The whole "warm up engine before takeoff" thing is way overdone

I was on a ramp last Tuesday and saw this older guy letting his Cessna idle for like 15 minutes before taxi. A mechanic once told me that's actually hard on the cylinders because the oil doesn't warm evenly. I just do a quick 30-second idle then go easy on the throttle till the temp gauge moves. Has anyone else seen that habit cause carbon buildup in the long run?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade_hall1mo ago

Yeah so I fly a 172 out of a small field in Ohio and I used to do the long idle thing for years. Then I pulled a cylinder at 800 hours and the shop showed me this nasty black glaze on the piston rings. They said it was from oil not burning off because the engine never got hot enough during those long idles. Now I do what you do, 30 seconds then taxi easy and I keep the RPMs around 1000-1200 until the oil temp needle moves off the peg. My last compression check at 1200 hours came back all high 70s so something is working right. The old timers mean well but I think they learned that habit from cold war era radials that actually needed the warmup.

ruby_sanchez451mo ago

800 hours and that black glaze? Dang, that's terrifying.