Cold Start- How long do you wait ?

[TX_M3]

How long do all of you usually wait to drive to car after a cold start? I live in houston, so the weather is usually around 80-95 deg, so im trying to get a good idea of how long i should wait before driving the car.

[edwinm3]

Only a few secs and drive off slowly

[TX_M3]

Originally Posted by edwinm3

Only a few secs and drive off slowly

really?? ive been waiting 1-2 minutes

[nullrouted]

Originally Posted by wgp_hoppa

How long do all of you usually wait to drive to car after a cold start? I live in houston, so the weather is usually around 80-95 deg, so im trying to get a good idea of how long i should wait before driving the car.

Manual states that you should 'set off immediately as it is the best way to warm up the car's engine' -- That's what I do, drive it like you're breaking it in, no revs over 4500rpm. Takes about 5 blocks to hit 210'F and then all bets are off. Another way to know you're 'warmed up' is to swap your dash display to the oil level sensor. At cold start it will display something like '-.-' once the engine is warmed up, it will change to a ticking clock (before ultimately displaying the oil level).

[Koldun]

Originally Posted by nullrouted

Manual states that you should 'set off immediately as it is the best way to warm up the car's engine' -- That's what I do, drive it like you're breaking it in, no revs over 4500rpm. Takes about 5 blocks to hit 210'F and then all bets are off. Another way to know you're 'warmed up' is to swap your dash display to the oil level sensor. At cold start it will display something like '-.-' once the engine is warmed up, it will change to a ticking clock (before ultimately displaying the oil level).

Basically this.

[TX_M3]

Originally Posted by nullrouted

Manual states that you should 'set off immediately as it is the best way to warm up the car's engine' -- That's what I do, drive it like you're breaking it in, no revs over 4500rpm. Takes about 5 blocks to hit 210'F and then all bets are off. Another way to know you're 'warmed up' is to swap your dash display to the oil level sensor. At cold start it will display something like '-.-' once the engine is warmed up, it will change to a ticking clock (before ultimately displaying the oil level).

great advise . i drive a 6mt as well, and have 4 floors to drive down (park in a garage), i would think taking it down the garage slowly should warm the car up.

[mcasseba]

Get a BPM tune and turn cold start off The tune sets the RPM to 4K until car warms up so nobody can beat on your cold engine.

[Koldun]

Originally Posted by mcasseba

Get a BPM tune and turn cold start off The tune sets the RPM to 4K until car warms up so nobody can beat on your cold engine.

I can see doing this if you have no primary cats, but on a stock mid-section? Why bother? Plus, the cold start sounds kind of awesome, especially in the garage. Take that, neighbors!

[lsmkr01]

1) Turn on the car and let it run for 1-2 min.
2) Drive off slowly and don't rev over 3k until I hit 120 Deg F
3) Keep it under 4k from 120 until i reach my normal operating temp of 200 deg F
4) After this the car is good to go so I drive it how I want to.

Goal is to get it to operating temperature as quickly as possible without straining the engine in the process. I stick to this process religiously since I picked the car up with 17.5k miles (currently at 27.6k)

[TX_M3]

Originally Posted by lsmkr01

1) Turn on the car and let it run for 2 min.
2) Drive off slowly and don't rev over 3k until I hit 120 Deg F
3) Keep it under 4k from 120 until i reach my normal operating temp of 200 deg F
4) After this the car is good to go so I drive it how I want to.

Goal is to get it to operating temperature as quickly as possible without straining the engine in the process. I stick to this process religiously since I picked the car up with 17.5k miles (currently at 27.6k)

this is exactly what I am doing right now. Didnt know if i was waiting to long or not

[lsmkr01]

Originally Posted by wgp_hoppa

this is exactly what I am doing right now. Didnt know if i was waiting to long or not

1-2 minutes is plenty so your good.

[gatorfast]

So you start your car and then just sit there for a few min? Strange.

Just start the car and then drive off, no need to wait. The manual actually explicitly states not to let the car sit after starting it.

[edwinm3]

I said a few seconds meaning I wait until all the bells and whistles stop going off. My car does not do the bronco buck and it's tuned by AA catless cold start on

[nullrouted]

Originally Posted by Lute

I wait until after the cold cycle finishes, to avoid the bucking bronco syndrome.

I find that you can avoid most of that by just keeping steady pressure on the accelerator, any modulation when its cold leads to the bucking you describe.

[GOLFFRR]

I always start the car and immediately drive off but never go higher then 2k-3k Rpm till the car is warmed up (my morning commute is 2 miles top speed 45mph). Seems to have served me well over the years.

[The Automotive Enthusiast]

30 seconds. I turned my cold start off, thank you Mike.

[spool twice]

less than 10 seconds, i start the car, put on my seatbelt, and drive slow. You have to remember, you're wanting to "warm-up" more than just the engine, you want to bring tires, gearbox, and any other rotating parts to operating temperatures.

[nujabes24]

Originally Posted by Lute

I wait until after the cold cycle finishes, to avoid the bucking bronco syndrome.

+1 I hate that so much

[pkimM3r]

Originally Posted by GOLFFRR

I always start the car and immediately drive off but never go higher then 2k-3k Rpm till the car is warmed up (my morning commute is 2 miles top speed 45mph). Seems to have served me well over the years.

I do that too. Just keep the revs low. Ill keep it to 3-3.5 but whos looking.

The worst part is when you are warming your car up when there are street races to be going on hah

[JEllis]

Yep, I let the cold start cycle finish and then start off slowly. I do not place any load on the engine until the oil is 210 degrees. Meaning, I stay below 3-4K RPM.

There are probably a good percentage of owners that do not abide by this. There are many a performance engine that has failed due to owners not properly warming up their engines. I would imagine some of the engine problems we have seen with the S65 are caused by owners that unwittingly caused premature wear.

[SilentAttack]

Only a few seconds but take it easy till she is warmed up.

[Koldun]

Originally Posted by JEllis

Yep, I let the cold start cycle finish and then start off slowly. I do not place any load on the engine until the oil is 210 degrees. Meaning, I stay below 3-4K RPM.

There are probably a good percentage of owners that do not abide by this. There are many a performance engine that has failed due to owners not properly warming up their engines. I would imagine some of the engine problems we have seen with the S65 are caused by owners that unwittingly caused premature wear.

Yes, and you are among those doing it wrong. RTFM, people! BMW explicitly states NOT to let the car sit there.