Warm Up - Cool Down

[storeyd]

Driving off

Read the owners manual. It says to drive of straight away. But of course do not drive hard for about 10 mins.

Switching off

I used to have a 200SX which I would drive off boost for the last mile then wait a minute. (OIL COOLED TURBO) I did 100K on the same turbo and gave it some pasting.

But the LCR has a post ignition water pump that pumps water around for some time after the engine is off. So I never bother waiting after pulling up anymore

 

[david burton]

When its cold just get in and drive gently - its better for it than sitting at idle. Strangely enough though, bikes are quite the opposite. They really should be left to warm at idle for a few minutes from stone cold, before riding. Strange but true.

that's what I'd heard too, I think tickover doesn't get the oil circulating as much as using the car gently does.

edit: is that for 2 stroke bikes? makes sense as the oil is in the fuel is it not?

 

[Timberwolf]

My neighbour owned a celica GT4 and a 22b imbreza. Every morning he would get out of the house in his robe, slippers and a cup of coffee and start the noisy thing before getting into it and driving it 10 minutes later.

Its to let the fuel circulate better and the turbo does use up a **** load of fuel if booted from cold start. Also it damages the engine.
I do the same with my leon cupra R. But i would recomend letting the engine warm up and the rev's to come down from a cold start, to below 1000.
Depending on how hard you have been driving the car, always let the engine sit still for 5 mins before switching off, as the turbo might be glowing red. The Cupra R engine and turbo is far superior to most turbo charged engines, and will do you 150k-200k miles without any major problems.
Where as a standard STi impreza has a fault where the 3rd piston blows every 30k miles (More common in the type R and p1's)

Its alot of hassle every morning, but your keeping the engine cleanly circulating will reward you in better fuel economy and quicker responsive engine. Oh and the engine will lose bhp as the years go on too.

 

[dj_hektik]

turn on - wait for coolant to warm a bit, drive slowly until oil is warm (that's why I got an Oil Temp gauge). When turning iff I have a Greddy Turbo Timer so no problem - It measures how hard the car has been driven by the amps in the electrical system and adds time automatically - between 1:30 (minimum) and 9:59 (max)

 

[RobM]

But the LCR has a post ignition water pump that pumps water around for some time after the engine is off. So I never bother waiting after pulling up anymore

I appreciate this helps cool the turbo down, but as soon as you turn the engine off the oil stops flowing so the turbo has just gone from hot to not with no lubrication.

 

[storeyd]

This is taken straight from page 2.95 of the owners manual.... (in bold)

"Do not warm engine up by running it with the vehicle stationary. Drive off stright away"

This is my theory...

1. The car produces more harmful gases when idling cold
2. While idling the car does warm up the engine, the rest of the drivetrain is not being warmed up. Many drivers make the mistake of driving off like a lunatic once the engine is warmed up. This effectively shortens the life of the rest of everything else.

If you really want to prolong the life of your car, the best thing to do is to warm up the engine through idling, then drive slowly for the first few miles. This way, you will warm everything up properly. Also, even when the gauge tells you your engine is ready, in reality the oil temperature is not yet at the optimum. So don't rev your car to bits for a few minutes after moving off. One of my other cars has a oil temperature gauge, and it usually takes some 5-7 minutes for it to be up to normal operating temperature. However, with good low viscouscity oil, this is less of a problem.

 

[bentaw]

i normally let it idle till the temp gauge starts moving and i try to leave it till it hits 90 degrees, is this not recomended then, cooling down i normally drive normally for about 5 min and leave the car idling for about 30 sec to a minute depending on how hard i have been driving

 

[andycupra]

i also agree with driving it away after just a few seconds, rather than letting it idle.
letting it idle when cold actually has a detrimental effect on some engine parts, indeed for some parts there is more force impacted on them when idling than during easy driving.

one thing however that concerns me, is when you say you pull up, then let temperature get back to normal before switching off. you must be ragging it alot!
personally i think taking the last few miles easy and cooling it this way is more effective than sitting there idling. its also quicker:

eg.
a journey that that takes 10 mins driving normally.

if you rag it, its takes say 7 mins, but then you sit there for 3mins idling.
total time: 10 mins.

driving it the same but take the last few miles easy and off boost takes 8 mins. no idling required.
total time: 8 mins.

(oh and you get better mileage too)

 

[Rikko]

The LCR has a pump that continues circulating coolent round the important part of the engine when the car has been switched off this is to help combat the cool down run turbo cars normally need.

 

[matt_s]

I read it as letting the temp guage start to move from cold.

I only wait till the revs have dropped to normal idle then take it easy for the first 5 miles. I thought it was bad to let a cold engine sit idling for ages. Plus it taks longer to warm up. Then the same when i come home through town and then it sits there idling while i open the garage and then put it in.

 

[ChrisUK]

Turn on & drive - but take it easy (less than 2.5k) until warmed up

Never let it cool down.........

 

[Cupra Ross]

Those of you with TDi's should be sticking to the cool down rule more than anybody else.

The turbo on a diesel gives a full charge of air regardless of how heavy you're being on the throttle. Driving gently for the last few miles of a run will not have the same cooling effect on a diesel turbo as it does on a 1.8T. You should always let the car idle for a minute before switching off.

 

[allh2k]

Thanks Ross

Any other info for TDI owners just us 110 ers

 

[Cupra Ross]

All Turbo Diesels operate in the same way mate.

 

[ICUMonkey]

eg.
a journey that that takes 10 mins driving normally.

if you rag it, its takes say 7 mins, but then you sit there for 3mins idling.
total time: 10 mins.

driving it the same but take the last few miles easy and off boost takes 8 mins. no idling required.
total time: 8 mins.

(oh and you get better mileage too)

Oh please, if we drove around like Miss Daisy all the time and worried about fuel efficiency, we wouldnt be driving these cars. The fact is, we have bought Cupra Rs cos we want to drive fast.

Therefore, drive fast to destination, then put up with having to wait for engine to cool down. Or buy Ford Fiesta, save fuel and drive sedately.

Its like buying a supercar and complaining about boot space!

 

[andycupra]

Oh please, if we drove around like Miss Daisy all the time and worried about fuel efficiency, we wouldnt be driving these cars. The fact is, we have bought Cupra Rs cos we want to drive fast.

Therefore, drive fast to destination, then put up with having to wait for engine to cool down. Or buy Ford Fiesta, save fuel and drive sedately.

Its like buying a supercar and complaining about boot space!

hey you do as you please.... i never said you have to drive around sedately.
i simply gave another option.

the example i put up still allows you to drive fast, but if you take the last few miles easy you save time also.
never said you have to drive round like miss daisy all the time.

those the choices, you take your pick.

 

[allh2k]

so I should not wait on start up on a deisel but should idle for 3 mins on stop?

The petrols rev higher and u all say that u stay below 3k for first 10 mins what should i stick below for deisel?

 

[ICUMonkey]

Ok, fair enough.

Was talking to the chaps at Jabba bout fitting a turbo timer to let the turbo cool down after driving.

I was told that as its a water cooled turbo it wasnt necessary to leave the engine running...

Guess i'll just try to take it easy before pulling up and leave it at that....

 

[allh2k]

Hey, I've been sticking to the cool down rule about 3 minutes on idle then off.

My white smoke on start up has gone down from a large cloude to a little puff. Dunno if anyone can explain this?

Thx for the advise cos i was thinkin about takin it into the garage for the plugs and looked over

 

[cuprablue]

First basic point that is true for all engines is that you shouldn't drive them when they are running rich. Rich mixtures increase wear rates. So basically you should at the very least wait until the choke is off before driving off. Luckily on cars they're automatic and usually come off pretty quickly.

The point behind not leaving the car to warm up completely by just idling is to do with oil pump pressures. The oil pump doesn't work as effectively at idle so it's not actually circulating the oil in to some of the smaller pathways very effectively, thus leading to greater wear rates.


I'm not convinced about the cooling down bit though to be honest. Look at it realisticaly. Just how quickly do you think your engine/Turbo cools down in the couple of minutes you sit stationary before switching off? Bugger all I would say. Think of how long an Iron stays hot after you've turned it off. Is it cool enough to touch after a couple of minutes? nope it's not, same with your Turbo. A bit of (100 dec C+) oil/water circulating around it for a minute or two is going to make no significant difference what so ever in my opinion.

cuprablue