I have noticed that the gasoline engine starts running when i first start my prius for a while without an indication on the MPG indicator that its running then it stops by itself shortly after startup. I assumed that its warming up. Is this the total warmup cycle for the prius proper startup ?
It's only warmup for the cat. converter. The engine warmup continues as you drive. There are several "stages" it goes through before it's completely finished the warmup procedure. If you search on this forum you will find the warmup stage description.
You don't really need to let it warm up at all before driving. Just be gentle for the first half minute or so. This is usually easy as most of us have to drive down back lanes etc. before getting to higher speed roads.
20 still requires quite a bit of warmup and 40 should only take a minute. but with the engine requiring a minimum higher than that, it will still need to run now and then to maintain and of course at start up.
I asked a Honda service advisor recently, "How long should I wait to start driving after starting an engine?" His answer: You are safe to start driving as soon as there is normal oil pressure in the engine. Does that make sense, gearheads out there?
Yes engine in traditional car would wear very fast if you would drive (use the torque of engine) when there isn’t oil pressure. Luckily it should only take 0.1…5 seconds for oil pressure to build depending on engine, oil, and temperature. Engine will still wear faster than normal after this. Engine will wear faster than normal if engine is not in normal operating temperature. In a Prius computer tries to minimize the engine wear when it can. So only thing that should be avoided with cold engine is fast acceleration especially on steep hills and low hv-battery. If my engine temp is bellow 40c (104F) I accelerate and drive uphill’s slowly especially if hv-battery is bellow 4-bars.
Oops, I did this today. I had a funny feeling this wasn't a good idea. I think maybe the engine sounded different or responded differently. What may have been the impact on the engine?
