it starts fogging the external, fast. You have to have some heat going or the morning sun will make the smallest of new forming crap make it impossible to see through.
 


CanadianGuy

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That works for a minute but as soon as you try to drive it starts fogging the external, fast. You have to have some heat going or the morning sun will make the smallest of new forming crap make it impossible to see through.
I have similar where I live without hill and valleys. I found good winter di-icing wash and a good treatment of a glass sealer (rainx or your prefered solution) does wonders to have the fog bead and not build up. if it builds up too much one quick squirt of washer fluid usually clears it for the drive.
 


dyn085

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Not when you rely on that heat to defrost glass so you actually drive the car. Just saying. I don't idle longer than 30 in the summer but have zero choice in the colder months.


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Obviously I would expect and hope that people to be able to see before driving off. I keep a de-icing spray in my hatch and use it to knock off any accumulation (for the rare occasions that that happens for me). I usually start up the car and turn max defrost on first so that the dried air (heat isn't what clears the windshield, the removal of condensation is) will start blowing on the inside, and then step out to melt the exterior windows. With the spray it only takes a minute or less before I'm getting back in the car and hitting the windshield wipers. Then I can drive off so that heat can start building in the engine and start warming the cabin sooner.

Clearly that would be a longer process if I actually received larger accumulations of snow or ice but the point is still the same-get the car moving and engine under light load as soon as reasonably and safely possible in order to avoid wasting time that the car is just idling.
 


GAbOS

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I'm not a big fan of chemicals outside of the winter wash mix but have found that a mix of rubbing alcohol and water in a spray bottle does wonders.
 




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