Oil For H22A

[dness]

Warming up the car by driving it will be quicker than warming up by idle. Taking it easy at the start is the key. I don't think we live in a cold enough climate to be warming up our cars. Even so, modern cars shouldn't need to be IMO. You'll save time and money.

Not telling you to start the car and drag race off, now that will wreck havoc to your internals. Otherwise I think it's fine. Of course that's just my opinion and only that. I'm sure there are some useful articles online that may shed some light on this matter.

Back to the oil topic. Our manuals recommend 5w-30 but that's pretty thin for an engine that's done over 200k. I personally would go 40 as I've always done, even on my Accord that's done over 250k.

[trism]

i must disagree that it cart harm an engine if you let it warm up, if you turn on your engine on a cold morning and just drive off the oil is still cold. You drive and rub metal againt metal in your internals

So wrong.

It actually does more damage to sit and let it idle and warm up for any longer than about a minute.

Heres a post i made a while ago in this thread

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthr...l-warm-up-time

ive posted thisd a few times

warming a car up is the worse thing you can do, for a few reasons, if you have a search youll find them all, but here is a quick run down

1. idling causes fuel wash. the excess fuel in the cylinder not being burnt literally washes the oil off the cylinder walls, removing lubrication
2. emissions control devices, specifically the catalytic convertor work when heated up. idling the car isnt going to heat it up, so for the 5 minutes its warming up all the toxic nastys are spewing out the exhaust.
3. youre wasting fuel warming up. the ecu automatically supplies more fuel when cold to prevent stalling. thus wasting petrol (and causing fuel wash)
4. you sit there for 5 mins warming the engine up thinking youre sweet, then pull out and give it a hit thinking its all fine. well its not. where does the power go through before it hits the wheels? the gearbox/rest of the drivetrain. you hit it, and your 'box is cold still and you cause wear on the drivetrain.


thats a basic run down on why its not necessary. simply get in, start the car up and drive away, taking it easy until the temp reaches operating temperature, that way everything warms up at the same time and you dont damage anything

[H22JET]

see my dad has a 1.5L civic D15B7 engine, it has done 350,000ks he always lets it warm up and drives good with it the car has never had any problems exept the usual servicng and changing parts as they have done alot of ks - example, water pump, hoses, etc. i thought its known for less internal engine wear if you warm up due to letting the oil warm up while idling instead of driving cold and the oil is still not warmed up to lubricate the internals properly. i always let it warm up a quarter of the temperature then drive off

[trism]

Seriously mate, do some research. Its a well known fact that its not necessary unless temperatures are well below freezing.


The oil takes 3 times as long to warm up with no load on it. So idling, its doing 3 times the damage as it would if you got in, started up, put on your seat belt, and left.

[H22JET]

oh i have done research found alot of positive feedbacks about warming your car up, you cannot do any harm in letting it idle its just idling, if your at peak hour traffic or at traffic lights your car is still idling, it may waste more fuel, but seriously small difference, you drive off cold but your internals are still rubbing metal to metal with not enough lubrication off oil, for what i know let your car warm up to a quarter and drive gently for a few minutes, not letting it full warm up tho

[trism]

I dont think you are understanding how oils work.

Oil is not like water. It does not run off a surface as soon as you stop circulating it.

Oils are designed so that they cling to surfaces long after it stops being pumped around. As soon as you crank the motor over, it is turning the oil pump, sending oil around the motor. However, there is still a residual layer of oil left on the bores, and on the pistons. Thats why the oil business is worth billions of dollars, because they have the technology to make this happen.

So you crank the motor, and it kicks, and instantly, there is oil circulating around the motor, into the main bearings, around the cam journals, and onto the bore.Instantly.

The reason we have multigrade oils (ie Xw-X) is so that it is thinner when it is cold, allowing it to move around easier. After 30 seconds of running, all of the engines surfaces are sufficiently covered in oil. By sitting there any longer, its causing fuel wash, like i said before, where the excess fuel from the richness of the cold start is scrubbing the oil off the bore, leaving bare metal for the pistons to scrape up against.

If you were to drive off straight away, the engine is under load, so all of this fuel is burnt, and doesnt wash the oil off the bore.

Obviously you arent oging to bounce off the rev limiter, but please, please understand that you can drive after 30 seconds of starting the engine, and it will actually be better for the engine then letting it idle for 5 minutes.

There is a serious difference between letting your car idle to warm up and idling in traffic, the predominant reason being that which i explained earlier, when you start your car up, the engine is in cold start mode, and pumps more fuel in to avoid stalling, which doesnt happen when the car is already warm.

[dness]

I agree with Trism. Thanks for typing that out and explaining because I wouldn't of bothered and left it at that. I think if someone isn't open to suggestions or ideas other than their own, there is no need to explain further more.

I'm sure you've done your research H22JET, but I think you're ignoring the facts opposing your argument and reading what you want to read. We mean well. At the end of the day, it's your car.

[migoreng]

lol.
Any decent car can drive off without problems once you've started the engine for 5-10 seconds. Move off once you've got your seat belt on and everything looks ok on the dashboard. Take it easy on the throttle and keep revs say under 3000rpm.
I have to look my garage in the morning so the most my car idles is about 30 seconds before I drive it off down the road. Never had a problem. Leaving it idling for minutes is just a waste of fuel.

What does concern me are the soccer mums in Camrys/SUVs that start their engines, handbrake down and select Drive all within 2 seconds then floor it off down the road.. LOL

[H22JET]

waste of fuel??? dude are you serious??? srsly why would anyone complain about 1 minute worth of fuel are you like a tightass or something bout fuel lol, big deal 1 minute of fuel hardly wastes nothing

[migoreng]

You're still wasting fuel for no extra benefits...

Your engine may be warm from idling for up to 5 minutes but everything else is still cold such as the gear box/driveshafts/brakes/tyres etc
The cat convertor after your header/extractors does not work properly if it's cold so for those few minutes your engine is running heaps rich...Stand behind your car after starting it, the smell of the exhaust is bad compared to when everything is at operating temperature.

If you can start driving down the road 10-30 seconds after you've started your car then simply do it...

[curtis265]

it's more a concrn of the fuel wash rather than wasting fuel dude, that's just one of the smaller reasons why not to do it.

[trism]

I give no fark for wasted fuel.

If I was worried about economy I'd drive a hybrid.

The point of the argument, which you seem to be missing, and I keep needed to repeat myself about is that when you warm your car up for any longer than a minute before driving off, you are causing so much more wear to the engine than simply getting in, starting up, and going, while not revving hard until the engine is warm.

The secondary effect, like we keep telling you is that if you warm it up, the engine is warm but every other part of the car is cold, and you think you're right, but you will break stuff .

I've experienced it first hand. A mate with a WRX let his car idle for 5 mins to warm up, then when he took off, boosted it all the way up to the limiter, changed into 2nd, and the gearbox disintegrated.

That's the risk you take.