On Fri, 24 Jan 2003, Stan Wilder wrote:

> I hope you folks in very cold climates know that you should be idling
> your engines for five or more minutes each time you start a very cold
> engine. Don't race or over work the engine until it gets warm enough to
> send heat out your heater (Waser boxer) or in the case of air cooled just
> use your watch and wait ten minutes.

Stan,

The line I have traditionally been fed is that it's best to start driving
immediately, as letting it idle up to operating temps results in abnormal
expansion patterns in the engine, especially with aluminum heads.

On the Scirocco list, it's basically agreed upon that the engine should be
allowed to warm up for up to a minute or so only, and then driven with great
respect (<3000rpm, <1/2 throttle) until the oil temperature is up to 80
degrees C.

Now what the Vanagon needs is an oil temp gauge. :)

ian Butler / ian@bluemoon.hplx.net
'88 Scirocco 16v, '87 Syncro GL