I have my pit crew break out the oil circulator/warmer 2 hours before driving.

They start the coolant circulator/warmer 30 minutes before driving.

They disconnect it 3 minutes before my scheduled drive and put the engine blanket on until I have started the engine and ready to pull out.

Maybe too much, but it makes me sleep good at night.

 

 

I always give it a minute if she's been driven that day...
If its a cold start after being parked for a week or two I do give it a little bit of time to make sure everything is running smoothly... 5 minutes... maybe 10 minutes max...

 

That is in there to "game" the emissions and fuel economy tests. If the factory required a warm up the test "driver" during the emissions/fuel economy test would follow that.

(The short shifting the new automatics produce, where under light throttle the tranny can be in top gear in nearly no time, is also there to "game" the fuel economy/emission tests.)

While I care as much about emissions and fuel economy as anyone I do not see any need to risk early engine problems by driving off with a dead cold engine.

Thus my procedure has always been with a dead cold engine to let the engine idle after cold start until the idle speed drops to near normal hot idle speed. Depending upon ambient temperature this takes from under a minute to maybe a minute to maybe a minute and a half.

I find with this bit of "warmup" the engine is more tractable and easier to drive smoothly. (Both cars are manual transmission equipped.) But even with a Tip/auto I'd still let the engine (and tranny) gain a bit of heat.

 

 

Start the car, buckle up, putter through my neighborhood @ 25MPH to avoid killing pedestrians (those crazy f'ers who get up and exercise when I'm going to the office - wtf no jobs? Grr!). By the time I've purchased my caffeine at 7-11 a block from home, the car's warm enough for me to tear-*** to my heart's content.

Like Macster mentioned, the gearbox is usually a little stodgy until everything is warmed up. I've been married for 20 years, so I'm accustomed to dealing with non-early-risers...

 

From pages 68 and 69 of the 2004 owners manual.

Starting procedures
Do not let the engine idle to warm up
When starting the engine be ready to drive immediately. Drive vehicle at moderate speeds and avoid engine speeds above 4,200 rpm during the first 5 minutes

Stopping engine
Do not stop engine immediately after hard or extended driving
Keep engine running at increased idle for about two minutes to prevent excessive heat build-up before turning off engine

I took delivery of my 04 C2 in 2007 and it was delivered by the service department. The service advisor made specific mention to not let the car idle to warm up referencing rich fuel mixture and washing the cylinders in fuel. He also told me to remember that the temp gauge is for water temp and that didn't mean the oil and engine were at full operating temp, so go more by the time driven than the temp gauge.

The idling before shutting down after a spirited drive was explained as to help prevent hot spots.

And since there was mention of cylinder scoring and cold climates in this thread: my C2 has been my year round daily driver. Drive to work was thirty miles each way, car sat in the parking lot for 10 to 12 hours in sub freezing temps. I adhered to not idling to warm up the car, cleaned it off, bitched and moaned, then strapped in, fired it up and drove away. (heated seats helped).

During a recent service I mentioned the bore scoring issue to the tech's and yes they are starting to see it. In fact, they recently replaced an engine due to bore scoring using a Porsche short block. They were skeptical of the cold climate assumption as the cause of bore scoring.

So - since my plugs were already out and I read too much here, I had all cylinders bore scoped - No Scoring. 87k miles on the car.

 

I follow the same routine as Lexvan - crank it up, futz around for sunglasses, click on seat belt, off to the races

 

talking out your *** again I see

 

I wait till idle is lower than 1k, about 30 sec then go. Every Porsche manual I've read through (951, 944.1, 955S, 955TT, 996) all state letting warm up is not advised. I guess this is why remote start isn't available.


NOW in the winter in Michigan (under 15 degrees or so), I turn the CTT on for 3 or 4 minutes to warm the seat. I do not turn on my heat or a/c on either my CTT or 996 until the coolant is reading operating temp, probably overly cautious, but if I dress for the weather, its fine. Same thing with winding the cars up (over 4k or into boost for the 955TT) I don't do that until oil temp is warm.

 

I do the same. Start the car, wait for the fast idle to drop and settle down (takes about a minute and gives me time to monitor the gauges). Then keep rpm below 4k until operating temperature (needle showing near 8 on 180). This is usually the time it takes for me to hit the highway (2 miles from home).

 

So cold start fuel enrichment is a fixed quantity regardless of RPM?

I think the "drive upon starting" is an emissions issue mandated by the fed's. After all you are wasting gas by not driving and are slower to light off the cats.

Anyway, my logic tells me to warm it up before driving and frankly I think the car runs better when I do this.

Paul

 

^^^^This is what I do.....

Though I probably wait 30 - 45 sec on average before I take off, and I keep it easy until temp gauge is past 160F or so. I also don't drive the 996 when temps get below freezing.

As for the recommendation to drive off immediately, that is typical German philosophy (I lived there for several years), and I think it's even on the driving test. It typically is said in cold weather, that it takes much longer to get the car to temperature if you leave it idling vs driving, which means you're running your car for a longer time at non-ideal temperatures, resulting in excessive wear.

However, knowing the Germans, this could possibly be folklore created to encourage less fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions, since if I recall correctly, there were also laws against idling cars to warm up.

 

The way I think of it is more of a closed loop EFI system/map that runs until some criteria is met. So in this case it's a little rich and idle is a little higher until some component is up to temp or some sensor is up to temp, then it flips to the regular map/system.

 

Start car
put on sun glasses
roll off my driveway in neutral and roll down the street about of 1/4 mile downhill still in neutral.
Give it a little blimp and get in gear, and take it easy until reached operating temp.