How long to warm up a 10 year old Boxster?

[Giller]

Maybe it's just me, but I never let my car warm up for longer than it takes to set the radio and buckle up and for one simple reason - idling a vehicle is horribly bad for the environment. No scientific proof exists that it hurts the vehicle to just go - as per the 1000's of articles written about this. So why not protect the environment?

[Sisu guy]

As someone who has spent the last 40 years designing and developing both air cooled and liquid cooled engines I can tell you without reservation that it is ALWAYS better to allow engines to warm up with light load before going to high speed or load.

Consider that the thermal expansion rate of aluminum is twice that of steel and consider what that means to various tolerances and oil film thicknesses when cold parts are suddenly exposed to the temperatures of combustion!

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Giller

Maybe it's just me, but I never let my car warm up for longer than it takes to set the radio and buckle up and for one simple reason - idling a vehicle is horribly bad for the environment. No scientific proof exists that it hurts the vehicle to just go - as per the 1000's of articles written about this. So why not protect the environment?

Easy and in two words: Dimensional stability. Alloy engine cases move around quite a bit while warming up. It is not at all unusual for an M96 to have its cylinder bore dimensions move more than a couple of thousandths from stone cold to fully warm. Other parts of the cases move even further. And if the engine is "loaded" (read moving the car) during this period, you are subjecting it to unnecessary wear due to the alloy shifting. So you can protect the environment, or your engine; choice is yours............

[BIGJake111]

Originally Posted by Giller

Maybe it's just me, but I never let my car warm up for longer than it takes to set the radio and buckle up and for one simple reason - idling a vehicle is horribly bad for the environment. No scientific proof exists that it hurts the vehicle to just go - as per the 1000's of articles written about this. So why not protect the environment?

Why don't you get one these you hippie

Joking aside to my knowledge porsche is a fairly enviro friendly company even back with the 9X6 cars.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by BIGJake111

Why don't you get one these you hippie

Joking aside to my knowledge porsche is a fairly enviro friendly company even back with the 9X6 cars.

Hey, I'll be a hippie any day if I get to drive this beauty!!