need to warm up engine?

[baz88]

I drive a 1997 180sx with a SR20 engine. When the weather is cold it takes me longer to take off and the car struggles for a couple of minutes after take off. On initall take off the car does not rev at all until about 10 seconds has past. I was under the impression that cars no longer needed to be warmed up. Do i still need to warm up my car before taking off of is there a problem i can fix?

 

[mint]

em i dont really understand what you mean..

If your car isnt running correctly while its cold then there may be a problem - It depends, do you mean thrashing the car?? Or just normal driving?

If its normal driving not hitting boost etc then yeah.. its a problem, if your canning it then you should stop it and let the car warm up to the correct temp before death may continue.

 

[baz88]

No I'm definetly not thrashing it. It's just a normal take off as you would in any other car.

 

[LuPix_S15]

You should be able to drive the car as hard as you want and get the same response in peformance (pretty much) regardless of whether it's hot or cold...

The main differences is:

a) you'll kill the engine if you rag it from cold (over time)
b) the engine will feel and sound far from smooth and lubricated
c) the gearbox will feel tighter and more stubborn between changes

 

[DeanS15]

most cars i've ever owned have over-revved when you dip the clutch if driven straight off from cold, i think this is just the idle control valve trying to keep everything under control before its up to temp - when warm its easy as for it to just sit as it is and not adjust itself. i never drive off cold anyway, always let the water temp gauge at least come off the bottom and even then i drive it carefully unitil the oil temp is up to about 75c+, but if its a daily driver i'd imagine it'd awkward and a bit inconvenient having to do that all the time - i personally dont mind. if you have flat spots with no power perhaps something in the idle control system is playing up. is that engine fitted with an egr system - could that be playing up? sorry i'm not much help - you may find more answers on the sxoc as this engine is far more commonly used by people over there....good luck.

 

[Auss15]

Are you running an aftermarket computer?