18
I would agreee with the articles - waiting a minute or so (generally the time it takes to clear the ice off the windows...) is generally fine.
As the other answers say, the engine will idle high to start with, as the ECU compensates for the colder block and thicker oil by running the engine richer. This will cause more wear to the engine, as the oil is ...
13
One other thing to keep in mind when letting a car warm up. You're only warming up the engine. Remember all the other components that stay cold until driven: rear end, shocks, suspension components, tires, etc. So even if you let a car warm up until the engine is closer to operating temperature, you should still drive easy at first, until all components ...
7
Pretty Common Problem with the Duke 390
This is a very common issue with the KTM 390.
There are dozens of posts regarding customers who are experiencing the same exact issue. Additionally, there are a few YouTube video's that show the problem happening pretty consistently.
The various proposed issues related by customers seem to revolve around these ...
6
Yes. You should allow your engine to warm up a bit.
If the temperature is exceedingly cold, say -10c, you would want to allow an extra minute or two to heat up and even out the temperature between components a bit.
If you were to start you car in extremely inclement conditions and raced it full throttle up a hill with high load there would be a ...
6
It sounds like your clutch master cylinder is initially letting fluid past the piston seals. Pumping the clutch pedal sounds like it gets the piston sealing again so that the clutch starts to work.
I am presuming that the clutch and brake both share the same reservoir and that you are not loosing fluid and not having to keep filling it up. Is that correct?
...
5
You are right that the heater in internal combustion engine powered vehicles usually uses the waste heat of the engine for heating – that's why in the summer you can use the heater to get a bit of extra cooling if you need it. During the winter the cooling from the heater may slow down the engine warming up, but only by a tiny bit. Until the engine comes up ...
5
Well, this is a question for a Canadian guy. Here's the thing:
in extreme cold (-20C and colder), the moisture coming off your breath will condense as ice and fog on the inside of your windows. Air circulation, whether cold or hot, will help with the fog part
your engine does not need to be at operating temperature to defrost your windows, even just a ...
5
The engine coolant temperature sensor in your cars engine, together with its inlet air sensor work together to decide the operating of your cars engine at start up. When its cold the fuel injectors are commanded to inject extra fuel, and your cars idle speed control valve is commanded to increase idle speed to prevent the engine stalling from a now richer ...
5
The basic idea is to not beat on the car too hard until the engine has had a chance to get somewhere near normal operating temperature. Driving gently at first will warm it up fine (and save gas) versus just sitting idle. If you're scraping snow off, I'd go ahead and run it while I'm doing that, since I can take advantage of the electric defroster to aid ...
5
If the thermostat is stuck open, you would get the symptoms you describe. A thermostat stuck closed will cause overheating.
4
You have two separate idle settings on your carburetor.
One is for the choke idle and the other is for your off-choke idle.
When you start your vehicle in the morning the idle setting will be fixed on the last termperature of your vehicle, so if you drove home the night before and the engine was at full operating temperature you would have that idle ...
4
I've seen this behaviour on a car with a hairline crack in the fuseboard. The result was that sometimes the car would run beautifully and sometimes it would all but die and bog down on the throttle.
This was because the ignition system wasn't always receiving a good strong input power at it's low tension side. Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn't.
I'm ...
3
I agree with @HandyHowie in that it sounds like your clutch master cylinder is on the way out. Something to check before you go this route, though, is the hydraulic fluid level for the clutch. Looking at the parts involved, it looks as though while the master cylinder reservoir is remote (not attached directly to the master cylinder), it doesn't pull fluid ...
3
Firstly This is common on high capacity single cylinder engines where the compression ratios are very high compared to relatively sized multi cylinder engines.
I have ridden a KTM 390 and I have faced this issue sometimes, getting it to restart is a pain, trust me its normal behaviour there is no fault or issue with the bike, its just the way the bike is ...
3
I think you're over thinking this. When it comes to basic operation, Your owners manual will tell you everything you should do and more. I would suggest going by whatever it says...If it doesn't say anything about cold weather starting, then nothing to worry about. I've read more opinions over the years suggesting that idling more than a couple of minutes is ...
3
Background
The CBR900RR has the following attributes.
Carb and FI versions depending on year.
4 Carbs or 4 throttle bodies, depending on year
Two coil packs, 1 for cylinder 1 and 4, 1 for cylinder 2 and 3
Troubleshooting
Possible causes
If a coil were bad you would have an issue with two cylinders more than likely. Coils going bad on high energy lead ...
3
Answer in progress (see comment to the question for clarification questions).
Checking spark plugs and spark
First thing I would check is condition of the spark plugs and quality of the spark on each cylinder both before and after warm-up.
Take all the ignition wires off the plugs.
Pull the plugs out, and check their condition: look for soot contamination,...
3
You mentioned the coil and leads, but I would inspect the leads for cracks etc. They may test within spec when removed from the car, but when vibrations start or they bend and flex, they could leak voltage. Black plugs - as you know - can be from one or more bad leads.
I would remove the fuel filter and inspect it vigorously...I would shake it and bang it ...
2
At 15C you should almost be able to start the bike without the choke if it still has carbs and the carbs are working OK.
Check the health of the battery. A fully charged battery should have around 13.2V when doing nothing, so 12V is a little low. Did you by any chance measure the voltage when cranking the engine? That's usually a good indicator as to how ...
2
You asked
Could this have something to do with the clutch?
Answer
Yes. IMO this is a clutch issue.
Background
When your clutch drags and does not completely disengage there is a slight load on the primary shaft of your transmission. This is a sequential transmission. When you put it into gear under these circumstances you may hear it loudly band in ...
2
One possible explanation is that some coolant is bypassing the thermostat altogether.
Depending on the thermostat and seal arrangement, this could happen if the thermostat isn't properly seated in the surrounding seal, or if the seal is compromised and not doing its job properly.
It would also explain to some extent why the thermostat seems to work when ...
2
If I understand things correctly...the thermostat will not open until your car reaches operating temperature. So at first, you're just blowing air over a cold heater core. As long as that thermostat remains closed, and coolant isn't circulating, I suspect running the heater neither affects, nor is affected by, your engine temperature. Once that thermostat ...
2
Do not do it!
I have no idea if you are talking about a dump truck or a Yaris. Nonetheless, don't do it. Not only is it dangerous (if your foot slips off the brake), in more modern cars it could cause damage to your engine and/or transmission. The temperature gain would not be worth it.
There really isn't a reason to warm it up, unless you are in extreme ...
2
That is not a good idea, nor will it actually help. When you first start a car in cold weather the engine starts to spin the transmission through the torque converter, which pumps the fluid around the tranny and it starts to heat up. It's still spinning and heating up the ATF in park and neutral, putting it into gear does not make it spin or heat up any ...
1
A minute or so is usually fine
Unless your riding in sub-freezing temperatures of course, then you'll want to let it warm up a bit, but if not. I wouldn't worry much about this.
The LC version of your BMW boxer motor has considerably tighter tolerances than the air cooled version as it does not have the temp/heat variance as much as an air cooled engine ...
1
Its always good to warm up a engine before a throttle -away -to glory. I keep my ktm idling for 2 mins and then constant throttle at lower gears when i start off i dont ride it above 50kmph for the first 10 mins. I keep it in 3rd gear. And once optimum engine temperature is acheived i resume natural riding. This has worked for me.
Also, if u r into an habit ...
1
When a professional athlete warms up in the cold they don't walk slowly because it does not warm their muscles quickly enough and they don't sprint because they could damage something before their body has reached a good temperature...they do a gentle jog. It is not too different for your car; for the good of the engine, drive it straight after the oil light ...
1
When the engine first starts in cold weather, the oil is warming. The rings on the pistons are reseating, from being cold, therefore contracted! As the engine runs, and warms the rings, they expand, as do the valves, even the Pistons, as do most moving parts. If the car has a standard transmission. One should shift it into neutral in order to warm the ...
1
First you should fint out if your car has proper idle RPM on cold engine. For example my car and most of the cars (as far as I know) keeps steady 750-800 RPM no matter how cold the engine is. Maybe your car (ECU) was designed that way or maybe something is broken (sensor or idle valve etc.).
From my observations car warm up much faster while driving gently ...
1
Your car idles high in the cold because of poor air/fuel ratio. The car makes certain adjustments, causing the RPM to be a little higher. Letting it sit until the RPM goes down will not hurt the car and is the best practice for letting it warm up.
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