How wrong is it to drive hard after cold start?

[Vlad Soare]

What surprises me is how slowly this engine warms up. I expected a five liter engine to produce a massive amount of heat, but no, quite the contrary, it seems to warm up noticeably slower than any other gasoline-powered car I've ever driven. In my 2011 two-liter EcoBoost Mondeo, at an ambient temperature of 3 °F, the coolant was at 176 °F after nine minutes of casual driving. The Mustang, under the same driving conditions, takes about the same time at an ambient temperature of 37 °F. Who knows how long it's going to take when real cold sets in.
In my wife's 1.5 liter EcoBoost Kuga the needle rises past the 140 °F mark in almost no time. Not so in the Mustang.

I guess there's a price to pay for efficiency. Doing 18 miles per gallon in a 5.0 NA comes at a cost - it must produce more torque and less heat.

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[ice445]

What surprises me is how slowly this engine warms up. I expected a five liter engine to produce a massive amount of heat, but no, quite the contrary, it seems to warm up noticeably slower than any other gasoline-powered car I've ever driven. In my 2011 two-liter EcoBoost Mondeo, at an ambient temperature of 3 °F, the coolant was at 176 °F after nine minutes of casual driving. The Mustang, under the same driving conditions, takes about the same time at an ambient temperature of 37 °F. Who knows how long it's going to take when real cold sets in.
In my wife's 1.5 liter EcoBoost Kuga the needle rises past the 140 °F mark in almost no time. Not so in the Mustang.

I guess there's a price to pay for efficiency. Doing 18 miles per gallon in a 5.0 NA comes at a cost - it must produce more torque and less heat.

It's confusing, it produces more heat (although it is a very efficient engine), but it takes longer to warm up because of two things, #1 being that it is physically a very large engine with a lot of surface area, and #2, it has a LOT of oil in the sump that needs to be brought to temp. Almost 9.5L of oil is a lot for any engine. #1 is exacerbated by the entire engine being made of aluminum which is thermally conductive to a high degree and sheds heat quickly.

Small turbo engines warm up quickly because the turbo helps heat the oil, and they're physically very small.

 

[NoVaGT]

What surprises me is how slowly this engine warms up. I expected a five liter engine to produce a massive amount of heat, but no, quite the contrary, it seems to warm up noticeably slower than any other gasoline-powered car I've ever driven. In my 2011 two-liter EcoBoost Mondeo, at an ambient temperature of 3 °F, the coolant was at 176 °F after nine minutes of casual driving. The Mustang, under the same driving conditions, takes about the same time at an ambient temperature of 37 °F. Who knows how long it's going to take when real cold sets in.
In my wife's 1.5 liter EcoBoost Kuga the needle rises past the 140 °F mark in almost no time. Not so in the Mustang.

I guess there's a price to pay for efficiency. Doing 18 miles per gallon in a 5.0 NA comes at a cost - it must produce more torque and less heat.

Ford has quite a history of overly-large cooling systems. Every single damn Ford I've owned (which has been virtually all of my vehicles) has taken quite a long time to warm up and produce heat in the winter. Even my current car takes it's time (although not as long as my 2012 or 2005 GTs), and even then the heat isn't that impressive in the winter. But if you floor the engine for a quick hit of acceleration (this is when the car is fully at operating temps on a cold day), you can suddenly feel the heat from the system get hotter.

Then add in having the PP car's larger radiators, and that makes things even worse.

And Ford's A/C isn't anything to write home about either.

The opposite would be GM, which has HVAC systems that can roast you out, or freeze you out. Whichever you want. And they get hot/cold fast.

The difference shows in that Ford engines over-heat a lot less than GM engines, at least in my experience.

I remember my 2005 GT being at the dealership for warranty repairs, in the middle of a cold, dark SW MI. winter. I was given some little Toyota loaner car. It gave me heat by the time I got to the end of the block I lived on, on a 20 degree morning.

I was astounded.

 

[Torched10]

If your car was a 401A with the glass dash, that display wouldn't be available. Which is phenomenally stupid.


The one on the left is cylinder head temperature. The one in the middle is oil pressure, not temperature.

Yeah I've got 401a with pp1.ill put around and see if it shows up in a dropdown

 

[NoVaGT]

I've had a Fusion, a few Focus (Focui?), Mustangs, all of them had similar issues getting heat in the winter, and cooling in the summer. If you're driving on the freeway on a hot summer day, the AC works just fine. Stuck in bumper-to-bumper heavy traffic? Not so much.

 

[NoVaGT]

Remote start must be great for winter days. Unfortunately I drive a manual.

For the AC, even in my current 2019 car, it can't keep up when I'm stuck in DC traffic on a 90+ degree day.

 

[NoVaGT]

Not worth it. Winter here is 1-2 months at worst.

 

[BluByeU]

If the OIL GAUGE says it's warmed up, drive it like you stole it....


NOT the temp gauge, the OIL gauge.

This is my routine, I wait until the (((oil gauge))) says the engine is warm before I row thru the gears.

 

[Elp_jc]

But to be fair, I don't know of many cars which do this. Actually, that's the only one I know of.

My E92 M3 V8 did that too. There was a yellow line that extended (from the right) to 4K rpm when cold, and it 'recessed' gradually until the 8,300 redline as the engine heated up. BUT I never tried to rev the engine passed that, so not sure if it was just a suggestion, or an actual rev limit.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Not worth it for what you have to give up.

If MTs ever come with a park sprag, maybe then. But by then the greenies will be all hardcore opposed to remote start in general because it'll represent "excessive idling".


Norm

 

[Vlad Soare]

But by then the greenies will be all hardcore opposed to remote start in general because it'll represent "excessive idling".

Then I will install a remote starter and will use it every day, just to annoy them.

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