aerodragon

hi,
i was wondering if it's necessary to warm up the engine during:

1. start in the morning
2. after parked for few hours

if so, what gauge that I should refer to in order to confirm that the engine is ready..

PS: I've been just looking at the temp display and wait until it gets to 80F...

thanks
PS: btw, I have a 01 C320..

mleskovar

"I've been just looking at the temp display and wait until it gets to 80F." That's the one you should be looking at, there is no other that I know of. Don't sit and let the engine 'warm up'. Drive the car to let the engine warm up. Just don't do any quick starts or depress the gas pedal too far.

aerodragon

hi,
so i guess it's safe to drive around as soon as I start the engine and not wait and sit there till it's warm??

what did you refer to as 'quick starts'?

thanks

mleskovar

"so i guess it's safe to drive around as soon as I start the engine and not wait and sit there till it's warm??"

Yes, not only safe but better for your engine.

"what did you refer to as 'quick starts'?"

Stomping on the gas pedal from a stop.

aerodragon

thanks...

davis449

If this is true then why does my C 280 owners manual tell me I should warm up the car under light load and cold engine?

aerodragon

I guess we need confirmation from the Moderator (MB tech) here..

mkassab

Light load is "driving around". Maunal and advise given match.

Start the car, let it idle for 10 to 30 sec's and drive, but keep under 3000 rpm until warmed up. Mark

aerodragon

thanks!

Lynn

BTW, the water temperature gauge reads in Celsius, not Fahrenheit.

RossN

For all engines, it is generally accepted that you should not put heavy loads until the engine is up to normal operating temps. So you should not be doing full acceleration runs until the temps are up to be safe.

What will happen? You have all kinds of different metals inside your engines and they expand at different rates, if you do full blasts on a cold engine tolerances may not be "optimum" and you may effect engine longevity. If the engine is a very cold state then oil viscocity maybe effected, i.e. lack of proper bearing lubrication.

As for how soon you can drive after you start up, as soon as the engine develops full Oil Pressure (within a couple of seconds depending on oil viscosity and oil temp). But, light to moderate load until everything is heated up to optimum temps.

What happens if you don't follow the above? You may notice no difference on a fairly new engine ( less than 3 years) but as the engine ages oil consumption may steadily increase as will noise (internal rattle and vibration).

jimmydagreek

I usually wait until the engine slows down from the high idle upon cold starting. I am not too familiar with the mechanics of the MB engines but it's like when the choke is turned off. Once the engine starts to idle at the normal rate, that's when I drive off. It's usually I would say around 10-15 seconds...

aerodragon

thanks

GDawgC220

My advice is after starting the car (from overnight or a long period of no driving) is to let the RPM needle drop first. As you notice, when you first start up the engine, there is a "whine" and the RPM needle is above 1000RPM's. Usually let that drop to below 1000RPM's (about 30 seconds or so) then drive slowly till the oil temp guage is to about 80 or so...

My .02 cents