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[jau flyer]

Hey All...

Ever since my first bike, a carb 200 Softail, an up to my current bike, 2009 SE Road Glide (had an ultra and '05 SE in between too), i have ALWAYS let the engine warm until the rear cylinder head is warm to the touch. My old dealer in Indiana - the service manager and a couple of the techs - always recommended letting the bike warm up prior to heading down the road. true for both carb and fuel injected.

i still practice this to this day, but have seen lots of guys over the years hop on a cold bike....you know even when the outside temps are in the 70's, 80's and 90's, hit the starter, put it in gear and head down the road.

i guess since i am an airplane owner as well, and have been flying 30 years, and aircraft engines being air cooled and all, we don't just hop in hit the starter taxi out and power up for take off. so i guess my question is do most of you let your engines warm up a bit as was recommended to me years ago or that just some plane, pardon the pun, old wives tale!!!??

The techs in indiana would always warm up a customer bike before test riding.

just curious on thought and comments...

thanks in advance!!!

'flyer

[FLHTCUSE7]

I warm up with taking it easy on the throttle going down the road until the engine is warm. First few miles.

On an airplane you take off with full power and don't have the option to use partial power for departure. (It's also a bad time for the engine to quit

[Akicita]

Been warming them up since '65.  Was always told "cold oil doesn't lubricate".  Seemed like words of wisdom back when we ran Shell Aero 70, seems to still make sense today.

[grayghost731]

Just like any engine...  I let it warm up before I whip it's butt!!   

Maybe it's a old habit    Truck,car,bike all run for a couple min before they move 

[Aussie]

Warm up to get the oil flowing in all areas where its required.
Warm oil flows better than cold.

[North Georgia Hawg]

The Evolution engines needed to warm up thoroughly before you romped on them, or you could fairly easily blow a base gasket. Don't ask me how I know this!  The aluminum cylinders need time to expand and form a tight seal before a lot of pressure is introduced.

With the Twin Cams, they use O-Rings as the cylinder base, so it's not as big of an issue as it was with the Evos. But, it's always a good idea to let the engine warm up for at least a couple of minutes - especially when it's pretty cold outside - before roaring off aggressively.

I let my engine warm up for about 2-3 minutes in the warmer months, and a good 5 minutes in the winter. I start it and let it run while I put on my jacket, gloves, helmet, etc. If the rear rocker cover - not the head - is pretty warm to the touch, I think that's a good rule of thumb measure of the engine being warm enough to ride.

Keep in mind it takes a good 15-20 minutes of riding to get all of the oil in the pan up to normal operating temp to evaporate off any condensation in it.

Ken

[Hog95023]

Don't know if its needed or not but I let my bike warm up for a min of 5 minutes before riding it. At 5 min the cylinders are warm/hot to te touch. If the temps are below 40 it may take a min or two longer but I prefer not to have any leaks.

[Aussie]

Ken,
We have the same method, start bike up and when Boots, Jacket, Gloves and Helmet are on bike is ready to roll, but light on the throttle until fully warmed up.

[grc]

The same procedure works for most any vehicle these days, with the aforementioned exception for aircraft of course.  Lengthy warm-ups are unnecessary and counterproductive on modern engines.  In the carb days I let my bike warm up for several minutes just to avoid the cold stumbles.  On modern fuel injected bikes that's not a problem.  As for the oil leak deal, that hasn't been a factor for decades.  You're not riding a Shovel.

My approach is to roll the bike out of the garage, fire it up and let it idle while I put on the helmet and gloves, then ride off at light throttle.  I don't "get on it" until the oil pressure drops back to the normal range, indicating it's up to normal operating temperature.  Folks who just fire up a cold engine and roar off under heavy throttle are just dumping excess fuel into the crankcase and oil, and of course wearing out parts much quicker.

As is true in many things in life, moderation is a good idea.

Jerry

[2k]

Like grc says, it ain't as critical with newer bikes, especially with synthetic oils. A short warmup is still the way I go......unless her husband is comming home 

[Hog95023]

The same procedure works for most any vehicle these days, with the aforementioned exception for aircraft of course.  Lengthy warm-ups are unnecessary and counterproductive on modern engines.  In the carb days I let my bike warm up for several minutes just to avoid the cold stumbles.  On modern fuel injected bikes that's not a problem.  As for the oil leak deal, that hasn't been a factor for decades.  You're not riding a Shovel.

My approach is to roll the bike out of the garage, fire it up and let it idle while I put on the helmet and gloves, then ride off at light throttle.  I don't "get on it" until the oil pressure drops back to the normal range, indicating it's up to normal operating temperature.  Folks who just fire up a cold engine and roar off under heavy throttle are just dumping excess fuel into the crankcase and oil, and of course wearing out parts much quicker.

As is true in many things in life, moderation is a good idea.

Jerry

you may be right. I certainly don't know the answer. I do know a mechanic said the cause of my dads oil leak at the cylinder base on his mild built 103, was from not letting bike warm up. I'm not taking any chances on my 124.

Guess this can be like an oil thread,

[Akicita]

The same procedure works for most any vehicle these days, with the aforementioned exception for aircraft of course.  Lengthy warm-ups are unnecessary and counterproductive on modern engines.  In the carb days I let my bike warm up for several minutes just to avoid the cold stumbles.  On modern fuel injected bikes that's not a problem.  As for the oil leak deal, that hasn't been a factor for decades.  You're not riding a Shovel.

My approach is to roll the bike out of the garage, fire it up and let it idle while I put on the helmet and gloves, then ride off at light throttle.  I don't "get on it" until the oil pressure drops back to the normal range, indicating it's up to normal operating temperature.  Folks who just fire up a cold engine and roar off under heavy throttle are just dumping excess fuel into the crankcase and oil, and of course wearing out parts much quicker.

As is true in many things in life, moderation is a good idea.

Jerry

And, on top of a warm engine, it sounds like preparing for a little defensive riding is part of your ritual. Right on!

[Dan_Lockwood]

The same procedure works for most any vehicle these days, with the aforementioned exception for aircraft of course.  Lengthy warm-ups are unnecessary and counterproductive on modern engines.  In the carb days I let my bike warm up for several minutes just to avoid the cold stumbles.  On modern fuel injected bikes that's not a problem.  As for the oil leak deal, that hasn't been a factor for decades.  You're not riding a Shovel.

My approach is to roll the bike out of the garage, fire it up and let it idle while I put on the helmet and gloves, then ride off at light throttle.  I don't "get on it" until the oil pressure drops back to the normal range, indicating it's up to normal operating temperature.  Folks who just fire up a cold engine and roar off under heavy throttle are just dumping excess fuel into the crankcase and oil, and of course wearing out parts much quicker.

As is true in many things in life, moderation is a good idea.

Jerry

Okay Jerry, here's my Shovel...



          

Also on the aircraft not warming up; most small airplanes have to start up and check pressures, then they taxi to the end of the run way, then they do a left mag/right mag run up to check rpms, then idle out onto the run way and THEN full throttle down the run way until take off and climb out at which time they idle back to around 2300 rpms.

So I would say that the mtor was well warmed up by the time they throttled up for the take off.

All joking aside, with aluminum motors that tend to expand a bit from cold to warm, letting them warm up is really a good idea.

On VW aircooled motors the solid lifters are set at zero and then after warm up the valve have around .020" lash.  I know in our motors with hydraulic lifters this is taken care of for the most part, but my Shovel has solids and I always make sure that's up to temp before riding off.

One of the main items to good motor life is good oil circulation.  Idling a bit does help that a lot when starting cold.  To carry this to the extreme on my blown 392 hemi powered Willys coupe, I had a MasterLube that I installed.  Now don't you all get the mind thinking about how my "hemi" ran on K/Y...     





The MasterLube tank is shown in both pictures just to the right and slightly behind my radiator.  This was the 2-qt version, the largest they had at the time.

The object of the MasterLube system is to pre-lube your motor with oil BEFORE you turn the starter.  You turn on the ignition and then hold the MasterLube switch up against its spring return until you see oil pressure on your gauge.  Once you have pressure showing, you let go of the switch and start the motor.  The oil is under air pressure from the top of the MasterLube tank.  You set the pressure with an air hose and air pressure gauge.  Most of the time I used 85 psi for the head pressure.  Once you've held the switch up to per-lube the motor, the pressure in the tank has been depleated maybe by half.  On the bottom of the tank there is a solinoid valve that lets the oil out to feed the motor and within the solinoid is a one-way check valve.  Once the motor is started, the oil pressure obviously increases.  It will be well over the residual pressure left in the tank from the pre-lube process.  It will push oil back into the tank from the motor oil system until it peaks out at max oil pressure; usually in the 75 to 85 psi range for this motor.  Not you're all reloaded for the next cold restart of the motor.  I did this most any time it sat for more than a couple hours.

MasterLube started out by supplying this system to farmers with BIG dollar combines and turbo tractors.  The turbos benefit greatly from being pre-lubed.  Then they vertured out into off shore racing boats.  Finally ending up in the automotive market.

If any of you guys with diesel truck, motorhomes, boats etc that would like to look into the MasterLube system, here is the link.  http://masterlube.net/

Also when you go to their home page, the black Willys under the Street Rod heading is my old Willys coupe.  I go there sometimes just to think about how stupid I was to sell it.  I'm sure no one on this site has ever had seller's remorse, no never........

Sorry to ramble on again guys, but I just could NOT stop my fingers from typing.      

[grc]

you may be right. I certainly don't know the answer. I do know a mechanic said the cause of my dads oil leak at the cylinder base on his mild built 103, was from not letting bike warm up. I'm not taking any chances on my 124.

Guess this can be like an oil thread,

I know "mechanics" who also still tell people not to use synthetic oil because it will make the bearings skid.  Being a mechanic isn't the same thing as being a qualified engineer with real knowledge of the subject.  I'll stick by my previous statement. 

If the engine was assembled correctly, you won't get oil leaks because you didn't let the bike idle for five minutes before riding away.  Any mechanic who assembles an engine and then tries to blame a subsequent oil leak on the customer for not warming up the engine long enough is not someone you should believe or trust.  He is just covering his azz and weaseling out of responsibility.

Jerry

[Hog95023]

I know "mechanics" who also still tell people not to use synthetic oil because it will make the bearings skid.  Being a mechanic isn't the same thing as being a qualified engineer with real knowledge of the subject.  I'll stick by my previous statement. 

If the engine was assembled correctly, you won't get oil leaks because you didn't let the bike idle for five minutes before riding away.  Any mechanic who assembles an engine and then tries to blame a subsequent oil leak on the customer for not warming up the engine long enough is not someone you should believe or trust.  He is just covering his azz and weaseling out of responsibility.

Jerry

funny to mentioned the skating thing. The same guy told him that too lol.