Proper warming up and cooling down of the engine

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
I would like to see a comparison on brad penn racing oil vs amsoil dominator racing oil.

Green vs red.

12qt for $55...? Even the cheapest bullshit from autozone costs more than that... :lol:
 

35r

New member
Yessir. 12qts of 15-40 costs me $53.03 tax included. Like i said, the shop runs it in all of the high hp racecars with no issues, so thats more than enough evidence that it works awesome.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Well just cause they use it in a 1000 whp talon doesnt mean you should use it in your bone stock car.
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
I assume this is temperature in Celsius? 80*c = 176*f. This is good practice IMO though I will let it warm up a bit before I begin driving just to get the juices flowing properly first.

I have Defi gauges installed (oil temp & pressure and
Once car has been started it's driven straight away, but off boost.
Once oil temp has reached 80 degrees then it's given some
Depending on weather and temperature, I typically see my oil reaching 80 deg about 10-20 mins after water has reached the optimal level

As for cool down
Approaching a parking spot at home, work etc..., I'm typically not on full boost for the last 1/2 mile or so, so when I arrive engine is shutdown straight away. It is not left idling for a minute or longer, this is not needed

even when leaving a track, the slow driving off boost to the parking space whether that takes e.g. 15 secs to a minute, you have effectively go through a cool down period and safe to turn off engine.
leaving these engines idling for minutes at a tine can do more harm than good.

my car is running an aftermarket ECU, and map, mine idles at 1k cold and warm

In short, yes I think IMO, you are overdoing it
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Depending on weather and temperature, I typically see my oil reaching 80 deg about 10-20 mins after water has reached the optimal level.

It takes that long for the engine oil to reach 80*C...?!

I feel like the oil would come up to operating temp much faster than the coolant, but I could be totally wrong.

I'm assuming that when you say it takes 10-20 minutes after coolant reaches temp, you are referring to the time it takes while driving it mildly out of boost and not just idling, right? Creeping down my side street in the morning before getting on the main road, warms the engine much faster than idling in the driveway.

(I have an oil temp gauge and sending unit installed but I need to install a new cable between the sending unit and control box because the one I got from a friend who gave me the gauges was damaged beyond repair. I've been terribly busy lately, but I plan to get around to this in the next month or so. Afterwards I will time how long it takes for oil to come up to temp with idling only, as well as mildly driving it out of boost and post the results here.)
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Interested to see results. :tup:
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
It takes that long for the engine oil to reach 80*C...?!

I feel like the oil would come up to operating temp much faster than the coolant, but I could be totally wrong.

I'm assuming that when you say it takes 10-20 minutes after coolant reaches temp, you are referring to the time it takes while driving it mildly out of boost and not just idling, right? Creeping down my side street in the morning before getting on the main road, warms the engine much faster than idling in the driveway.

(I have an oil temp gauge and sending unit installed but I need to install a new cable between the sending unit and control box because the one I got from a friend who gave me the gauges was damaged beyond repair. I've been terribly busy lately, but I plan to get around to this in the next month or so. Afterwards I will time how long it takes for oil to come up to temp with idling only, as well as mildly driving it out of boost and post the results here.)

It typically takes the oil much longer to fully warm than the coolant does. This has always been my experience. I observe this every day on my way to work and sometime times doesn't even reach full temp by the time I get to work which is 12 miles away from my house.

I use to have a flow meter set up in one of my past cars. It was given to me by my job to test it's functionality and feasibility in automotive applications and I chose to monitor oil. It also gave me the same results. The oil flow rate was directly related to the temperature and the flow rate was slow to come up.
 
Last edited:

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Wow, I stand corrected. It still amazes me though.
Lighter oil weights reach the desired temp and flow rate faster, correct? Does it make much difference in warming time, if any?
 

HolyCrapItsFast

Drinks beer!
I'm not very familiar with the thermal dynamics of motor oil but it makes sense. I would think the oil's ability to raise temperature in time would be related to clearances, oil weight and about a thousand other variables related to friction. However if your oil is reaching temperature before your coolant then I believe something is wrong
 

essbon

New member
I assume this is temperature in Celsius? 80*c = 176*f. This is good practice IMO though I will let it warm up a bit before I begin driving just to get the juices flowing properly first.
Yep 80 degrees Celsius, and by the time i've locked the garage up after reversing the car out, it's been sat idling for a good 30 secs before i set off, sometimes longer while I sort the stereo out to pick some tunes to play


It takes that long for the engine oil to reach 80*C...?!

I feel like the oil would come up to operating temp much faster than the coolant, but I could be totally wrong.

I'm assuming that when you say it takes 10-20 minutes after coolant reaches temp, you are referring to the time it takes while driving it mildly out of boost and not just idling, right? Creeping down my side street in the morning before getting on the main road, warms the engine much faster than idling in the driveway.
yes driving off boost, not idling


i'm currently using Raven 10W50 fully synth oil as mine is not an everyday car, a weekend and track toy

I believe different oils warm up time will vary, but not by much


IMO the most important mod is fitting and oil pressure and temp gauge. just so you know whats going on.
make sure you pick a good brand, I've seen different manufactures gauges reporting varying figures some as up to 15 Deg C out. sorry going a little off topic here.
 

Spamby

Meat Product Toy
Yep. I. concur. Oil temp does take some time to raise to operating temp compared to coolant temp. Usually several miles and several minutes after coolant has reached its temp.
 
Top