Warm Engine Vs Cold Engine Oil and Spirited Driving
 

Hey guys,


It looks like there is a misconception between when the engine is warmed up but the engine oil is still cold. I have seen many people say that as long as the engine is warmed up (see picture on the left) you can start with higher RPMs and spirited driving.

I always wait until the engine oil (see picture on the right) is warmed up to start with launches and spirited driving.

How many of you guys wait for the engine oil to start pushing the engine? I see many people start pushing the car as soon as they see 2-3 dots on the dash.


http://s22.postimg.org/uee89wl9d/Warm_Cold.jpg

the ecu will compensate if the engine is not warmed up enough but i usually wait till the oil is 180F range before i open her up.

Search this site for "operating temperature", "oil temperature", &c. If the site's search doesn't come up with anything, try any of the major web search engines and add "site:the370z.com" to your search string.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

I do not give the engine a hard time until I have 70 DegC registering oln the oil temp gauge.

The dots you are referring to on the LH photo is the water temperature.....not the oil temperature.

As others have stated, I let my temp on the gauge (RH pic) get to 180 before I push it hard.

i usually wait until the oil is warmed up prior to doing any spirited driving, however, i only wait until the water temperature is warmed up before driving fast (i.e. getting up to 60 mph but in granny style).

I too don't give it hell until I'm in the range of 180°.

Looks like reaching 180 takes about 8-10 minutes driving it grandpa style. (At least here in the northern US)

Or run an oil temp thermostat bypass in the oil cooling line.

:iagree:

The 7th dot has an enormous 64F range (~158-222F) compared to the others which only have ~6F range. You can be at the 3rd dot and still below 140.
http://www.the370z.com/engine-drivet...-readings.html

I try to wait until the coolant temp dot has moved before I leave the garage. Then I wait for throttle over ~3K RPMs until the oil temp needle has at least moved off the 140F mark. Anything above 5K RPMs waits for 160F temp on the gauge which tells me the actual oil temp is at least 180F.

These are just ideal scenarios for me because I have a 60 mph state highway 1/4 mile from my house. It's hard for the Z to warm up in that distance, and when there's traffic, it's hard to merge into traffic safely without pushing 5K RPMs in at least 1st and 2nd gears. I try to let it sit in the garage longer if I know I'm going that direction.

I find my car's oil warms up faster than the transmission... when the shifts smooth out (especially getting into 1st / 2nd) I know I can go hard.

generally about 5-10 minutes depending on varying factors.


I have similar problems JAR... but in Toronto I merge at like half the legal speed limit so it's usually not a problem ;)

I'm pretty sure this was originally posted here. If you don't already wait until oil temperature hits 180 to push it, then you should watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpa3oNJG3uU