Proper warm up how to instructions inside!

GoldenMotor.com

nidyanazo

New Member
May 25, 2010
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SoCal
Just thought I'd write a warm up how to for these hi-compression, hi-performance motors.

Start the engine by putting the choke on full, and opening the throttle about 20%.

As soon as the engine starts, after about 10 seconds close the choke to normal running position, and keep the idle up using the throttle. Otherwise the plug can foul if you use the choke too long.

Blip the throttle up and down while maintaining a fast idle speed.

As the engine comes up to temp keep pressing your hand on the cylinder head cooling fins to check the how warm it's getting.

As you rev the engine notice the blue smoke from the muffler.

When the engine is warm you will not be able to hold your hand on the cooling fins for 5 seconds, and the blue smoke will stop. You may still see a faint trace of smoke of course (they arn't called two smokes for nuthin')

Two strokes are lubricated by the oil in the fuel, so you must rev it to get the oil to move. Idling does not lubricate well.

Failure to warm up properly can result in a cold seize, or scoring of the cylinder walls.

This process takes AT LEAST 5 minutes, but up to 10+mins in colder climates.



Your motor will last longer and perform better by doing this.
 
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fm2200

New Member
Nov 16, 2008
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new york city
Most people start their cars and within a few seconds drive away like their late for their destination. This has always baffled me that the average driver is that impatient that they just take off no matter what the weather is. I wonder how many mb riders will take your advise about the warm up and it's merits.
 

chrisme

New Member
May 30, 2009
423
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Maine
I have always warmed up my china engine. I let it idle for about 2 or 3 minutes then just ride it really easy for my first mile. After that it's hot enough I can't touch it. I just had to take my cylinder off because the ring indexing pin came loose and ate the top end, but the wall is very nice and shiny, perfectly smooth and no scoring.

And I don't get why people don't warm up cars either, esp high performance cars!
I have a friend with a turbo volvo. He starts it up, puts it in drive and takes off like a bat out of **** revving it way up!! Then he was surprised when his turbo seized up and the engine ate half of it....
 

nidyanazo

New Member
May 25, 2010
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SoCal
Some cars are designed to be warmed up by driving them. I know in the handbooks that came with my BMW and my gf's Benz they both state to not warm them up by idling, but to drive away after 30secs.

They are both alum block/heads so that may have something to do with it...
 

Kevlarr

New Member
Jul 22, 2009
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Some cars are designed to be warmed up by driving them. I know in the handbooks that came with my BMW and my gf's Benz they both state to not warm them up by idling, but to drive away after 30secs.

They are both alum block/heads so that may have something to do with it...
Had a VW and it always baffled me as to why the idle was so fast when it was cold until my brother (who works for GM and has been sent to Germany on several occasions) told me that in Germany it is illegal to let your car warm up by idling it. Cars nowdays are designed to start and go so warming them up is just for the driver's comfort and wastes gas.
 

chrisme

New Member
May 30, 2009
423
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Maine
In the summer I let it run for 30secs or so. If it's really cold in the winter, like way below 0 I'll give it 2 or so minutes. But I go easy on it until it's warmed up, that's the main thing is to not beat on it when it's cold. Sometimes in the winter I do let it warm up for a bit longer though because to get out of my driveway it's a really steep very snowy hill that takes a good bit of beating on the car to get out... anyway. I still let 2-strokes warm up for a bit before riding because of old seizure. I wouldn't want to MB to have a seizure... it might start only turning left or something.
 

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
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living the dream in southern california
to warm up my engine, i put it on half choke, push the primer, pedal it to start, start it, ride 50 feet, put the choke down, then ride really really fast for an hour or so. by the time i stop, it's nice and warm.
 

skiball83

New Member
Nov 18, 2010
136
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Chicago
Newer auto engines are designed to be driven about 30 seconds after start up. It gets the engine hotter faster and the oil flowing faster and there fore more lubrication. That dosnt mean beat the heck out of it. Start wait 30 seconds (yes even in cold temps) then drive slow till the engine hits normal operating temp. In terms of my 2 stroke china girl I put the choke down as fast as I can while allowing it to idle normally and blipping the throttle here and there. This seems to work to check how much choke you have on aswell. If it wont rev and chokes out well then your choke is too high. I wait until she revs up nice with no choke. It could take me up to 5 minutes in this cold weather, but Id rather wait than have her blow (yeah I know what you were thinking).
 
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chrisme

New Member
May 30, 2009
423
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Maine
I never used the choke on mine. I actually took the choke off because it vibrated on... Really annoying. I just started it with some throttle and it fired right up and idled nice. Once it started to rev up a bit I let off the throttle, when it warmed up enough to idle with no throttle I rode it... Always worked fine and had nice high compression... Until the top end came apart and killed itself.... But that has more to do with how I rode it at WOT for miles and miles...

And my car engine sure isn't designed to fire up and run in cold weather... It's 25 years old. If I try to drive it, it just sputters and comes to a halt...
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
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Newer auto engines are designed to be driven about 30 seconds after start up. It gets the engine hotter faster and the oil flowing faster and there fore more lubrication. That dosnt mean beat the heck out of it. Start wait 30 seconds (yes even in cold temps) then drive slow till the engine hits normal operating temp. In terms of my 2 stroke china girl I put the choke down as fast as I can while allowing it to idle normally and blipping the throttle here and there. This seems to work to check how much choke you have on aswell. If it wont rev and chokes out well then your choke is too high. I wait until she revs up nice with no choke. It could take me up to 5 minutes in this cold weather, but Id rather wait than have her blow (yeah I know what you were thinking).
Modern day car engines have fuel injection and 02 sensors knock sensors etc.. The computer attached to all of this knows to richen the air fuel mix on a cold motor and make it run perfect. Like the old school automatic chock on a carburetor had to be calibrated to do..
So in light of all of this both said motors still take the same amount of time to warm up especially in the winter.

Just because one design seams to be running better cold does not mean the motor is warmed up:rolleyes: They both still have mechanical parts the way I see it that are still cold the motor has not been warmed up yet..to where the said mechanical parts are at their temporal tolerances. If it is cold enough here I give my cars at least three minutes and gently raise the idle vy the accelerator peddle for a brief period after before leaving the drive way [winter] on a day like July when the dash boards melting that's different.

In better words I still treat mine like they are carbureted . Just my personal preference
 
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skiball83

New Member
Nov 18, 2010
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Thats why I mentioned newer. Oldies have to be treated with some extra care and some tlc. If it has an iron block and iron heads then you need to warm her up first.
 

skiball83

New Member
Nov 18, 2010
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Chicago
Modern day car engines have fuel injection and 02 sensors knock sensors etc.. The computer attached to all of this knows to richen the air fuel mix on a cold motor and make it run perfect. Like the old school automatic chock on a carburetor had to be calibrated to do..
So in light of all of this both said motors still take the same amount of time to warm up especially in the winter.

Just because one design seams to be running better cold does not mean the motor is warmed up:rolleyes: They both still have mechanical parts that are still cold the motor has not been warmed up yet..
If you look at the spec sheets on newer cars it will tell you to drive after about 30 seconds. Ive worked for Ford and have seen the sheets. The new aluminum block and head motors should be driven sooner than later, just do NOT beat them. Drive slow till the gauge says normal. Or if your fortunate enought to drive an BMW M3 wait till the "Race Ready" light comes on.
 

skiball83

New Member
Nov 18, 2010
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Eh. Well this argument can go as long as the thread about running 100:1 opti2. Everyone do what ever you want and what ever seems to work for you. Lets just agree to disagree and do what we do.
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
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38
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Eh. Well this argument can go as long as the thread about running 100:1 opti2. Everyone do what ever you want and what ever seems to work for you. Lets just agree to disagree and do what we do.
Here is a interesting read on our little motors...

Back when I was racing motocross motorcycles my Honda would not run good until it warmed up. Once warmed up it would rev good and strong if you tried to rev it cold you could damage it by scuffing the cylinder or the piston. The engine needs to reach operating temp so all moving surfaces are expanded to their proper sizes. Some 2-strokes are very picky about this more so than 4 strokes.
What the piston is made of and how it is made will also effect how they run cold or warm.
Newer pistons( some not all) that are aluminum are machined with a taper fatter at the bottom than the top and most are barrel shaped fatter on the front and back narrower on the sides. Also the make up of the aluminum will affect the expansion of the piston. Some pistons made with a high silicon content do not expand much so they can run tighter(less clearances) in the cylinder.
So just because type x engine revs good cold while another won't can be due to how and what it is made of. These china engines are bottom of the barrel crumby workmanship(not all but some) some will work great and some will not unless you do a lot of work to them. Some you might be better off tossing them and buying a new engine if it has ate a piston or broke a ring.
I learned very quickly to take the engine apart and inspect it before I tried to use it a lot of the engines I bought had nasty trash in them,one had a cigarette butt in it. Almost all had metal shaving inside of them along with dirt.
The BMW M3 wait till the "Race Ready" light I am assuming is a time delay module attached to the oil pressure sending unit. I would have to look at a schematic?

Now as far as an Automobile IMHO if'n it is so cold that the starter can even be heard whining & moving slower I am sure as heck going to wait more than 30 seconds regardless what or who manufactured it. I am gonna let the poor thing warm up a bit!!!..... But that's just me:)

To me IMHO the sad thing is with today's fuel injection that cold motor to some folks might even seam ready to go [Fuel injection] like ''Burger king'' their way right away now. And yes I am aware of the new lower viscosity oils that are recommended for these pigs now day's . That's a tighter tolerance motor in my mind all the more reason to let the poor bugar warm up a tad..

Most cars the way I see it the idiot lights are more oriented to emissions than anything now days. Stuff like a oil pressure light even goes unnoticed. Like Doritos they make more..

I quickly learned in this trade to always check the Technical Service Bulletin's. Because it's always saves my butt!! Even the engineers can't seam to make up their minds. lol

There are pages and pages of them and are the most important thing of all I found to be familiar with. I worked in shops not dealer ships and we fixed what ever pulled in. There was good day's and bad day's but a whole lot of fun day's.. All Data diagnostics rocks!!!

What I like about All Data was folks pitched into it like this forum when they found something!!
Hence forth the TSB's

I don't think fuel injection would even save our little motors even when their this cold lol
 

camlifter

Active Member
May 4, 2009
1,033
16
36
acme labs marion ohio
the no warm up period for newer cars has more to do with emissions than anything else, with modern metallurgy, 0w20 motor oils and the catalytic converter being almost part of the exhaust manifold now days, the goal is to get the cat lit off and the pcm into closed loop in less than 30 seconds.
in cold weather i start my china girls with choke and leave it on as needed, riding off with no waiting, just ride ez untill it's warmed up.
on an MX bike that i'm going to be running the whiz out of i let them warm up before floging them.
in the winter i let my car warm up because i need defrost and i only live 2 miles from work, it's better to let it warm up than to arive at work and shut off the engine before it has reached full temp, condensation builds up in the engine as it's warming up and the engine needs to run long enough at full temp to burn that off.
 
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Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
20
38
N.M.
That cat thing is why I mentioned I like to gently raise my idle! I am usually impatient 99.9999 % of the time so I let my motors run long enough to oil up. Then I would sit in the car with it genitally revved for around 3 minutes no longer. I always thought about my cats. Last I always drove the cars gentally for the first few miles.

Yes that helps the defrosters lol. For brutal cold. The water condensation is a good point had not really gave thought about that.

I got two cars here with one at 100.000 miles the other at over 200,000 miles they both have cats and run great so far and are with there original trannies.. My old dog a 1990 GMC Serria will still light the tires and I put a good limited slip rear end in it and beefed the leaf springs. I kept getting stuck in places lol mud sand..

My father and family drives a lot of late model stuff. They do a lot of interstate travel for where they come and go from and lets all their stuff warm up. ''Defrosters'' That travel will blow out a cat.

I have a special intake manifold purge treatment I am proud of, I like to use once a blue moon tho..Berrymans brand type stuff in the can say's in the fuel or in the oil on it. I have a special way I do this! So not to wash the piston rings! I will do my purge right before an oil change. Never used it in the oil though I have another better way kinder trick for that. I swear it will even scrub a cat clean a tad I have heard tails of it doing more not gonna go there..:D

You make a good point cam and I think folks making short commutes are the ones clogging cats. Most of my commutes are short ones and have been for the last 10 years tho guess I have been lucky or just have a good approach.

The emissions on cars has always been a bit funny to me lol

I was next to the tail pipe of a Subaru Outback doing a trailer hitch one time that thing was idling in my face right by the pipe and I thought for a minute I could I breath out of it lol.
I have also always had the approach with my cars I change my oil sooner than the recommended intervals too but that's just me. I have prided on my Serria every time I pull the dip stick out the oil is clean clear on it. I use two quart fleet oil filters on it that make all the difference in the world. That pig does not burn oil to this day either knocks on wood!! I have had that truck since it was new!!

With my bike riding including peddling my whole life [no spandex ever] my cars sits more than used.
 
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