ideally youll want to get the engine oil temp to 180F before doing any hard driving.. so even after the coolant light goes out, i go easy for another 5min or so.

 

I was reading on a Dodge Charger forum about owner complaints that WOT acceleration when the car is still cold has them hitting the rev limiter before shifting into 5th. Yes...cold car, WOT, shifting up into 5th gear at the limiter.

What in the world are people thinking?!

These are machines. Machines have a designed operating temperature range. If you're not within that range, then drive it gently until it gets in that range.

If I'm not mistaken, the S2000's have dual limiters. One is a low limiter for when the car is cold and then, once it's within operating range, it switches to a higher limiter. Not a bad idea.

 

exactly, modern or not: it's still a petrol engine with thousands of explosions per minute stressing the internals. those internals when under( or over) the temperature specified for operation will be more susceptible to breakage. As a soon to be former 4B12 owner, I can only cringe when seeing cold started cars at WOT before they're good and warm.

 

Good info here guys. It takes the engine oil longer to warm up to operating temp than the coolant. Driver easy for the first 10 minutes or so until the oil is up to temp. Most engine wear comes from cold starts. The colder it is the more this is true.

 

yah we get spoiled by our oil temp indicators on our Golfs.
wish my STI had one too..

 

I wish that Honda had put in a water temp gauge and not that blinkin indicator light. My previous car had a gauge and it was really nice. When my thermostat started to go I could see the needle on the gauge behaving erratically, swing up and down. With an indicator light I'm not sure the problem would have been noticed as quickly.

 

You think so? I'm wondering if the engine warms up to optimum temperarture before the coolant reaches 180 F. Also – 5 minutes? It only takes 2 minutes to go from 30 degrees F to 140. So from 140 to to 180, another minute?

 

yah, the oil temp indicator can be below 125F even if the water temp is showing 200F. as weather gets colder, it takes considerably longer for the oil to warm up.

 

I don't really do any warm up in this car. By the time Bluetooth connects to my phone and music is streaming, then I'm underway. I drive conservatively till the temp light goes off, usually about the time I get out of the neighborhood.

0W20 is pretty lightweight oil so I don't think it really needs any warm up. On my 4 runner it's still using conventional 10w40 and going 150k with no oil leaks. I drive it the same way. The days of minutes long warm ups are over imo.

 

yah, no need to sit idle. just drive conservatively for 10min or so.

 

I would think 2 or 3 minutes. My blue light goes off after about 1 minute while driving in 60 deg F weather. So, while driving, the engine if probably fully warmed up in another minute. At In 75 deg weather water temp reached 180 deg F, with the car idling, maybe only about 2 minutes after it reached 140 (the point where the blue light went off). So 2 minutes plus 1 minute equal 3 minutes of driving. However I figure probably the oil temp is fully warm a little bit before the water temp.

Does one need to be concerned about the manual shift transaxle and the wheel bearings? I've never given too much thought to these. Do they wear a lot faster if cold weather? What about the CVT? A point of wear that manual transmissions do not have, and that planetary gear automatic transmissions do not have, and that I am rather unfamiliar with, is wear between the laser-etched sides of the pulley and the pulley-pushing segments of the push-belt.

 

I have not monitored out Fit, but our VW takes closer to 6-8 minutes to get the oil to operating temp and it happens after the coolant has reached full/normal temp.

 

Agree.

Oil temp always lags behind water temp.

My Macan hits 200* water temp pretty quickly (within 5 minutes). Oil temp doesn't hit normal operating range until 10 minutes later and is heavily dependent on ambient temperature.

 

I wish my commutes were longer so I could properly warm up my car. I use the Fit as an urban commuter, which means short 5-10min trips. The combination of brisk, urban traffic-flow and hills means I have to hit higher revs quickly.