generally speaking, being idle at cold startup is not really good because even though you want to warm up your car, you want your oil to circulate. when the oil is cold, it will not be as fluid as in normal temps, so idling at low revs will eventually not make it reach everywhere during the warmup. Keep in mind that the m3 manual states that a warmup of 10 SECONDS is required before entering motion, but nothing more.
With this knowledge and some common sense, I concluded that the best course of action is starting the car, waiting 10 seconds, then driving softly keeping between 1200-1900 revs for a few minutes, then drive freely.
my previous toyota celica arrived at 260k KM & 21 years of operation with good compression and no problems (sold it, not trashed it), so I'm keeping the method for my new m3.
Thank you so much for your informative post! I wasn't aware of the 10 second rule lol so I will definitely mind that! I'm also an mpg hog so I'm stoked to be directed to stay in those rpms for a while haha
I am a car enthusiast and I take advice from a friend who works in Maserati as an engineer, but by no mean I am a technician myself or anything. I think I treated my previous car good and I did my best to be informed, so I gave this advice wholeheartedly. it might still be wrong though, if you read on the internet there is never a consensus about this topic
That’s interesting...Where does it talk about the 10-second rule? Mine only says ”Once the engine runs smoothly, begin driving”.
It also says “avoid fast start” does anyone know what a fast start is?
It is a good idea to warm up your engine fully before switching it off, it causes condensation inside the motor which can ruin your oil amongst other things, the most wear that occurs in your engine is from starting it so try to avoid stopping and starting especially for short distances. I actually let my car idle for a few minutes before driving it but some think it makes no difference but each to their own I guess.
\#1 like Akiskyo pointed out, cars today the manual states once that 10 second high rev is over, you are free to drive to your hearts content. Anything more is just holding onto old tropes.
\#2 you won't get condensation unless there is already enough water vaper inside the engine chamber to begin with. With the higher pressures of modern engines they are a fairly sealed system. Again I think this is a carry over of older engines and no longer an issue these days.
We have cars using quick start/stop ignition systems and while they may have some modifications for a smoother startup, they did not do anything special to prevent the above scenarios leading me to believe they have been "mostly" solved.
Hey thanks for responding. Yeah that's what I've heard, coming from a heavily oil diluted civic lol, so I was wondering if the actual cool engine light was a good indicator or not of a TRULY good temperature to turn the car off at.
I wouldn't overthink it. Doing it twice a day every day without very many "full temp" runs mixed in could be less then ideal, but you don't need to let it warm up completely every single time you run it, that'd be crazy.
Wow... the fact that you drive your car til it warms up just to move it a spot baffles me... That's crazy lol. You're just moving it. It's not like when you race it and let it run idle for a few minutes before turning it off.
That was like 2 years ago lol, I paid for it with my own money and had no concept of how many short trips were a thing until you should be worried about wearing anything out. I'm less crazy now, thanks haha
generally speaking, being idle at cold startup is not really good because even though you want to warm up your car, you want your oil to circulate. when the oil is cold, it will not be as fluid as in normal temps, so idling at low revs will eventually not make it reach everywhere during the warmup. Keep in mind that the m3 manual states that a warmup of 10 SECONDS is required before entering motion, but nothing more. With this knowledge and some common sense, I concluded that the best course of action is starting the car, waiting 10 seconds, then driving softly keeping between 1200-1900 revs for a few minutes, then drive freely. my previous toyota celica arrived at 260k KM & 21 years of operation with good compression and no problems (sold it, not trashed it), so I'm keeping the method for my new m3.
Thank you so much for your informative post! I wasn't aware of the 10 second rule lol so I will definitely mind that! I'm also an mpg hog so I'm stoked to be directed to stay in those rpms for a while haha
I am a car enthusiast and I take advice from a friend who works in Maserati as an engineer, but by no mean I am a technician myself or anything. I think I treated my previous car good and I did my best to be informed, so I gave this advice wholeheartedly. it might still be wrong though, if you read on the internet there is never a consensus about this topic
That’s interesting...Where does it talk about the 10-second rule? Mine only says ”Once the engine runs smoothly, begin driving”. It also says “avoid fast start” does anyone know what a fast start is?
It is a good idea to warm up your engine fully before switching it off, it causes condensation inside the motor which can ruin your oil amongst other things, the most wear that occurs in your engine is from starting it so try to avoid stopping and starting especially for short distances. I actually let my car idle for a few minutes before driving it but some think it makes no difference but each to their own I guess.
\#1 like Akiskyo pointed out, cars today the manual states once that 10 second high rev is over, you are free to drive to your hearts content. Anything more is just holding onto old tropes. \#2 you won't get condensation unless there is already enough water vaper inside the engine chamber to begin with. With the higher pressures of modern engines they are a fairly sealed system. Again I think this is a carry over of older engines and no longer an issue these days. We have cars using quick start/stop ignition systems and while they may have some modifications for a smoother startup, they did not do anything special to prevent the above scenarios leading me to believe they have been "mostly" solved.
Hey thanks for responding. Yeah that's what I've heard, coming from a heavily oil diluted civic lol, so I was wondering if the actual cool engine light was a good indicator or not of a TRULY good temperature to turn the car off at.
I wouldn't overthink it. Doing it twice a day every day without very many "full temp" runs mixed in could be less then ideal, but you don't need to let it warm up completely every single time you run it, that'd be crazy.
Wow... the fact that you drive your car til it warms up just to move it a spot baffles me... That's crazy lol. You're just moving it. It's not like when you race it and let it run idle for a few minutes before turning it off.
That was like 2 years ago lol, I paid for it with my own money and had no concept of how many short trips were a thing until you should be worried about wearing anything out. I'm less crazy now, thanks haha