These habits any good !? Do you do it...

[Agusts]

I do these myself occasionally, but with advanced engine design and Thai weather, is it really useful...!?

 

1- First start of the day warm engine for a minute or two...! Well, in old carb and choke bikes and cars and in the cold weather in blighty you had to, but is it really any good now and here.. !? (maybe different for liquid cooled and air cooled engines ! ). Years ago some mechanic told me with computerized EFi new car engines it's fine to just take off these days even in cold weather...!

 

2- After ignition switch turned on wait until fuel injection noise go out...! Not sure about this one, on my Forza I usually wait until the counters and display dance up and down and then rest before I start , which I guess means EFi is ready too, but not always... - is it bad for engine if start up very quickly...?

 

3- At traffic light when it shows 70 or 80 seconds or more I sometime turn off the engine. Now the scooters with auto switch on I'm sure designed to do it automatically (special starter system), but what about other bikes, reasons of course are, save gas ( not sure with EFi is any different), cool the engine, but liquid cooled need fan if hot, might get hotter...! , also does it makes any difference for environment - may puff more gas on startup !? 

 

Do you do any of these, what do you think of them for this weather and conditions..!? 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

10 minutes ago, Agusts said:

1- First start of the day warm engine for a minute or two...! Well, in old carb and choke bikes in the cold weather.

 

Years ago some mechanic told me with computerized EFi new car engines it's fine to just take off these days even in cold weather...!

 

2- After ignition switch turned on wait until fuel injection noise go out...! Not sure about this one, 

 

3- At traffic light when it shows 70 or 80 seconds or more I sometime turn off the engine.

 

liquid cooled need fan 

 

My take is :-

 

1. What I do is warm my Carb bike up because although it's warm here I still need  some choke to start, if I didn't need it, for me the carbs are set too rich. 

It wouldn't stop me from sometimes riding off on choke though.

 

The mechanic is correct about motors. 

 

2. On my carbs bike there's a pump and when you switch on is almost instantaineous and the bike will start straight away. 

When I had my Versys I started it straight away too. 

 

3. I don't necessarily turn off the engine to save fuel, I turn off to help the engine not to get unnecessarily hotter,  it's just the same as getting to the place your going to and stopping or stopping in a fuel station.

 

My bike is liquid cooled and doesn't have a fan. 

[guzzi850m2]

My bike have EFI and cooling fan.

 

1: Yes, I start my bike and don my riding gear and take it easy the first 10 min at least.

 

2: Yes wait a few seconds.

 

3: Only when the stop is unusual long, even with the fan on, oil temp can go up to 104 deg.C but full synthetic oil is designed for those temps.

 

PCX:

 

1: Don't really care, I just go

 

2: Yes but sometimes, hmm

 

3: Uses auto stop when unusual long stop, but not on normal stops, hard on the battery, all those starts.

[jackdd]

1: No

2: No (my big bike forces me to wait a few seconds though, it can't be started directly after turning the key, but can be started a bit before the dash has booted)

3: Usually no. If I know that i will stand for a few minutes and don't forget it I might turn it off.

Same with big and small bike.

[canthai55]

1. Go easy for the first few KM

2. Wait until the fuel pump builds pressure

3. Never. Would you rather buy a few baht of fuel or a new electric starter ?

[eisfeld]

1. I don't think modern engines in Thai climate need to idle when warming up. I let it idle for a few seconds and then gently take off. What I do avoid is excessive RPM or putting the engine under full load (wide open throttle). My Africa Twin has a temp gauge and after less than 2km it shows that is at operating temperature. An engine consists of different parts which heat up with different pace and therefor clearances inside the cylinder vary when warming up. Don't maximize pressure during that time seems like a reasonable thing to do. It's not just the engine that should not be fully stressed during the first few km it's also the tires. They need to warm up in order to develop a good grip. So take it slow, warm engine and tires for a little bit and all will be fine. Just don't rev a cold engine.

 

2. It don't believe bike manufacturers would let you fire up the engine if the current condition was a real problem. And even if so, worst thing that happens is not enough fuel when ignited. No biggy. Could result in a failed start which isn't great but not the end of the world.

 

3. Usually I don't turn it off unless it's my Ducati and the red light is something like 100s+ because that thing has no fan and gets stupidly hot. If a modern engine overheats when idling then something is wrong. Fuel usage on startup is equivalent to about 5-10 seconds of idling. During long stops it can make sense to shut off the engine if there is a lot of other bikes and cars around as it reduces the toxic fumes in the air around you and the others when it's hot and no wind. I know I don't appreciate it sitting at a 100s red light with a two stroke idling in front of me ????

[BBJ]

start the engine (Africa Twin)

Put my boots, jacket, helmet, phone in clamp and gloves and good to go.  Don't even think about it.

[OneMoreFarang]

1, 2: No, after I turn the key I see this:

 

3. Sometimes I switch the engine off when I have to wait over 2 minutes. It's just habit.

My bike has water cooling with a fan. The fan is good and keeps it cool even standing in traffic.

If I switch off the engine the fan is also off. No problem on way or the other.