Warm-up times

[hash76]

Hi All,

 

I will be using my Z as a daily driver now, and that means cold morning start ups!

I was wondering if there is any prescribed warm up time for the L26.

 

I normally just wait until the temp gauge needle moves to the very beginning of the scale and then drive gently till it is at ideal operating temperature. And if I need to use the car later in that day, I usually just give it 1 minute or so to idle if it does not need the choke to start.

 

I was wondering what the warm up rituals of other members here are?

 

cheers.

[gav240z]

Hey mate,

I tend to not let it sit idle but drive calmly until warm with choke out. If the car doesn't run right cold with choke out, perhaps the carbs are not in good tune? In my opinion it's better to let the car warm up quickly than slowly.

[Riceburner]

I turn the heater on but not the fan. This means some of the coolant goes out the head, through the heater box and back into the engine(water pump) without going through the radiator, this will warm the engine quicker.

[Zedman240®]

Hey mate,

I tend to not let it sit idle but drive calmly until warm with choke out. If the car doesn't run right cold with choke out, perhaps the carbs are not in good tune? In my opinion it's better to let the car warm up quickly than slowly.

 

+1 Trick is to get it warm as quick as possible; not by revving when cold but place the engine under some load to get some heat quickly. I'd love to have a setup like the fire brigade trucks with heating elements inside the engine but have to make do.

Speaking of warming up, just picked up a grandma spec Mazda wagon thing and I'm impressed how quickly it warms up to operating temp. after about 4 minutes of driving, its warm as!

[silverz]

Hi,

I pretty much drive my 240z every day. Early in the mornings i start the car and let it run with the minimum of choke to let it idle smoothly for about 2 mins while I put my shoes on, then it is fine to drive off gently, when it is really cold I might need a little choke of another minute or so but that is it.

 

If it is taking a prolonged time to warm up try changing the thermostat, I just recently changed mine and the difference was immediate.

 

Could also be that the water galleries in the inlet manifold are blocked. This happened to my car a couple of years ago. The manifold water galleries had 30 something years of gunk blocking them up. Once I took the manifold off, carbs and all,  flushed it out then replaced the welsh plugs in the manifold (the reason I had the manifold off in the first place)  the difference was amazing, warm up much quicker and just ran better in general.

 

Regards

Peter

[NoLongerHere]

One reason people used to recommend idle warm ups rather than driving was the quality of oil that used to be around but since the synthetics have come into common use that has gone.

One other reason is throttle response. Engines don't respond nicely when cold. Picture this, you go to exit a street. Its cold, the windows are misty, holy crap batman its an on coming car in the pre dawn with no headlights on. Stab the accelerator to get through the corner quickly, it coughs, splutters and no headlight dude cleans you up.

I usually sit any carby car idle for 30-60 seconds till the idle smooths out a touch and I have throttle response and then drive gently till up to temperature. Each one is different.

My motorbike sits idling for 2 minutes so the carbies can respond. No way I want that stalling mid corner or mucking about. Plus its oil cooled so takes quite a long time to get to temp.

[Gyra]

Also helps if you still have the warm water supply connected to the manifolds. This helps ensure you don't get fuel pooling up after the carbies and causing sluggish response when you floor the accelerator.

Sadly my setup is disconnected due to being clogged up with gunge and the pipe corroded.

It gets really cold where i live, and the Z's poor cold starting abilities is one of it's real downsides...no amount of swearing can wake it up some days!

 

 

G

[D.O.G]

It's been a while since I  had a 240, but I've used the same warm-up proceedure for all my cars, carby and EFI.

 

Start engine, spend 15 - 20 seconds adjusting seatbelt, etc.

Drive like a grandma as far as the highway (2km), so the gearbox and diff get warmed up a bit as well.

Then drive to keep up with "normal" traffic (ie: like a ratbag).