Given Red Octobers obvious skills and willingness to exercise them, the car will probably be in better condition than most.

 

It just applies a bit more of a load to the engine instead of letting it sit at idle speed for a long time, which is not always a good thing.

Most of the time I'm itching to get the car out on the road & drive it normally

Sometimes, it's not easily possible when the road is snowed up & my other cars parked across the driveway are also snowed up. So to avoid the Jag sitting stuck in the driveway with snow on it while everything freezes over & the battery discharges, I came up with this method of generating powertrain heat more quickly for a static car, rather than just letting it idle.

It's a fairly gentle load compared to what the XJR powertrain can handle anyway, and it's only done in extreme circumstances where I can't easily get the car out on the road in winter if there's snow & the car hasn't been used for a little while.

Once warmed up, the car is moved back & forth in the driveway to clean the light surface rust off the discs, ensure the handbrake doesn't freeze & stick on, and slowly rotate the steering left & right to move the joints & circulate the power steering fluid while the car is moving slowly-to avoid the high loads of turning a steering wheel back & forth with the vehicle stationary.

All the electric windows are cycled up & down several times, the sunroof opened & closed in both the tilt & sliding operations, and the door/boot locks worked several times. The electric aerial is also cycled so that doesn't stick, and the brake pedal is pressed several times to move the pistons in the master cylinder & calipers. The electric mirrors are also cycled through their operating planes & the electric seats also cycled in all planes.

Oh, and the seat heaters are switched on for those really cold days to ensure the driver stays comfortable during this procedure

 

I am a bit confused .......... the TC does not care what gear is or is not engaged if the wheels are not turning -- the TC is absorbing the T .. making heat?

It does not matter if the transmission is in 1 or 2

with modern fluids the engine will be fine -- you could technically overheat parts of the TC/ T since it is not designed to do what you are doing for any extended amount of time.

The combustion of the engine is producing vast amounts of excess heat -- the fastest way to heat the cabin is to drive off.

The cooling system is designed to heat the cabin in short order -- and does an excellent job. You would be better off just driving the car.

 

You should have added,
"Warning! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, BEGINNERS! YOU WILL MAKE YOUR LIVING ROOM A DRIVE THROUGH!"

 

this thread reminds me of when plums, (formally known as plumsouce until I christened him Plums ) suggested changing supercharger oil in situe, flamed and defended just like this

You might end up a mod Red, thinking if you get torn up it's a passage of rites so to speak, interesting suggestion but not one I'd consider as my car doesn't go out in the winter and I'm not into changing transmissions if things go wrong.

Your suggested argument about the trans can withstand punishment year after year from standing starts neglects the fact of torque transfer to the road thru the wheels, your suggested heat up method does not factor this in, where does the energy go apart from the fluids......you're suggesting shaking a bottle of champagne (only moderately) and relying on the wire....valve bodies on these trans and a load bearing on the early versions are a weak link and your testing them.

 

I take the point that the ideal way is to just drive off & this is what I do 99.9% of the time.

But as stated on numerous occasions in this thread, it's something I do on the odd occasion in the middle of winter if the car's snowed up, hasn't been used for a while & I physically can't get it onto the road without starting up my other car to unblock the driveway, after first brushing all the snow off that car & then driving around on a cold engine on icy roads.

If I can easily get the car out the driveway & onto the road then that's what I'll do to warm it up-just like everybody else. But if I'm snowed in & the driveway is blocked by a snowed up car & the roads are icy, then I'm not going to easily get the Jag out to warm it up-without the added risks of spinning the car on icy roads & maybe taking somebody else off the road in the ensuing crash...

At least with this way the only possible damage will be to my own car & pride

 

As Nietszche said 'What doesn't break you, makes you stronger', so I'm feeling like a piece of iron now after this thread

Of course, being from the UK, it's a normal thing to defend onesself robustly from 'outside attack', as our long history has shown-so I will continue to do so & defend the right to an individual opinion

The whole point of this method is to use the TC as an engine load, so that some of the energy from the combusted fuel goes into the TC as heat, and the other part goes into the cooling system as heat.

I could appreciate the general outcry if I sat there day after day all year with the engine at absolute full throttle, driving the TC at it's maximum stall speed & generating vast amounts of heat & transmission load-but I don't come anywhere near that level of treatment & it amounts to maybe 15 minutes a year of part throttle & lowish engine speed, during those years where there is heavy snowfall & freezing temperatures. It's not something that even happens every year either.

History is full of accounts of 'group attacks' on individuals who held a certain viewpoint-and human nature teaches us that the greater the level of attack, the greater the level of defence as the defender 'digs in'

Keep it comin' boys-but watch you don't fall over the edge of the earth when you reach it

 

I'll add another one...

"We're all big boys-able to vote, make rational decisions about situations & tie our own shoe laces, so if you lunch your powertrain & demolish your house then it's your own bleedin' fault & don't come crying to me"

Cos' the procedure is not in the Jaguar handbook or in any driving test


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

You've held up very well, yes !





Well, I think you knew, to at least some degree, that you were inviting attack. Your method is unconventional.




True enough, and you've done well in defending your opinion....and in good spirit to boot.

I'll admit that I'm still on the "it makes me cringe" side of things but in the final analysis you've clearly given your position plenty of thought.....much more than I've given mine....so far be it from me to regard you as a madman which, I admit, was my initial reaction

I've enjoyed this topic !

Cheers
DD

 

I hesitate to introduce another possibly controversial related subject, but I will......
Some folk reckon to hold the car on its brakes (Left foot braking) while revving the engine to improve acceleration from rest.
I do use L foot braking when manoeuvring in tight spaces but have never used this technique.
I suspect it is some dreadful Colonial idea suitable only for Buicks and have my doubts as to whether it does do anything for acceleration or simply does in the gearbox.
Any thoughts ?

 

If you're out for max acceleration....like a timed 1/4 mile run or trying to fend off some arrogant SOB in one of those dreadful German road warrior cars {grin}..."power braking" is but one of various "launch" techniques that can be employed.

The discussion on how/where/when this method is best employed and the variables as to how effective it is could be lengthy :-)

Cheers
DD

 

As a former flier, I can tell you that this is how the airplanes take off MOST of the time. And I'm not talking carrier takeoffs either (where this is a common practice). After the military, I flew commercially for a short while (not much money in it, and too many corporate games for my taste), I lasted less than a year (after retraining). I flew DC-9/30 in the left seat in that period of time.

IF (for ANY reason) you want to be airborne in the shortest possible time (the reason can be anything from too short of a runway based on your weight, to a fog bank, and anything in between), you engage the brakes once you are cleared for TO (both sides, yours and the right seat's!), and rev it up, once you build up the thrust, you let go of the brakes, and you have a "slingshot" situation. With a right flaps, you'll be airborne in half the distance. On airplanes this puts a little stress on the landing gear (the engines are not connected in any way with the wheels) and not much else, but on the cars is a different story!

If you do the same on the car,....the car WILL spin the wheels once you let go of the brakes, but the stress on the transmission, differential, axles, etc. will be very high. I think we all did this as kids to our parents cars though. Now that we are the ones paying for the repairs, we should know better.

That's why I am not a proponent of, what will be known from this point as "Red's method". But hey,.....he is more than capable of doing repairs, and it's his machinery to begin with. I say,....let him do it!

 

Very different matter with an aircraft since the engine couldn't care less (apart from ram air) if you're moving or not.
I wonder if there are figures showing an improvement in 1/4 mile times using this method (for cars not planes).
Rather than hijack the thread I can split this off if it does generate interest.

 

There's an analogy here.

The "slingsot" takeoff technique is only one tool in the arsenal of tools for special situations. Like the fogbank. It's not for short hour pilots, has a high pucker factor ... but very handy to know and be able to execute.

In this case, the fogbank is a snowbank ... lots of them ... and cars all over the place. To continue the military theme ... it's an extraction mission in hostile terrain under difficult circumstances. You do what you have to do.

 

Actually, it was first demonstrated by Markus. His described method was perfectly sensible, but some members, and one in particular, were also members of the Flat Earth Society.

Wrong headedness in the face of facts, logic and experience is always offensive and so ... the process of defeating the trolls began ...

 

Now that the topic has gone off at a convenient tangent to another subject, I'm going to slink off quietly while the coast is clear

 

Is that the same couch that's in Sandy's posts!!?

 

Oh how I wish

 

Rest assured, you already are! I don't think that there ever was (and the "oldtimers" will correct me if I'm wrong!) a young gorgeous woman, like yourself, on this forum, that managed to rake up this many posts in just over two months of membership.

Beautiful 27 year old woman with no life, so much so that she sits by the keyboard night after night, and talks about cars. Beautiful, young German women like that have MUCH better things to do at this hour! I know,.....been there (and in Germany out of all places!!) Most of them are cruising Beate Uhse stores, and talking about "the other toys".

That's why I will never believe that Teutonic Beauty ("Sandy") even exists! Only a fat, balding, sweaty Hans or Johann from East Germany or Poland, can be on this forum for so many hours without any social life to speak off! Just look what happened to that linebacker over here in the States (this is a friendly warning to Red!!)!

 

Uncle Red is a wily old dog & plays his cards close to his chest-I had enough fun with Russian girls to give me a good 'grounding' for any future 'dangerous liasons'