When do you 'give it the beans' after cold start?

[jivemonkey]

Hi everyone 

Curious to find out different methods people use to determine when is a good time to use the full GTD power potential after a cold start?

Personally, I have always accelerated gently whilst not exceeding 2500rpm when starting from cold, and I'll only go higher than this and use more progressive acceleration once the coolant needle is up to around 11 o'clock, or  70-80 degrees celsius.

Any other takes?

[legg360]

On the GTI mk6 there is an oil temp gauge on the digital display between the clocks, for me the engine temp gauge needle is at 90 (where is normally sits) within 10mins but the oil temp doesn't read until it reaches 50 and that can be sometimes another 5mins or so... so I never "give it the beans" until ive got at least 65-70 on the oil temp gauge. But as you said I take it very easy when its cold being careful not to go over 2-2500rpm

Hope that helps know its a GTI mk6 not a TDI mk7

[jivemonkey]

Thanks for the input. Interesting. On my Mk6 I had the oil temp readout but didn't actually use this, always used the needle which definitely risen a lot quicker than the oil temp, that may change with the Mk7.

I wonder if there is any manufacturer recommendation for this.. ?

[legg360]

I would guess it would say it in the owners manual not really looked at it tbh, but it will prob say not to harsh accelerate until the engine is at full working temp so that would be oil at 90/95ish as well for me.

[monkeyhanger]

Oil viscosity doesn’t change a huge amount with the fully synthetic stuff over the usable temperature range, so protection isn’t really hindered than much when the engine isn’t warm – it still pumps around the engine block pretty well when cold. You could really put your foot down any time (especially if you only keep your cars 3 years), but the best compromise (especially if you don’t do long journeys generally) is to let the car get up to 90C water temp, the oil will be around 50C at that point, plenty for putting your foot down and the car will be on it’s way to being efficient (less particulate production on a warm car).

[jivemonkey]

I would guess it would say it in the owners manual not really looked at it tbh, but it will prob say not to harsh accelerate until the engine is at full working temp so that would be oil at 90/95ish as well for me.

I pootle along around 30 with some stop starts first thing, and join the motorway 3 miles in to my journey in the morning, oil temp doesn't get to 90oC until 8 miles in. Always taken care not to over-rev on cold so hope the next owner appreciates it..

[Mark V GTD]

Yes - I always think that a lot of these careful habits and cleaning regimes etc are really only of benefit to the fortunate individuals who end up aquiring a car from OCD fiirst owners such as myself....

[corgi]

I wait until the oil temp registers > 60c

I know that the viscocity doesn't change much but I like to let things (including the gearbox oil) warm up properly