Alex57r

C'mon guys, just drive the car. Dont beat on it for the first couple of miles but there is no need to get out and push while its warming up either... LOL

terrycs

iTrader: (37)

It doesn't take very long for the motor to get to operating temperature. I'm actaully kind of amazed compared to my other cars.

I start up and ease out of my garage, watch the garage door to make sure it is closed, then I het the streets going easy till I reach the freeway. My freeway on-ramp is exactly 1 mile away. By the time I get to the on ramp, the coolant temp is already at 180 degrees even in Southern CA winter.

Now if only I didn't have a light at my on ramp ...

Riley

This chap has got the basic drift. Excessive warming the motor does nothing for the rest of the drive train. In fact to warm the motor (and not the tranny) then drive it hard is not a good idea.

Best is to drive it easy until up to temp (no excessive warm up), this helps to warm all aspects of the drive train then start working it. Not a good idea for the cats to warm for 5 min..... or the tranny.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Why is this?

stratos

After reading the whole thread I had to make sure I was in the right forum.

Are we talking about Gs?

Do you need the "FULL POTENTIAL" of the car to hit 50mph now?

We are worrying about warming up the transmission before joining a 50mph road now?

What's next? Warming up tires, brakes, lip gloss?

Give me a break!

Stratos.-

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js3350z

No body is saying you need the full potential of the car to get on the highway, I am just saying I take it easy for the first few minutes of driving... which is in contrast to some people I notice on a daily basis who hop in the cars start it up and before there hand leaves the ignition they are already in drive flooring it out of there driveways... that is what I try to avoid

and the exhaust sounds much better once there is a little heat flowing through

stratos

You are exaggerating just a bit there...

Don't get me wrong, in cold weather I "warm up" the car too. And by that I mean, I start the engine up and wait until the idle rpms start dropping closer to the 1k mark. That's a message to me from the engine management system that the car is ready to be driven off the driveway.

I then proceed to drive it "conservatively" until i feel heat coming off the vents. "Conservatively" to me means changing gears between 1.5-3k rpm depending on the traffic flow. I DO NOT impede traffic flow just to "save" a few perceived milliseconds off my mechanicals.

On the topic of warming up the tranny. There is very little heat produced inside transmission cases(unless you put a lot of load to them) and generally heat is a bad thing to transmissions. Consecutively, warming up transmissions is a bad thing

Stratos.-

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js3350z

I agree with everything you said in this response... except how could you possibly know I am exaggerating, just last week after leaving class I got into someones car who did exactly what I described, started car put it in drive and within 10 seconds was flooring it to get up to speed on road leading out of the school (was in the 40's outside, and I know for a fact the car wasn't running for at least 5 hours)

legion681

Normally, the right moment when you can start to drive your car hard is when the engine's oil has warmed up to proper temperatures (no one wants to push their engine hard when proper lubrication of all parts is not "guaranteed"...your engine's life and reliability stand a real good chance to being compromised, in the long term at least...). Unfortunately, these days most cars don't have an oil temp gauge and it's kinda hard to guess when the right oil temp. has been reached.
I remember, back in Europe, when I owned a 2001 BMW M3 (which had an oil temp gauge) and the best temp. was 95-105 degrees Celsius (roughly 200-220 F).
I also remember that in summer you'd reach those temps in just a few miles, say 2-3...but in winter (temps around 20 F), it would take 9-10 miles. And remember, the coolant reaches its operating temp. WAY FASTER than oil ... Having hot air coming out of your car vents, like someone posted in this thread, is not at all a good indication that your car is nice and ready to be driven as hard as it can...

So, for all those people saying that they drive their G in a soft way for a mile and then they drive it hard...My suggestion for you is to reconsider your behavior, at least if you want to properly take care of your car...

Good luck.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

How about we move back to the original topic of opinions on how long the car should warm up before being driven and get away from who pays for whos's car?

stratos

Well, I'm stumped.
I don't want to offend anyone else today so I'll let someone else explain to legion681 what oil viscosity is and how it relates to "proper" operating temperature. And while you are at it, please explain to him what the oil temp gauge WAS there for.


Stratos.-
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Riley

Let me clarify and explain. I'm not saying to not go 50MPH in a cold car.... (engine and drive train).

All I'm saying is to let the entire system come up to operating temp before driving it REAL HARD. Of course a tranny doesn't like to get hot, I'm just saying that if it's real cold (freezing outside overnight), let it get to operating temp before pushing it to the max.

Having the engine up to operating temp but not everything else and then pushing it to the max isn't a good thing. that's why most car manuals say to just take it easy for the first 5 minutes or so and don't just warm up the motor (including the G37 owners manual I think).

The Cats don't like excessive idling but I forget exactly why (too rich?).

Hope that expalins things a bit.

BTW - given the speed/accel of the G37, you should easily merge/jump on the highway without effecting other drivers speed. By reving up to 4K/5K you can easily accel fast than 80% of the cars on the road.

stratos

Riley,

I agree with everything you are saying. My point is that you don't need to drive the G anywhere near real HARD to be moving briskly and in a pace that's much better than most cars out there. So potentially you could drive in a warm up mode, keeping the engine under 3krpms, indefinitely and be no bother to anyone around you or your engine or your transmission.

I just hate to see people joining a 50mph traffic flow and doing 30 because they think their car isn't "warmed up" yet and by doing 30 it helps the car.
Meanwhile the traffic stacks up behind them, people slam on their breaks and, potentially, accidents happen. It's criminal behavior in my view.

Stratos.-


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legion681

All I was saying is that, according to my own experience and advice read and heard by many other people throughout the years, you need to reach operating temperatures of all fluids before driving your car hard.
And I was pointing out that of all things, oil is amongst the last to reach the temperature it's supposed to reach and that sometimes many people don't pay attention to it at all and that's the mother of all mistakes.
Do you have a problem with this?

By the way, my G sedan does not have an oil temperature gauge. And what a gauge like that does, it's self explanatory by the name it bears.
Oil viscosity and how it relates to proper operating of a vehicle, uh? Sure I needed you to made me discover this... ...

I don't have many posts in this forum, I am a new Infiniti owner (May '09). I only post if there is anything that I feel I would like to say. The type of answer like the one you gave me is truly a disservice to people that want to get involved with this brand. I bet it wouldn't make a person want to participate in any topic/discussion.

As far as the offending part is concerned...definitely you are the abrasive/offensive type, no doubt about that. Your passive/aggressive behavior is kind of pathetic and leads me to think that you are either a young kid or an immature adult.
But hey, you are adult enough to post, I guess you are adult enough to take a bit of Flak from me then...
I hope you will enjoy it, dear.

legion681

OMG, I decided to look at your other posts and I found these pearls of wisdom.
You must be a professor. That's it. LOL

RE. 1:
Congratulation, genius.
When a cold engine starts up, that's the most potentially destructive time for it and its parts (your oil is too cold, not yet flowing like it's supposed to be. Though, if you are using, say a 5W30 oil, your oil will flow a tad better than say a 10W30 but both would still be too cold at start up...Viscosity anyone? Oh yeah, you wanted to explain it to me, right?). And guess what? Your car will warm up faster driving rather than just sitting there. And on top of that you are wasting fuel for nothing when you are warming your car in your driveway...GENIUS, I say!!!!!!!
But keep on going the way you do...I am sure any of these facts do not apply to you. You must be living in a parallel dimension, where the laws of physics do not apply.
PS: I love it, it gets better and better...Now you are getting messages from your car...LOL...The supposed "message from your car" that she is "ready to be driven off the driveway" when your "rpm drop closer to 1k", is another fiction of your imagination. Your car is ready to drive off the driveway once it's turned on. Surprise, surprise, uh?

RE. 2:
Once more...congratulations genius.
Use the heat from your vent to gauge when you can drive at higher rpms or not.
I can see you: a frosty 10 degrees morning - starting off your car - driving it off and as soon as your heater shows some sign of hot air coming from the vents (this happening let's say after some 2-3 miles): booom! You rev it up to 6 or 7k rpms - meanwhile the oil in your car it's not yet to temperature and therefore not thin enough to coat all the parts it's supposed to coat.
Keep on doing that repeatedly and we will see how long your engine will last...
GENIUS, GENIUS, GENIUS...