Driving at Cold Start of a car

[Dhaham]

Dear Friends

I have a Peugeot 3008 (from Car Mart). Normally when we cold start a car its engine RPM will be little bit high (around 1,100RPM) for about one minute. My practice is, I keep the car idle until it becomes normal idle speed(750~800RPM), without driving. Is this practice good or bad or useless? Thanks in advance.

[kush]

By the way most of the modern turbos have inbuilt protection. They do not shut down if until the engine settle at idling speed for few seconds. I have noticed this in the Macan, some times it runs the engine for about 5-10 seconds.

Not noticed in the Toyota though. Any way I do a relax drive for about 200m to let the engine settle prior to switch off.

 

[Dhaham]

20 hours ago, Hyaenidae said:

You could share the story of your ride here if you're feeling thankful 

Dear Mr.Hyaenidae

Thanks for reminding me and inviting me to write the story of my ride. Yes, I'll do it. But I'm a slow writer. Therefore please give me few days.

[Grease Arcade Automotive]

Well it is not needed, specially when the engine is idling the fuel entering is much richer so too much fuel can affect the engine life as it affects the oil. Specially in countries like Sri Lanka it is not needed. Most of the engine wear occur during start up & idle so try to avoid it as much as possible. Highway driving is the best to extend engine life. When engine is cold gently accelerate & drive until engine & drivetrain has reached the operating temperatures. Turbos usually needs to be warm so gently drive would do, idling isn't needed also the vehicle cooling system do warm the engine to operating temperature. 

[K.o.N.o.S]

On 9/24/2020 at 6:56 PM, Hyaenidae said:

You could share the story of your ride here if you're feeling thankful  

Here you go.

• Get in the car, Insert the ignition key and turn it to "on" Position.
• Wait for the service inspection to finish and while at it I put my seat belt on.
• Start the car and wait until my Phone connects to the Bluetooth device attached to the car. (I need my Playlist).
• Drive away.

This process takes about 20-30 Seconds.

[matroska]

Well ideally it shouldn't be necessary. BUT in my personal experience I noticed that when I let the civic (1L Turbo) idle for a bit more (closer to 1 minute) before driving off the car its that much more responsive. It's as if waking up the car gently enough so that it happily drives the rest of the way as opposed to a rude awakening in which the car grumbles and is slow and lethargic.

[Hyaenidae]

3 hours ago, matroska said:

It's as if waking up the car gently enough so that it happily drives the rest of the way as opposed to a rude awakening in which the car grumbles and is slow and lethargic.

See, this is what I mean - it might not make any difference and could be a waste of fuel but it just feels right to start driving after the engine warms up a bit, settles on its normal idle rpm and quiets down instead of  driving away when she's still grumpy 

[Davy]

16 hours ago, matroska said:

Well ideally it shouldn't be necessary. BUT in my personal experience I noticed that when I let the civic (1L Turbo) idle for a bit more (closer to 1 minute) before driving off the car its that much more responsive. It's as if waking up the car gently enough so that it happily drives the rest of the way as opposed to a rude awakening in which the car grumbles and is slow and lethargic.

On a small engine that heavily relies on the turbo for power, sure makes sense. The oil feed to the turbo is longer than the channels in the engine block, so yes. It should still all be lubed up and ready to go in under half a minute. Equally important is to let the engine idle for a bit, especially after a rough run, so that the turbo has time to gracefully cool down. 

However...

12 hours ago, Hyaenidae said:

See, this is what I mean - it might not make any difference and could be a waste of fuel but it just feels right to start driving after the engine warms up a bit, settles on its normal idle rpm and quiets down instead of  driving away when she's still grumpy 

On a regular NA engine like the 4A on the Lancer, longer idle times has no benefit. You should only really give it around 20 seconds max for the engine oil to circulate and that's it. What is more important than long idle times is to get your engine to operating temperature as soon as possible, and that is by driving your car on low RPMs. By idling stationary, you're just causing the slowest possible warm-up.

One minute is fine, but anything longer than that is overkill. For one bar to appear on the temperature gauge of my car, it takes several minutes of idling! 

If the engine is grumpy when cold, that is probably a sign of a different issue (wrong engine oil used, wrong fuel, carbon deposits in intake or fuel system etc.).

Edited September 29, 2020 by Davy

[Hyaenidae]

4 hours ago, Davy said:

One minute is fine, but anything longer than that is overkill. For one bar to appear on the temperature gauge of my car, it takes several minutes of idling! 

If the engine is grumpy when cold, that is probably a sign of a different issue (wrong engine oil used, wrong fuel, carbon deposits in intake or fuel system etc.).

Maybe because the ambient temperature is low in aus? Mine takes a minute and a half tops to show a reading on the temp gauge.

By grumpy I meant it is idling at 1000rpms, It settles on 750rpm in 4-5 minutes. If I'm not in a hurry I let it idle till rpms drop to 750, if I'm in a hurry I pull out as soon as a reading appears on the temp gauge

Edited September 29, 2020 by Hyaenidae