Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Warming an engine before driving

I think part of this stems from the carb days and the use of choke. Idling with the choke on puts a lot of extra fuel in the bores and thus could wash lube from some areas.
Moving off soon after starting warmed the engine faster allowing the choke off sooner.

If I have to scrape frost off the Polo's windows, it will sit at idle while I do so - the slight extra warmth helps to stop the windows freezing up again and with any luck if I leave the windscreen to last part of it will have thawed before I start on it. Also helps demist the windscreen if needed.

LR 90 is different - just fire up the diesel pre-heater, defrosted windows and a warmed cabin

Engines should be warmed through before high reving, although not so much these days as most top ends of the Engine have mini sumps fitted around the Cam carriers etc.

it should be noted however that all Morgan's should be warmed up for a period of no less than 10mins before drive off
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.that's to stop the wood creaking

I have seen items like this...
www.enginepreheater.co.uk

Basically a unit to add into the coolant system that will preheat the coolant and warm up the rad/engine.
The link shown is the first I came to on google.
F1 cars use preheat systems too for all fluids - oil etc.
I have no experience of these. Perhaps someone does?

I guess there is a difference between old and new that has an influence on the answer....

Before anyone gets too hung up over warming up the car or not, ask yourself how long you intend keeping the car for. If you regularly change your car why worry about the possibility of wear!

When temperatures drop far below freezing, preheating may be essential for starting. At -30 centigrades or colder many cars will not start, and if they do it takes a long time before the heating system produces much enough heat to get a comfortable interior temperature. In such circumstances electric preheating of the engine increases comfort and reduces wear, pollution, and fuel consumption. Consequently electric preheaters are very common in Scandinavia and other places with cold climates. For a Morgan I would not consider a preheater, because I never use it below -5 centigrades.

Harald

It is worth asking "what does warm mean?"

My BMW has an oil temp gauge not a water temp one. The heater is blowing hot air long before the oil temp reaches its normal temperature. I talked to the guys at the dealership the tech guy said that only when the oil is warm is the engine properly hot.

So I played with Aldermog. The water temp gets up to 95c quite quickly but using a probe attached to the dipstick it was nearly 15 min before the oil was at the same temperature.

Conclusion: pre-driving warming up is pointless as it takes so long. An electric sump heater would be far more sensible.

I am not sure that is a good idea as pre heating the oil would change its viscosity when the engine parts would still be cold and have large gaps( tolorence) and the oil would be thinner and probably cause more wear as a result, I think.

If I have read this thread correctly then, in summary, we are saying it is better to warm/run the engine before driving off. Which means I can continue with my SOP of shutting the garage doors and closing the gates with the engine running without further worry. Whew, that's a relief, thanks.

Unless you are in the car in which case the gasses will not do your respiratory system any good. I would recommend venting and clean air in or it will unduly effect the combustion at somepoint. Unless you have a VAST garage.