To warm or not to warm?

[StevenN]

My car is always sluggish at pulling away for a minute or two when first started.
No good for fast get aways.

 

[corned]

There is another down side to leaving the car idling for a long time, particularly if all the electrical consumers are going full chat.

You are placing the greatest demand on the electrical system right when it is least able to satisfy it.

By that I mean that the battery is very cold, so it cannot give the same current to the system as in the heat of summer, plus the alternator is only spinning at idle revs, so will not be capable of supplying full capacity to offset the demand places upon it. So the electrical system is given a very hard time as a result.

Of course if you drive off straight away, the charging system can supply full capacity because the alternator will be spinning at higher revs.

Plus you give the engine some work to do, so it warms up much quicker.

Win win.

 

[SilverSaloon]

just drive off. it will warm up quicker and you also make progress...

 

[AJA]

I always drive straight off, but wait until nearly fully warmed up before giving anywhere near full throttle.

 

[Olivier]

There is another down side to leaving the car idling for a long time, particularly if all the electrical consumers are going full chat.

You are placing the greatest demand on the electrical system right when it is least able to satisfy it.

By that I mean that the battery is very cold, so it cannot give the same current to the system as in the heat of summer, plus the alternator is only spinning at idle revs, so will not be capable of supplying full capacity to offset the demand places upon it. So the electrical system is given a very hard time as a result.

Of course if you drive off straight away, the charging system can supply full capacity because the alternator will be spinning at higher revs.

Plus you give the engine some work to do, so it warms up much quicker.

Win win.

MB are good for that, the alternators are strong enough to supply enough on iddle, diesel tho.

 

[markjay]

Start car. Allow oil pressure to come up (approx 5-15 secs). Drive off!!

That's about right.... just drive mildly until the engine picks up temperature.

On an Alfa I used to own some 30 years ago the 'engine overheat' light had dual purpose... it was initially lit until the engine reached it's working temperature, which was a nice touch - saying don't push me until the light is off...

 

[clever dicky]

Judging by poor mpg when cold, they must program the ecu to really open the taps to avoid any splutter when cold.

I miss the days when you could manually push the choke in progressively as it warmed up and you got going on a steady run.