Warm Up Time / Oil Temp - When is it ok to cut loose?

[hazamatic]

Is it just me or does the GTI take a long time to warm up?

I timed it the other day. These times are while driving, not sitting and idling. Ambient temperature was 10C according to the car. Car is a DSG. Driving on 60km/h roads for 15 mins and then on to the freeway.

Time till coolant reaches 90C: ~8 mins
Time till oil reaches 90C: ~18 mins

18 mins is a long time to reach optimal operating temperature!

[Brendan_A]

My 118TSI takes about the same time.

[Idle]

TDI takes even longer — coolant temp can take up to 20 minutes (occasionally more) on a cold morning.

Makes the heater somewhat of dead loss...

[hazamatic]

My old Accord would take less then 5 mins for coolant to warm up.

It's annoying to wait so long before driving the car hard. I rarely drive any where more than 20 mins anyway.

[hooba]

My old Accord would take less then 5 mins for coolant to warm up.

It's annoying to wait so long before driving the car hard. I rarely drive any where more than 20 mins anyway.

My Mk5 is the same as my Mk6, it takes a long while to warm up, especially compared to my Jap cars.

[pologti18t]

My old Accord would take less then 5 mins for coolant to warm up.

It's annoying to wait so long before driving the car hard. I rarely drive any where more than 20 mins anyway.

1. The honda would never have told you the oil temp
2. The Honda water temp guage most likely didn't show you the actual coolant temp (in C).

Therefore you ain't comparing apples with apples.

[Guest]

Yeah most VW's run coolant at about 110 C (depending what engine) and only show 90 C on temp guages to not freak out car owner out as 110 C looks way to high on guage and people will think car is over heating

[hooba]

Oil Temp - when is it ok to cut loose?

I've been showing great restraint in waiting for the oil temperature to get to at least 80 degrees C before giving the car a bootful, and was wondering what others do?

[Preen59]

About 1 min or so after cold start. I don't worry about oil temp. Pressure is far more critical.

Those that do are only worried because they have an oil temp gauge...


Babying an engine is one of the worst things you can do to it..

[prise]

According to the 118TSI owners manual maximum RPM should only be used when the coolant temperature is in the 'normal' region (above 70 degrees). I also wait for the oil to get above 55 deg which happens a later as oil temperature lags behind coolant temperature. This is becasue the coolant is picking up heat from the cylinder heads. Oil temperature is a better indicator of the temperaure of the moving parts. It is common practice in aviation for and engine manufacturer to specify a warm-up to achieve a minimum oil temperature before takeoff power and RPM can be used. There are a couple reasons behind this that I am aware of:

a) Different parts of the engine warm up and therefore expand at different rates so the warm-up allows time for heat to distribute more evenly and clearances of moving parts to be within limits before high loads are applied.

b) At lower temperatures the oil is thicker and although the oil pressure looks healthy, its flow rate is reduced which can result in insufficient oil flow for some wear surfaces. The viscosity of the oil is selected by the manufacturer such that it provides optimum oil pressure AND flow rate at the operating temperature. Too cold and there isn't sufficient flow rate, too hot and the pressure is insufficient.

[Preen59]

Yes, but in an aircraft engine, it is under full load straight away. It is also generally under more stress for a longer and more consistent length of time.

In a full blown, high performance competition engine i'd consider a warm up procedure to be a good idea. Some people even put an element in the sump or oil tank to pre-warm the oil. But a road car? Not so critical. Now, i'm not saying that you should give your engine the stick straight off the mark, but leaning on it before operating temp won't hurt anything. In fact, you're doing some parts a favor.

This is typical of when you give people something else to look at. As soon as there is another measurement, they start to worry about it. If it wasn't there, no one would be talking about it.

[Transporter]

When using mineral engine oil some additives in oil have to reach certain temperature (by memory 70 deg.C) before they fully protect moving parts from metal to metal contact.

Today's synthetic lubricants protect the engine right from the word "GO".
As Preen59 said, don't get crazy with accelerator before engine oil warms up a bit and you'll be fine.

[iBoost]

I wait until it's around 80 degrees or so. Until then I generally drive gently and shift on or below 3000 rpm.

[ethosguy]

Prise is spot on.
Not only are you excessively wearing/damaging your engine and driveline parts you are probably contributing to probable oil leaks due to differential thermal expansion of materials. Beaings are typically steel in aluminium housings and can be sensitive to clearances...yo0u'll be prone to sucking/blowing seals for example.
I've been around machinery professionally for 25yrs. Cardinal sin mechanical abuse...and I've seen sackings and breakdowns from running cold machines hard.
It's true oil pressure is essential... even before increasing engine speed from idle; forget before flogging it...
Cooling down is just as important, especially on a turbo engine to stop cooking/uncirculating oil on hot spots creating sludge/tarnish in the most sensitive areas. Although VW seem to have post shutdown circulation pumps in our TDI Tiguan. I haven't bothered to find out if it covers water, oil or both?

Do you reckon BMW and others have electronic power output limiters for cold running (M5?) as a gimmic?

Believe what you will but my machinery will always be at operating temp (not coold, not hot) during hard work. I'll suss out the prior owners attitudes before buying used too...Best reason to avoid demo deals IMO, especiall for performance vehicles.

[Preen59]

Do you reckon BMW and others have electronic power output limiters for cold running (M5?) as a gimmic?

No. They have that because they have aluminium bores in the M5 V10.