Oil Change & warm up time

It's a good idea to let the engine run long enough to get the bearing journals, rings, etc. lubed, but running it until it gets to full operating temp is a waste of time and energy not to speak of the $ than are going up in smoke. If the manufacturers thought it was necessary to get the engine up to full operating temp, they'd have a built in light to indicate when it was ok to move the thing.
 
Well I'll add my two cents to this discussion...it is absolutely not necessary to sit there and let your engine warm up, especially with modern fuel injected vehicles. I think the whole "warming up" routine goes back to the days of carburetors. Some bikes/cars absolutely needed a little warming up, especially if the temperatures were very cold or their driveability was horrible. Idling is one of the toughtest conditions for the oil to deal with, espcially with the choke on. You're running a very rich mixtrure which can get past the rings and dilute the oil. Best to just start the bike and take off at light/moderate engine load/speed. An engine will warm up much quicker under load. Just wait until the bike as come up to temperature to run it up to redline. And for any of you who doubt this...my 2006 Honda Accord has 85k miles on it and doesn't burn a drop of oil between oil change intervals (every 5k miles) and it doesn't get any warm up time in the morning. I'm just not heavy on the throttle until the temperature gauge starts to rise.
 
NJFZ1 said:
Well I'll add my two cents to this discussion...it is absolutely not necessary to sit there and let your engine warm up, especially with modern fuel injected vehicles. I think the whole "warming up" routine goes back to the days of carburetors. Some bikes/cars absolutely needed a little warming up, especially if the temperatures were very cold or their driveability was horrible. Idling is one of the toughtest conditions for the oil to deal with, espcially with the choke on. You're running a very rich mixtrure which can get past the rings and dilute the oil. Best to just start the bike and take off at light/moderate engine load/speed. An engine will warm up much quicker under load. Just wait until the bike as come up to temperature to run it up to redline. And for any of you who doubt this...my 2006 Honda Accord has 85k miles on it and doesn't burn a drop of oil between oil change intervals (every 5k miles) and it doesn't get any warm up time in the morning. I'm just not heavy on the throttle until the temperature gauge starts to rise.
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#1 ride/drive with light load on engine till warm up much better than to leave idling.
 
same here I just have it on idle while putting the helmet on and a soft ride to the traffic lights then off I go the temp is around 68-72'F by this time.Most manuals state just to start and drive modern vehicles just not under high rev's or load until warm.
 
I'm in the 30 second warm-up camp. I come outside dressed, start the bike, put on my helmet and gloves, do a quick brake/light check, then I putter out of the driveway, then I putter out of the subdivision, which takes about 3-5 minutes. Even when I get on the main road, I take it easy for the first few minutes, especially if the air temperature is in the 40-50 degree F (5-10 C) area.

With all that puttering around, perhaps that puts me in the long warmup camp?
 
old sparks said:
I'm in the 30 second warm-up camp. I come outside dressed, start the bike, put on my helmet and gloves, do a quick brake/light check, then I putter out of the driveway, then I putter out of the subdivision, which takes about 3-5 minutes. Even when I get on the main road, I take it easy for the first few minutes, especially if the air temperature is in the 40-50 degree F (5-10 C) area.

With all that puttering around, perhaps that puts me in the long warmup camp?
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40-50 degrees... F that! That is crazy cold weather.... lol I love living in California!!!

I let my bike warm up while I close my garage door and put on my gloves. It is generally 1-2 minutes tops. It is more important to wait the few seconds for the fuel injection system to prepare itself after turning the key on before firing up the bike. But, I don't live in extreme weather, I don't use chain lube (don't need it, I clean my chain after every ride and I don't have to deal with humidity, lol), and I change my oil often.

I don't understand people that think these bikes aren't going to last... if you maintain your bike you can put well over 100K on your bike without it even being a thought.
 
I have not seen any metal particles in the oil that I drain from my FZ1. And if I did, it would be of great concern to me.

Furthermore, I would imagine that the cause for any metal particles - is not a matter of whether the engine is warmed up or not before riding. Instead, what about something like whether the transmission clashes when it is put into gear? I have owned 3 FZ1s and two of the three could be stopped for a traffic light, and if the clutch were pulled in for about 5 seconds or more, then the gears would not clunk at all. But on the other bike, after it is warmed up, at the same traffic light, you could disengage the clutch for 30 seconds and it would still clunk. My suspicion is that any metal particles may be coming from the transmission. Is there any issue with the shifting or clashing of gears?
 
Ok let's add my 2 cents (have a Phd in physics and owned lots of bikes). Warming up is not needed, even when the engine is cold it is lubed, ever done a valve check? the engine has to be cold when doing this and everything is in oil when you do it. The oil needs to circulate to cool and lube the engine when running. Indeed it is true that an engine has not yet it's parts fully extended when cold so the tolerances are larger but as long as you keep it low while waiting for the engine to get warm enough there should be no problem with excessive wear.
Yamaha as other bike manufacturers warn about idling the bike to long because the oil pressure and coolant circulation is to low and the bike could suffer damage because of irregular heating of parts.

I never had any metal parts in my oil when changing and my bike still does not need any oil in 6k miles after 56k miles similar results with all previous Fz (6 or 1). Few metal scrapes when the bike is still new, is ok but if it persists it might mean that some coating of a bearing might come off, difficult to say over the web. I would install a magnetic plug and see how much it is.
 
I have 2009 FZ1 in NZ. Bought it recently from an Italian guy who said idle it until 169 deg F. He had it on the centre stand but I didn't think to ask if it is OK to warm up on the kickstand from cold. I do sometime ride from cold but am at very low revs until reaching temp which takes about 2 km or so depending on how hot a day it is. Over 2,000rpm is good for cams and low is good for crank so it's about which end of the engine you want to favour..Is the oil pump on the downward leaning side or does to run the risk of sucking a dry side? I haven't checked yet but figure others may want to know too so have posted about it anyway.
 
sp769 said:
I have 2009 FZ1 in NZ. Bought it recently from an Italian guy who said idle it until 169 deg F. He had it on the centre stand but I didn't think to ask if it is OK to warm up on the kickstand from cold. I do sometime ride from cold but am at very low revs until reaching temp which takes about 2 km or so depending on how hot a day it is. Over 2,000rpm is good for cams and low is good for crank so it's about which end of the engine you want to favour..Is the oil pump on the downward leaning side or does to run the risk of sucking a dry side? I haven't checked yet but figure others may want to know too so have posted about it anyway.
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it's a bike, it's made to be able to run while on the kickstand. I let mine idle till at least the temp is out of the "LO" threshold. If it's under 60F I let it run till around the 140 degree mark, which is usually about the time I've got my gear on and my music playing.
 
Thanks for the reply AsAboveSoBelow. I figured what you said is quite right. It just scares me when I see no oil in the little window and only when I have the bike level does the oil level show, just above half way. But on the kickstand the window is clear, even once the engine is running. It has used no oil in the 1000 odd km I've ridden it for and the previous owner said it used no oil either and it has done 76.000 km and still runs just fine.
 
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