Startup

[tac27]

I've received two very different, though equally assertive, views about the starting procedure for my 996: start the car car and go, keeping under 4.5k RPMs for five minutes; the second is the 'old school' practice of letting the car idle until it has 'warmed'-up' before driving.

I'm just wondering what other member's method is as their start-up practice?

[judgejon]

I've received two very different, though equally assertive, views about the starting procedure for my 996: start the car car and go, keeping under 4.5k RPMs for five minutes; the second is the 'old school' practice of letting the car idle until it has 'warmed'-up' before driving.

I'm just wondering what other member's method is as their start-up practice?

make the best attempt to stay under 3k until temp at 180.

[318touring]

This is 180F, right? Because my temp. gauge only goes to 120C.

[whall]

Tac,

The Owner's Manual is full of information that Porsche feels important. This is from Page 66, MY03 Carrera Owner's manual.

">Do not let the engine idle to warm up.

> When starting the engine, be ready to drive

immediately.

Drive vehicle at moderate speeds and avoid

engine speeds above 4,200 rpm during the

first 5 minutes."

Replacemdent manuals can be purchaced through your dealer for about $30.00, if you don't have one.

Bill

[tac27]

Bill,

Thank you for your input.

Fortunately, I won't have to incur a $30 expense to get a manual as Porsche was thoughtfull enough to include a free copy with the purhcase of the car; I thought I was lucky to get them to throw in the floor mats.

However, what about the sentence immediately preceeding the three bullet points included in your post?

"If the engine fails to start after 10 to 15 seconds of cranking: " This sentence is from page 66 too, two carriage returns above those bullet points you quote.

Because of a colon at the end of the sentence, which usually is used to define a list or a subset, I understand those three bullets are the steps to be followed only in the event the engine fails to start after 10 or 15 seconds, not the general start-up practice.

I have a code indicating a failing cat. I have also recently read a post on this forum with an ubsubstantiated claim that idleing the car at start up can damage the cat. My 996 happens to be one that has a noisy lifter on start up, so I usually let the car idle until the lifter 'quiets down,' which is typically a few minutes. This was the advice I received from a well regarded indie here in Las Vegas. Cats are expensive ($1400 + quote from Sunset); so short of tracking down the technical writer responsible for the owner's manual supplied with each 2003 996 sold in North America to clarify the intended grammatical use of that sentence that ends with a colon, I would like a definitive answer so I may avoid 'killing another cat' if in fact that practice is harmfull to it.

Edited January 5, 2011 by tac27

[Nehmaiz]

Tac,

The Owner's Manual is full of information that Porsche feels important. This is from Page 66, MY03 Carrera Owner's manual.

">Do not let the engine idle to warm up.

> When starting the engine, be ready to drive

immediately.

Drive vehicle at moderate speeds and avoid

engine speeds above 4,200 rpm during the

first 5 minutes."

Replacemdent manuals can be purchaced through your dealer for about $30.00, if you don't have one.

Bill

i personally do it the old fashioned way, after reading so much about RMS failure it seems one of the main causes of RMS Failure is driving the car when it's not properly warmed up.... when the car is warmed up, the metal expands and takes it's proper place...

[THoward77]

I normally will idle the 996 for about a minute before backing out of the backyard. I pickup the newspaper and close the gate to the backyard which takes a couple more minutes. This all takes about 5 minutes before I hit the road. Once I'm on the highway I keep the rpm's roughly between 3000 and 4200 till the temp reaches 180 degrees.

[lex_gs]

I always let my car warm up to 180 before going above 3K RPM or going WOT. This is true with any car I drive, not only Porsche. I believe that some of the engine failures due to cracked heads and cylinder liners are due to rapid thermal expansion of a cold engine,

[luxter]

Coolant temperature is one thing. Nice to have it in 175F range before asking your engine for more power.

Oil temperature is another animal.

Keep watching your lube temp. gauge: it will climb a lot slower.

Assuming you use M1 0W-40 at 100*C your viscosity = 14.0 as designed by engine and oil manufacturers for minimum wear.

However:

95*C = 15.6 cSt

90*C = 17.4 cSt

85*C= 19.6 cSt

70*C= 29.0 cSt

How much power would you like to get from your engine when oil is only at 40*C and its viscosity is 78.3 cSt about 4 times more than designed for optimal wear?