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engine warm-up


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OK, we all know that the manual says that we should allow the engine to warm up to operating temperature...or something like that.

Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. Does anyone have any hard and fast proof that damage gets done before it reaches operating temp?

We put 1000 hours on our old 454 bfoot nautique and it never got warmed up. I'm just tired of burning gas and watching glassy water get messed up while idling!

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I wouldn't back it off the trailer and gun it out into the lake. By the time I get everyone in the boat and we get out of the no wake area, mine is warmed up.

I don't have any experience of damaging a motor from not letting it warm up a little and I don't want to.

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I think Greg_S is right on. We don't warm up our cars anymore, but we don't back them out of the garage and run them at full throttle, either. On a warm summer day, it warms up pretty quickly and will probably be fine as long as you aren't pushing it full out until it does.

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Thanks for the feedback so far, but I wasn't necessarily meaning wide-open. Sometimes we're set to slalom with 15 seconds of startup and engine temp hasn't begun to register---is that gonna be damaging?

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EFI engines, including the LS1, are programmed with a phased warm up to

ensure that the engine is warm before full RPM is

possible.

TEMPERATURE TIME RPM LIMIT

103°F (40°C) or less ——— 3000 RPM

104° to 139°F (41° to 59°C) + 10 seconds 4200 RPM

140° (60°C) and higher + 10 seconds Full RPM

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If the engine is cold, let it idle while the skiier suits up.

I can't imagine that you walked to your boat (or launched it) and someone was in the water with their ski/board on, rope out etc... within 15 sec..

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Thanks for the feedback so far, but I wasn't necessarily meaning wide-open.  Sometimes we're set to slalom with 15 seconds of startup and engine temp hasn't begun to register---is that gonna be damaging?

how I'd love to be in your bindings... that close to the water. Even when on a houseboat I can't see only 15 sec of runtime before pull. Normall I have to get off the trailer, clear the 5mph bouys, then gun it.

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If the engine is cold, let it idle while the skiier suits up. 

I can't imagine that you walked to your boat (or launched it) and someone was in the water with their ski/board on, rope out etc... within 15 sec..

The boat is in a boathouse, so skiers get ready on back of boat (or on the dock)when it's coming down. From the time it gets started to the time rope's tight, it's about 15 secs. Thats the basis of my question. Is that bad, or should I let it idle for a minute or 2 before getting skier/footer up?

Edited by JohnDoe
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Physically, the pistons & block need to heat up and expand before everything fits exactly like it is supposed to. I'd suggest you give it enough time to start seeing the temp come up (at least 100deg) before you really put a load on it

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Ditto to what SacRiverRat said.

Though I wouldn't expect any catastrophic failure from WOT on a cold engine, you are wearing the internal parts unnecessarily. Likely, it would mean an engine rebuild a few hundred hours earlier than if you had always let the block come up to temp.

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Start the engine while lowering into the water on the hoist, guarantee it'll be warm enough Whistling.gif

Justin, figured you'd be chiming in with the concerns over the proper after-run cooling of the engine... lifting the engine cover etc..

I'd hate for John to have his engine melt down Crazy.gif

**unrelated side note** Justin, you should look into the spell check - it keeps trying to change your name to Justine... something we should know??? :unsure:

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Start the engine while lowering into the water on the hoist, guarantee it'll be warm enough Whistling.gif

Justin, figured you'd be chiming in with the concerns over the proper after-run cooling of the engine... lifting the engine cover etc..

I'd hate for John to have his engine melt down Crazy.gif

**unrelated side note** Justin, you should look into the spell check - it keeps trying to change your name to Justine... something we should know??? :unsure:

You can never be too careful :) The Dictonary has been changed.

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Start the engine while lowering into the water on the hoist, guarantee it'll be warm enough Whistling.gif

Justin, figured you'd be chiming in with the concerns over the proper after-run cooling of the engine... lifting the engine cover etc..

I'd hate for John to have his engine melt down Crazy.gif

**unrelated side note** Justin, you should look into the spell check - it keeps trying to change your name to Justine... something we should know??? :unsure:

Is that...friendly ribbing?

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Start the engine while lowering into the water on the hoist, guarantee it'll be warm enough Whistling.gif

Speaking of that concept. I was out west earlier this summer checkin out some lakes. This guy with an Aztec is on the ramp (not in the water) with it idling away. So I'm thinking, well maybe he's got closed cooling or something. Dude goes in like 2 minutes after starting it, 5 minutes later, he's back at the trailer with soem kind of alarm. He said, "Boat overheated again".

No way...

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Start the engine while lowering into the water on the hoist, guarantee it'll be warm enough Whistling.gif

Justin, figured you'd be chiming in with the concerns over the proper after-run cooling of the engine... lifting the engine cover etc..

I'd hate for John to have his engine melt down Crazy.gif

**unrelated side note** Justin, you should look into the spell check - it keeps trying to change your name to Justine... something we should know??? :unsure:

Is that...friendly ribbing?

Yep.

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Physically, the pistons & block need to heat up and expand before everything fits exactly like it is supposed to.  I'd suggest you give it enough time to start seeing the temp come up (at least 100deg) before you really put a load on it

Especially important for engines with a lot of tight tolerance aluminum components (LS1 & Hammerhead) that expand more than cast iron.

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Doesn't take more than 1 minute for an engine to reach satisfactory temperature (not full temp, but satisfactory). I always spend at least that getting it off the trailer and loading up.

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From the Indmar manual:

"Once the engine is started, allow it to reach operating

temperatures of at least 120°-140° F (49°-60° C)

before accelerating to speeds above 3000 RPM.

Figure 4.1 – Typical Temperature Gauge"

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You want the eng to run long enough so that the temp gauge would move and so that the oil can travel to all parts of the eng.

Owner manuals are only a guide line. Have you ever looked at a car service manual?

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And warm up (Car or Boat) doesn't mean that it is sitting there idling... You can just drive it "nicely" until it begins to come up to temp - gets much better gas mileage driving easily, then just sitting there idling ;)

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I would think synthetic oil would get up into the engine quicker. The synthetic molecule is half the size of non-synthetic molecule. If you went to a 5-40 instead of a 15-40 it too will flow better at a lower temperature.

edit: Indmar does not recommend using synthetic oil until after 100 hours are on the engine.

Edited by Cervelo
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