Just curious if anyone knew how long it takes to get to operating temperature. I have a 2012. I know outside temp, driving style, city vs. freeway can effect it but lets just say 70 degree weather outside with both city and highway driving 50/50. How long would it take to reach operating temp?

 

5 mins or less, by driving around.

usually by the time I'm out of the neighborhood, the car is at operating temps

 

5 mins seems really quick. are you talking about your water temp? I was referring to oil temperature.

 

Why didn't you say that in the OP


Best way to determine this for YOUR specific scenario and driving habits is to buy an OBDII scanner and use the LIve Data tool to check when it gets up to temp, then you can tell definitively.


Bluetooth ones work well with phones and apps like Torque (for Android)

 

you're the one that ASKED ME how long it takes...

its super short, by the time I'm out of the neighborhood with gentle easy driving, the car is at temp. indicated by the temp gauge in car on dash

 

with ambient temps dropping, it might take a little longer

BUTT with easy gentle driving, you will get the car up to temp as quickly as possible.

 

my bad i should have clarified that in the post. just figured it was assumed thats what I meant.

I know its scenario specific which I did mention in the post, but was just wondering what the estimated time would be for oil to reach operating temp in the engine with normal driving through city / highway.

 

super short! LOL
it should be at operating temps by the time you get out of your neighborhood

or by the next stop light

 

somewhere between 1 minute and a million minutes.

 

it'll take longer to reach operating temps if you just idle.
so, JUST by driving to your destination, the car will reach operating temps as soon as possible

 

you know why asian people are so bad at driving??
because we're soo bored we just end up doing math before we even put the car into drive.

 

If one assumes water temp and oil temp are mutually inclusive, with a linear heat transfer rate, one could deduce that water temp gauge would sufficiently indicate that the vehicle is operating at normal temperature.

 

It doesn't really matter to me. I let my car idle for about a minute, while I buckle up, turn on the radio etc. Maybe 5 minutes at 20mph to get out of the neighborhood and then it's 70 mph in a hurry to keep from getting run over on the highway. Water temp is there, but I've never bothered to read the oil temps.

 

I'm curious as to the motive of OP's question.

 

just curious to see if my daily commute to work (about 15 minutes, about 4 mins of that highway driving) is enough driving and time to get it up to operating temperature.

 

Yeah you'll be fine

 

edwinger disregards my post....

its ok... stupid Honda engineers ya know

 

lol @@cu2wagon

 

Do you even know anyone in the automotive industry?

Funny (or not), I was thinking pretty much the same thing as what you said... Internal combustion engine starts internally combusting... Oil starts absorbing heat at about the same rate as the water/coolant, barring obvious differences in the thermal coefficients of each (bust assume the engine is a sphere and ignore gravity, et. al.), And they should roughly track each other after the thermostat opens.

Which from my college class "engineering methods, and basket weaving, for English teachers" I seem to recall was on the order of minutes for a cold engine.

So, I'd suspect that everything is at operating temperature right about the time you see the water temp gauge start to move. Perhaps a little sooner. But of course YMMV.

 

so i've heard it both ways which is why this question came up for me. that water heats up more quickly than oil so it doesnt mean that the oil is at temperature just because it shows it on the gauge that the water is.

I guess my next question is then...If you guys are correct that water temperature is also indicator of oil temperature. What is the point of an oil temp gauge, along with the water / coolant gauge? Also, both would simultaneously gain heat at the same rate then? I dont have an oil temp gauge in my car so I can't see if this is right or not.

 

You're misunderstanding what their point is..


They're not saying they water temp is also an indicator of oil temp.. they're saying there's marginal differences in the two.


and unless you're racing in Le Mans or something, I don't see why it's that important. Like I mentioned, if you're so interested in getting Oil temp, get an OBD dongle and connect your phone to monitor oil temperature.

Or get a oil temp gauge and monitor it.

 

Two separate gauges are still useful because oil temp can go higher (250F to 300F) than water (212F). For startup purposes, 1 minute will do. For redline purposes, I'd drive around for 15 to 20 minutes first. Your 15 minute commute is long enough to get the engine to operating temperature, which I take to mean hot enough to evaporate off any moisture in the fuel and engine oil, and to allow metals to expand and come to equilibrium.

 

Here is an excellent thread I started a few years back about this (coolant temps though).
https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tsx-problems-fixes-145/time-reach-normal-engine-temperature-904087/