Cold Start Question
 

just wondering how long you other Z drivers let the car run before putting it in gear? basically i am referring to a cold start here.

in the mornings when i am going to drive it into the office i usually will start it and let it run at least 30 seconds before sticking the A/T into Reverse to back out of the garage.

how long do you guys usually let a cold engine run before engaging the transmission?

Mike

I noticed that my Z has higher idle rpms (around 1500) for the first 30-60 secs after startup.
However, I don´t let it warm up in idle before backing out of the garage.
It´s just noticeable that I can back up easily with no throttle (6MT) due to the higher idle rpms.
When I get out again to close the garage door, he gets some more time in idle anyways.

When driving, my own personal warmup rules to baby the engine are:
- no more than 2000 rpms until the engine coolant temp gauge is fully up (which happens quite quickly, noticeably faster than in my other cars)
- no more than 3000 rpms until the oil temperature is up in normal ranges.

Thereafter, I´m good to go except for still being in break-in phase and thus limited to 4000 rpms...
Looking forward to hitting the redline for the first time after break-in, but it´ll get an oil change before that.
I know I haven´t yet experienced all the exciting moves and sounds this car has to offer.

see below...

I let it run until the RPM's start to drop. It's about 20-30 seconds.

I started it the other day and it had what felt like a rough idle upon starting - it stopped doing that after about 10 seconds =/

I've got a G3 intake on it, but not other mods. Maybe the G3 is in too tight or something crazy like that (no way should it be a rough idle - temps have been fine, etc)

I wait until the engine temperature gets about 3 or 4 notches away from cold. (30-60 seconds).

Then I dont exceed 3,000rpm's until its in the "warm" position.

and I dont floor it (nothing over about 4-5,000rpm) until the oil temp is at least 180.

FYI, The "fully warmed" LED lights up at 155 degrees and stays on that same light until past 210 degrees.. I's a pretty worthless "Gauge"

30 seconds. And it just so happens that my Blinder beeps after it goes through its startup self-check routine, which lasts exactly 30 seconds, so as soon as I hear that beep, that tells me I'm good to go.

The owners manual states you should wait 30 seconds after starting before putting the car in gear.

30 seconds for your blinder to do its self check!!! That would annoy the $hit out of me.

you are correct:

4. Warm-up
Allow the engine to idle for at least 30
seconds after starting. Do not race the
engine while warming it up. Drive at
moderate speed for a short distance first,
especially in cold weather. In cold weather,
keep the engine running for a minimum of 2 -
3 minutes before shutting it off. Starting and
stopping the engine over a short period of
time may make the vehicle more difficult to
start.

Why? It comes on right away, and emits a small beep 30 seconds later. What's the big deal? It's not like the car is immobilized during that 30 seconds or anything.

I thought you had 30 seconds of random beeping during the self-checks. My passport 9500ix has about 5 seconds of different chirps but it's enough to almost start annoying me.

Ahh...lol.. yeah that would be annoying as hell. I know what you mean, my V1 goes through all these beeps during the startup. Thankfully the Blinder isn't like that.

The increased idle that you mention at cold start-up is the ecu "waiting" (can't think of a better word, sorry) for a signal from the oxygen sensors. Once they've gone closed loop, the idle comes down. Usually only takes less than a minute. After that, it should be ok to give-'er!

I usually wait til the rpm's are at 1k or below.