CoedNaked

I'm interested in your schools of thought on the following ideals:

1) Clutch versus braking. When slowing down, whether it be to a stop, or just slowing down with traffic: some like to downshift, others like to pop 'er out of gear and coast while braking. I am of the latter school of thought.
My thinking is that brakes are cheaper than a clutch and downshifting just causes more unneccessary shifting and wear on the clutch. Also, what are your guys thoughts on popping her out of gear? I always pop 'er out of gear without the clutch (which you can do). Usually she pops out effortlessly, but every now and then I need to "pop" it (even with the new clutch I just got and other vehicles I've driven). What does this mean?

2) Warming up your vehicle. What is your routine for warming up your vehicle? How long do you wait? Do you even bother? What in your opinion is the best routine for durability/longetivity for vehicle warming up. YOu can vary your response for the various conditions you may encounter in a morning. Give a few responses, from your summer warm up to your winter warm up routine. How long do you wait? what do you look for? What do you listen for?, etc.? What have you found?

bike4miles

1> I do both, I downshift from 5th to 4th to 3rd without braking then phush in the clutch and break to a stop since 2nd tends to bark the tires easily.

2>My 22re clatters like crasy if I don't warm it up for five minutes but I usually only warm it up for about 30 seconds to a minute.

ChickenLover

I've been wondering where the membership stands on this issue myself. During winter I like to let it warm up for about 10 min. I feel that a gradual change in temp is best. Instead of putting a cold engine under load immediately. During summer I usually let it run for 30 seconds or so, just to get things flowing.

DudeBud

1. i use the tranny to brake brakes cost more than my clutch
2. i warm my rig up if im in a hurry i dont rev on it untill its warm. why do it because i have a lot of money in my motor it takes maybe 3 min. i make sure i get oil pressure

green91runner

i usually just dump the clutch and brake to a stop.. unless im in 5th, then ill downshift to 4th, 3rd and then dump it and brake.

as for warming up, 10 seconds in the summer, and 30seconds to 3 minutes in the winter (3 min if its -40 out)... a friend of mine picked up this thing for his daytona, that pumps up the oil pressure before you crank it over.. definetely increases engine life (not to jack the thread, but anyone heard of something like this for the 4runner?)

SolidDigital

I usually give it about 5 to 10 seconds before moving, just enough for it to get oil pressure.

as for breaking, I normally don't use the engine cause I figure it cuts down on gas mileage and wears the clutch a lot more..

I've always thought that popping it out of gear wansn't good for the tranny, so I've maybe done it twice just to see how it would do.. maybe it's alright to do on a regular basis though?

93YODER

I never let the engine do the braking,its hard on the clutch,and lugging an engine isnt good on it ether.

2#in the summer I let it warm up for about 30 seconds,in the winter its about 5 to 10 minutes,or untill I atleast see the needle move on the temperture gauge.if it is not fully warmed up I dont rev it up much more then 2500 rpm.

epic37311

sosauto@cmq.com Are you talking about a prelube.
sosauto@cmq.com

Morso makes this too.

accumolater
But it is manual. This type of thing is mostly on deisels. You could be creative and fabricate something, as far as bolt on I don't think they are any out there

green91runner

i could be.. i really never asked him what it was.. but it seems like it does the same job.

tulsa_97SR5

Guess I'm in the minority here, but I downshift all the time, even at lower speeds in city traffic. If there's a big rpm difference I'll double clutch. My theory is that the wear on the clutch comes from RPM difference between the engine & tranny, so if they are about the same there should be very minimal wear on the clutch. I'm also looking way ahead, so I may downshift a block before a red light & engine break for the whole block. Lot's of times the light will be green & I need to be in 2nd anyway by the time I get there, so it really wasn't an extra shift. Also, I'm never in neutral when driving, never know when I may need to gas it in a hurry to avoid some moron. What's the avg lifespan of a toyota clutch anyway? 100k +? don't hear about having them replaced much.

Just a few seconds to get the oil flowing, think it was Click & Clack who said that the engine doesn't really care if the car is moving or not when it's warming up, I don't get on the gas too hard for the first bit though.

Marc P

The way I always thought about it is brakes are cheaper to replace than a clutch.

As for warming up--I am in So Cal, so I turn my truck on, wait a few seconds then start driving. I drive slow for the first 1/2 mile or so.

roger

I do both...sometimes I just don't feel like braking, especially if I know traffic ahead of me will start moving again by the time I get there.

As far as warming up, I don't have a set routine. On cold mornings I'll let it idle for a minute or two. It's more important to avoid dropping the hammer when the oil is still cold, so I just try to keep it under 3000 rpm until the engine is warmed up.

dexter

depends on my mood, but mostly coast to a stop. sometimes use the clutch to spin the tires in 2nd gear if im trying to show off or just raced someone.

summer i give it a minute or two. winter about 10 minutes untill the meter inside is in the middle and its warm inside the car. to much money under the hood to not let it warm up

Racer944

#1 There's no way I don't have my truck ready to go at all times, if something happens infront of me, I can just gas it and get out of the way. I also toe-heel everywhere to steady things up and practice.

#2 I live in the south, and it's warm here (duh...), so sometimes I'll come back to my car a few hours after a drive and still have some temp. going. During the winter, I'll sit in for a few minutes, around 10 max. Once it's semi-warm, I'll start flogging it like normal again.

Poor A$$ Stock '93

I always downshift when coming to a stop. If I wanted to just use the brakes I would have bought an auto like everyone else with no motor control. :p Unless you don't know how to shift and are constantly riding the clutch your clutch will still last for ages. Dumping it into a lower gear at too high of an PRM is not only hard on the ctutch but is hard on the entire drivetrain. If you just downshift in a manor that does not feel jarring to you as a passenger then it isn't going to hurt anything in the drivetrain or wear the clutch any more then usual. I have over 50,000km on a set of pads that still look almost new and my clutch works just fine. Learn at what RPMs in 3rd are equivilent to about 2000 rpm in 2nd and don't downshift into second above that point. Downshift to 3rd normally to get some compression braking, ride the brakes until the RPMs drop enough to shift to second, use second to slow you for the last few feet, and push in the clutch and use the brakes to stop from there. Do not downshift to 1st until you are actually stopped and do not just bump the tranny into neutral until without using the clutch.

As for warming up, in the summer I just get in a drive. The few seconds that it takes me to back out of my driveway are enough to get everything lubed just fine. In the winter I will let it idle long enough for my guage to reach operating temp. The cab does not have to be extra toasty for the engine to be warm enough. At idle you are not burning fuel as efficiently and it is actually harder on your engine to let it idle for too long as well as being expensive these days. If you are in a hurry and don't have time to let it warm up properly, just drive conservatively so that the RPMs don't go over about 2 grand until it reaches operating temp. This is not really any harder on the engine then sitting in one spot.

93ToyKid

Most of the time, I use the engine to HELP slow me down, while simultaneously pressing the brakes. That way, I'm always in a gear and ready to go. I'm never in neutral unless I'm letting her warm up. As long as you don't downshift too soon, you have nothing to worry about. Won't hurt a thing. If you think about it, when you use the motor to slow you down, it's not wearing the clutch any, and it won't hurt gas mileage, because you're not on the gas.
As for warm up, I try to let her have 3 mins in the summer and until it reaches operating temp. in the winter. Also, I am a firefighter, so I often have to jump in it in the middle of the night and take off without any warm-up. Let me tell you, it does not like this at all if the temp. is really cold outside, and doesn't run right for pretty much that entire day. ALWAYS give your rig some time to warm up! When you take off flying down the road on a cold engine, the pistons warm up and expand faster than the cylinders, which produces extra wear.

Jeffires

When driving a manual transmission, I was taught to downshift and not to coast in neutral, so I'll downshift without causing the tires to bark or the engine to rev too high. On my auto, I'll turn the OD off when exiting the interstate or on a long hill. I believe in warm up for 5 min or so in the winter, but if I have to hurry, I'll still try to take it easy and avoid high RPMs until the needle starts coming up on the gauge.

MDNT TOY

Hello ALL
I do let the engine do some braking. Only when I know that I will be back in the gas before I would have come to a stop (from a coast).
I always use the clutch when changing gears even into Neutral.

Warm up time in the Winter about 5-10 min.
Summer maybe 3-5 mins.
With 223,000 miles on my 93 I take the time to make sure everything is up to temp before floging on it. No neeed to put a new motor in her yet.
C-YA!!

95yoda

1.i have been driving manual's for 10 years now and i just coast on down in whatever gear i was in and just lightly apply the brakes,then just put the truck in nuetral when im close to a stop.
ive never replaced brakes,clutches or trannys...but the longest ive driven any one of my cars/trucks is around 50k miles.

2. i used to think you had to warm it up a bunch,but after reading alot of things about this very thing. i only let it run for 15-30 seconds in the winter(nothing in the summer really) because from what i have read is the oil takes ALOT longer to reach vital areas if you idle it as apposed to just driving it down the road.
i do take it easy though,short shifting intell its is warm.

kyle_22r

downshifting is hard on the transmission, and i don't know about some people, but i'd rather pull my wheels off to do my brakes than pull the drivelines and transfer case, drop the tranny, support the engine, resurface the flywheel and replace the clutch.

yeah, don't think so.

as for warming up the truck, in warmer weather i let it run for about 30 seconds before driving, in cold weather i'll often let it sit and warm up for 10 minutes, mainly to get some warm air blowing in the cab