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Car completeled its Unitronic Tune - how to safely maintain it?

steddy2112

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Belcamp MD
Car(s)
2016 GTI SE
Just a reminder that the coolant temp reaches normal way before the oil temp is where it needs to be for spirited driving...180 or so. At 50 deg. F this takes 6-8 miles. I just keep the oil temp monitor up all the time.

There doesn't need to be a reminder, I never said "romp on it the second you turn it on, just make sure it gets up to temp before you put her to bed"

You know how hot a combustion event is inside a combustion chamber?

800-1500ºF

You know where the oil temp sensor is on our cars?

Bottom of the oil pan, the farthest away from where the oil is being shot right at the wrist pin on the other side of that "slightly warm" boom boom event.

I am by no means condoning beating on a car that's not warmed up at all, but if you think you need to wait for the sensor at the bottom of the oil sump to say 180ºF before you can lean on it, that's nuts. Turning the car off before the oil gets up to temp is one of the absolutely worst things you can do to a car, especially a DI car that is already going to be taxing the shit out of the PCV system anyways.

That oil has been warm for awhile by the time the sump says it is. Once it starts reading, it's warm enough to do your business. It has the engine, the turbo, and the engine coolant warming it up. Shutting it off before getting the condensation out of it will lead to big problems, especially if in a cold climate.

https://24hourmobilemechanics.com/pcv-valve-related-symptoms-problems/
 

steddy2112

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Belcamp MD
Car(s)
2016 GTI SE
Still not hearing why the oil temp starts displaying at 122. There must be a reason. The only logical reason I can think of is vw is saying the car is in its normal operating range

Just the display range.

Coolant doesn't start reading until 100º but the ECU can see it lower than that. Same with oil temp.
 

steddy2112

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Belcamp MD
Car(s)
2016 GTI SE
Oil temp seems to start displaying at 122* F, so why does it wait until 122*? VW surely could have programmed it to start at ambient temperature.

Rant start: I never heard of needing to wait for anything in the car to "warm up" since the days of carburetors, and that was so you didn't dump too much raw fuel into the cylinders and past the rings to the oil pan. Tends to destroy main bearings. All I ever heard or read was to wait until the oil is circulating, which only takes seconds. You're probably getting at least 40 PSI from the oil pump, the same you get out of your home's water hose.

With modern fuel injection, your enrichment cycle is very short. My idle drops to normal by the time I pull out of my driveway (start car in garage, open garage door, back out of garage, wait until door closes). I'm sure I have full oil circulation by then, and the oil is performing at 5-weight. I need to drive about a mile to get to a main road, then I often give it about 1/2-3/4 throttle. The car pins you back in the seat so I'm getting a lot of torque, and stress. I never had an drivetrain problem from driving this way, and I've been driving turbo cars since 1991. I always had a turbo with an oil and water-cooled center bearing. We're not in the dark age of Chrysler any more.

Feel free to argue otherwise, but how many times have you heard a story where someone broke an engine from not warming up the car in the last 10 years, or even 20 or 30? And what about the clutch or clutch-pack? That's where I'd be worrying if I didn't have a HD clutch or DSG tune. Of course, if you're tuned you have no warranty, but if you need to drive like a pussy, don't tune, or buy something that's faster from the factory, like a Camaro or Mustang. When you play with fire, you sometimes get burned. Keep a first-aid kit (lots of money) handy.

In complete agreement

Bold point #1

People in here would probably argue oil temp and then turn around and run E85 which causes a more than normal amount of oil dilution then be said when their bearings are making sadfaces causing rods to accidentally fly out of the block.

"Bruh...but muh oil temps..."

Bold point #2

People act like the thing that houses thousands of lbs of explosives inside a cast iron thing to make usable motion on demand is made out of tooth picks.

They also act like OEMs didn't engineer safe guards in place for the mouth breathers who start the car with their foot to the floor and live their lives a 1/4 mile at a time and have two speeds: full stop and full go.

This isn't an F1 engine that is so tight, it needs oil heated up and circulated through the engine just to get it to unseize so you can start it.

It's an econobox, with an econo-engine. Don't let the flappy paddles fool any one lol.
 

miked617

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Boston, MA
Car(s)
21 VW GTI
Uhhhh...
 

JC_451

Autocross Champion
Location
NJ, one of the nice parts.
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport
They also act like OEMs didn't engineer safe guards in place for the mouth breathers who start the car with their foot to the floor and live their lives a 1/4 mile at a time and have two speeds: full stop and full go.

Anyone who drives their car like this can expect to experience more problems than the average motorist.

I wouldn't really put much stock in the engineers compensating for these kind of outliers. Mass manufactured vehicles are engineered for the masses, not for the exceptionally stupid.
 
Last edited:

demi9od

Drag Race Newbie
Location
NC
There was that one guy who took his car into the dealer and they exploded his turbo. Dash cam evidence of cold hooliganing IIRC.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk
 

Cptnjosh

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Kentuckiana
Car(s)
2017 Sport
Just got the call from the dealer and the Stage 1 tune is done on my 2015 GTI DSG. I'm just wondering the do's and don'ts if there are any on a tuned mk7. Or just really am looking for guidelines on how to drive this car now so it stays in the best shape as long as possible. Otherwise I'll drive it how I normally do which is conservative during the week getting 36mpg, and on weekends I drive spirited. Any help is appreciated!


Blah, blah, increase oil change interval, change plugs, blah, blah, warm car up, blah blah, cool car down, blah blah........blah. What they said ad nauseam...


Buyingconstant- How do you like the Unitronic tune compared to stock? Stage 1?
 

SteveRrrr

New member
Oil temp seems to start displaying at 122* F, so why does it wait until 122*? VW surely could have programmed it to start at ambient temperature.

Rant start: I never heard of needing to wait for anything in the car to "warm up" since the days of carburetors, and that was so you didn't dump too much raw fuel into the cylinders and past the rings to the oil pan. Tends to destroy main bearings. All I ever heard or read was to wait until the oil is circulating, which only takes seconds. You're probably getting at least 40 PSI from the oil pump, the same you get out of your home's water hose.

With modern fuel injection, your enrichment cycle is very short. My idle drops to normal by the time I pull out of my driveway (start car in garage, open garage door, back out of garage, wait until door closes). I'm sure I have full oil circulation by then, and the oil is performing at 5-weight. I need to drive about a mile to get to a main road, then I often give it about 1/2-3/4 throttle. The car pins you back in the seat so I'm getting a lot of torque, and stress. I never had an drivetrain problem from driving this way, and I've been driving turbo cars since 1991. I always had a turbo with an oil and water-cooled center bearing. We're not in the dark age of Chrysler any more.

Feel free to argue otherwise, but how many times have you heard a story where someone broke an engine from not warming up the car in the last 10 years, or even 20 or 30? And what about the clutch or clutch-pack? That's where I'd be worrying if I didn't have a HD clutch or DSG tune. Of course, if you're tuned you have no warranty, but if you need to drive like a pussy, don't tune, or buy something that's faster from the factory, like a Camaro or Mustang. When you play with fire, you sometimes get burned. Keep a first-aid kit (lots of money) handy.
Are you saying you think there is zero merit in warming up the oil?
 

SpaceGhost

Ready to race!
Location
Coast to Coast
The reason it is 122 is because 122 is the low end of normal operating temperature for the oil. Nothing else makes sense

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
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