i wish our cars had a oil temp. gauge so that we know when are engine are in optimal temperature to know when we can rev. high...

so how do you guys judge it?
i try to drive about 15 min. to make sure its warm enough.

 

Is this your first car?

 

^^


Handydandy, just look at the engine temp gauge. When it stops moving, the car is warm.

Is this your first car?

 

guys....that guage does not measure the tempature of oil.

for engine to be warm, the oil has to be at optimum temp.

 

Back out gracefully. I've seen this sort of thing before.

 

You should be safe using the stock temperature gauge in your car. This measures the temperature of the engine coolant. This temperature is normalized by several variables such as the engine oil and transmission oil. Some operations in the car are dependent on this reading. Such as automatic transmissions will not shift into overdrive, unless the engine's coolant (not transmission oil) is a certain temperature.

Though I wish all fluid (oil, trans, brake, etc) temperature and pressure gauges were available nicely integrated into the MID, Navi, or something similar. But those gadgets are all expensive and we all know those additional costs are always passed down to the consumer.

 

Stock gauge is for the coolant. I would start the car, let it idle for 30 seconds, start your stopwatch and then drive off normally. Once the needle reaches close to the middle. Stop your stopwatch. Double the time measured and that's roughly a safe guide for your engine oil to be warmed up sufficiently to be driven hard.

 

i think alot of people have a misconception that the guage on the left measures the temp. of the oil/engine...

that guage on the left is for coolant temp!
NO people! this is not my first car! i should be asking you guys that!

 

Dumb questions sometimes get dumb answers on this site if they come from a newbie (on the site).

Welcome!


EDIT: I didn't think your question was dumb.

 

Doesn't matter what fluid the temperature gauage actually measures, I am sure Honda/Acura calibrates it to reflect the temperature of the motor oil properly.

Have you spend any time thumbing through your owner's manual ?

 

what do you mean? all it does is measure the temp. of the coolant fluid and NOthing else. it doesnt tell you if your engine is warm enough for redline or not.

you want to redline when your oil is at optimum temp. so that your engine is well lubricated.

YOur coolant heats up much quicker than oil.

 

Yeah, it's for the coolant, but when the coolant reaches operating temperature, the oil is sure as hell there too.

 

I rarely reach redline. My car is too smart for that.

 

I am telling you, doesn't matter where did the temperature sensor go, the motor oil or the coolant, the temperature gauage tells you the state of the engine. I cannot put it into simpler words.

 

Most cars don't come with oil temp gauge. How do you judge on your other cars when the engine is warmed up?

 

Handydandy, one quick question: Where did you get info that the coolant heats up much quicker than the oil? I know that it is designed to absorb/lose heat fairly fast, but the oil is contained within the pan, crankcase, head of the engine, while the coolant goes through the block, head, and into your rad. As such, I would think that the oil would reach its peak temperature significantly before your coolant, no?

If the coolant is at normal running temperature (as per the gauge), I would think that your oil is within its normal operating range. More important than the actual temperature of the oil would be its viscosity, to ensure that the oil can reach all the internals, preventing excessive wear on your engine. A good synthetic oil would ensure that this is possible much faster than a conventional oil.

 

i used to have a car with a oil temp. guage and coolant temp. guage.

the coolant temp. guage ALWAYS heats up to the optimum level before the oil does.

 

The TSX has a coolant temperature gauge and the driver has a common sense gauge. Existence alone does not guarantee proper function.

 

 

Combustion occurs in the combustion chamber which is located at the top of the block and at the bottom of the head. Coolant flows throughout the channels through these areas. Oil on the other hand stays in the sump and is pumped to the cams/head, underneath the piston, crank/rod bearings.

So coolant will heat up quicker than the oil.

I'm sure someone has installed an oil temp gauge if they track their TSX. Ask them for the correlation between oil temp and coolant temp.

 

"How long" is a relative term. I think it takes longer to reach "optimal temperatures" in Alaska than it does in Florida...

And what do you mean by "rev high"? Do you mean redline? I don't do it so early during a drive. Or do you mean bringing your rpm above a certain number, like 3,000 rpm's? I wait until the temperature gauge has reached it's regular spot. If oil temperature was more important, then Honda would make us use it instead of coolant temperature to determine whether an engine is warmed up.

I don't think I've been in any car that has an oil temp gauge...the last time I was in a car with one, it was in the early 80's.

How long do you take to drive off? If you're so concerned that coolant warms up quicker than oil, then why don't you wait 15 minutes after the temp gauge reaches it's regular position before pulling out?

 

As per all above, the temp gauge included is a general one factoring in the oil as well. In your owner's manual, you'll see it referred to as engine temp gauge as opposed to radiator coolant gauge.
If you've changed the oil to a thinner grade 0w or 5w instead of 10w say, then the time interval will be reduced.
Equally, the outside temp will play a role, especially the winter months.
Lastly there's the common-sense gauge, inside your head - later rather than sooner before reving highly.

Optimal temp is reached typically after 5 miles or so of constant driving.
So, unless you're in stop/start traffic, 15 mins is about right - at an average 30 mph, 15 mins equates to 7.5 miles.

 

Changing from 10w to 0w or 5w doesn't change your engine warm up time.

 

I disagree - the oil is more fluid when initially starting off, so it'll start wicking heat and lubricating parts sooner. This is really the essence of what the OP wanted to know - how soon after starting the engine, can he theoretically start giving it some.

 

What we have here are two different types of fluid - Coolant & Oil.

As to coolant, what's most important (aside from it's proper quantity & mix) is it's running temperature.

As to oil (lubricant), what's most important (aside from it's proper quantity & viscosity) is it's running pressure.

That's way in the past they used to have a coolant temperature guage and a oil pressure gauge. Two different types of fluid doing two different jobs. Once your engine, tranny and common sense are all operating at a certain level of normal, hit the gas and go about your business.

 

My 2001 M3 has both. The M3 is consistent with how yours worked.

My TSX is a lease so I really don't care all that much about proper warm up. I just start it up and then put on my seat belt and then check my rear view mirror and then pretty much go.

I rarely ever drive the TSX hard anyhow. If I do I usually do wait though until it is properly warmed up.

Perhaps a good tip is that once the water temp gets to normal....wait an extra few minutes in driving and then gradually increase engine rpm.

 

i start driving when rpms at 1.2k

 

LOL

Riddle me this one Einstein, how do you think the coolant warms up?

First car?

 

Yikes...

For the record, oil tends to heat up much slower than coolant. Typically it is a good idea to wait about 10-15 minutes after the coolant reaches operating temperature before driving hard.

Driving hard with cold oil is pretty rough on the engine. Consider that the oil is what keeps the pistons cool and is what suspends all of the engine parts in their bearings.

 

geez..maybe you havent read the posts in this thread so far....
like mentioned before, it takes much longer to warm up oil than coolant....
warm coolant does not relate to warm oil....oil takes longer

is the tsx your first car?

 

With my bike, I have put a great deal of mods to the motor so I am very particular on how I warm up the motor, I bring the temperature gage up to 175 degrees then I let it sit for at least 15 minutes.... At this time I will put my hand to feel the temperature of the engine case, to have a hands on feel of the engine oil... once I have a good feeling on the engine case that the oil is up to temperature I will then ride the piss out of the bike.... Oh the bike is a 2002 that makes over 170 hp 95 lbs torque and will pull your arms out of your sockets

 

I believe joe is simply pointing out to you that both coolant and motor oil got warm up because of the heat generated from engine.

I don't know if it is done, but the temperature gauge you see in TSX can easily be caliberated to reflect the temperature of the motor oil using a basic equation as simple as "y = a*x + b", where x = the temperature of the coolant measured from temperature sensor and y = the temperature of the motor oil = what you see in the temperature gauge.

 

LOL.

I like what you just wrote. Thanks for the daily laugh.

As for the original poster's question, I'd say it takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes before everything is in it's normal operating range. So rev high after having driven for around 15 minutes or so.

Hope this helps.

 

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