I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere, but my owners manual has made this even more confusing for me. Figured you guys would know best.

When you know your going to be driving for at least 15+ min's do you let the engine warm up a bit, or just start it and go? I understand ( I think ) that I should let it warm up if I'm only going to be driving it a short distance. Also, when turning it off, you put it in first, or neutral and then turn it off, does it matter? My car seems to kinda....clunk off and on, figure maybe im doing something wrong. Any help would be nice, thanks!

-Rupes

 

This issue has been discussed many times, try a search for it.

 

My understanding is that the important thing is not to shut the car off unless the engine has fully warmed up. If you shut it off when it's cold, then you run the risk of "flooding the engine". Flooding doesn't occur very often, but to be safe, make sure that the engine is nice and hot before you turn the ignition off -- running it for 5 minutes should do.

 

i start driving after 2 minutes of warmup in the summer, a bit more in the winter. you're suppose to let your car sit for a minute or so if your car isn't warmed up. But, I just shut it off since the reflash is suppose to solve the problem.

 

To summerize,

1) Fire it up and go. No need to warm it up before you go. Cold weather conditions might deserve decisively gentle driving for the first mile or so. (Thus, it's just like any other car in this regard.)

2) Don't turn it off until after it has completely warmed-up, observing the temp gage. Doesn't take long at all. This includes every time you fire it up, for whatever reason, nomatter how insignificant the reason you fired it up.

3) Doesn't matter what gear it's in, if any. With the clutch disengaged (pedal pushed), the transmission is in no way affecting the behavior of the engine. Side note: I've heard that rotary engines don't hold the car as well, so always use the parking brake.

 

Racer X 8 has it, but he is still a little too conservative in point 1. When he says be gentle when it's cold, all you really have to do is not rev it all the way up. The car is in protective mode until it warms so you don't want to rev it until the temp gauge shows the car to have been warmed. Other than that, just get it in, fire her up and drive. It won't hurt the car. You don't need to sit in the car and let it idle ever, unless you want to shut it off before hte temp gauge has started to move. Then you have to wait, but that hardly ever comes up.

11,600 miles, and I haven't flooded yet.