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Is warming up your engine necessary?

#1

T

timlinden

Hey All

I've seen a few posts about people warming up their engines before mowing..
At least for a push mower, is it really necessary or just a thing people do?

Tim


#2

Ean

Ean

Not really nessasary but it can't hurt


#3

Carscw

Carscw

timlinden said:
Hey All I've seen a few posts about people warming up their engines before mowing.. At least for a push mower, is it really necessary or just a thing people do? Tim
Click to expand...

I always let my engine warm up I also let the clutch out and let the tranny warm up.
3 or 4 mins is all it takes.


#4

R

Rivets

Not necessary unless it is below freezing and you are not using the proper oil.


#5

lzn197

lzn197

If it is a summer day with temps between 60F and 95F, I give mine (Lawn-boy 2 cycle) a two minute warm up and let her rip!


#6

reynoldston

reynoldston

I start mine and go. WOT (wide open throttle) It warms up my itself. When I want to go I go too impatience to wait for the engine to warm up. I do need to choke the engine to get it up to speed or when I put it under full load it will stall the engine.


#7

reynoldston

reynoldston

I worked for a company that had two stand-by generators that have Ford 351 natural gas V8s powering them. When one of these generators would start it had to be at full power instantly.


#8

Mike88se

Mike88se

I warm up a small engine when it's new and first started. On the other machines I play it by ear. If the weather is cold and the machine needs warming up I will let it warm up. Otherwise if it feels ready to work then no warm up. It doesn't get that cold here even in late or early mowing season so not much of an issue.
The 2 cycles need a bit of warming up but just a few seconds.


#9

D

danbo

it is almost always better for the motor to warm up a motor before use.
here are some reasons (not all)
1 the oil is cold and not flowing as freely as when hot.
2 metal expands as it gets hotter, the clearances of the parts in the motor may not be at the optimum clearance until it is hot.
3 on many motors the fuel mixture will be optimum when hot.
4 some motors it wont cause much (if any) problems, other motors it can cause big problems (on my snowmobile i have wiseco pistons, if you dont warm it up first you can cause a cold seizure).

can you start it up cold and run at full throttle??? yes you can.
could it cause long term or short term problems??? yes it can.
if you want to keep it forever let it warm up, and use synthetic oil if it is air cooled (the reason for the synthetic oil is if the motor ever over heats the oil wont break down).
if you get a new one every year or dont care just run it like you stole it.


#10

reynoldston

reynoldston

danbo said:
it is almost always better for the motor to warm up a motor before use.
here are some reasons (not all)
1 the oil is cold and not flowing as freely as when hot.
2 metal expands as it gets hotter, the clearances of the parts in the motor may not be at the optimum clearance until it is hot.
3 on many motors the fuel mixture will be optimum when hot.
4 some motors it wont cause much (if any) problems, other motors it can cause big problems (on my snowmobile i have wiseco pistons, if you dont warm it up first you can cause a cold seizure).

can you start it up cold and run at full throttle??? yes you can.
could it cause long term or short term problems??? yes it can.
if you want to keep it forever let it warm up, and use synthetic oil if it is air cooled (the reason for the synthetic oil is if the motor ever over heats the oil wont break down).
if you get a new one every year or dont care just run it like you stole it.
Click to expand...

We agree to disagree. I don't warm up before using. I do use synthetic oil ( Amsoil ) My wheel horse is 24 years old and my Farris is 15 years old. Never had a engine problem with either one of them. Now stop and think about this. Both engines have a governor not like your car, snowmobile or my motorcycle. You are just bringing them to operating RPM's not full RPM's. A snowmobile as I recall can go over 10,000 RPM's. Thinking back when I was into snowmobiles as I recall the clutch didn't come on till over 5000 RPM's. I did run wiseco pistons in my snowmobiles and never had a piston fail that wasn't my own fault like running too lean and burning up a piston.


#11

Fish

Fish

Yeah, the warm up/cool down arguments are silly.. If we were talking about diesels and/or turbos, well that would be different.

Synthetic oils, well we all love to get excited about them, but not here.....


#12

davbell22602

davbell22602

Just check the oil/gas level, start it up and go mowing with it. Thats what I do.


#13

jekjr

jekjr

A push mower really isn't going to make a differance. We try to lay our zero turns and other bigger equipment idle a couple of minutes or at least run at a mid RPM without a load before we go for it. I also like to let that kind of equipment idle a minute or so before I shut it down.


#14

wjjones

wjjones

jekjr said:
A push mower really isn't going to make a differance. We try to lay our zero turns and other bigger equipment idle a couple of minutes or at least run at a mid RPM without a load before we go for it. I also like to let that kind of equipment idle a minute or so before I shut it down.
Click to expand...



Yep same here, and it helps keep it from backfiring when you shut it down. I have a Kohler that refuses to run unless it warms up for a few minutes.


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