Stroock639

obviously i want my LS to last as long as it can, and if i could i'd just trundle around all slow like much like my grandparents before me, however the 1UZ vvti is just such a magnificent powerplant, the temptation to floor it every once in awhile is just too much!

main points of the thread coming up now:

so my questions are... will "exploring the performance envelope" every so often (maybe once in every 4-5 drives) have long term negative effects? should the pedal find itself touching the floor, it's only after the car has been on for awhile and is thoroughly warmed up, and i am INCREDIBLY gently for the first 10 minutes or so of driving. i also make sure to change my oil and trans fluid somewhat frequently, only with mobil 1 synthetic and type t-iv of course

another thing i find i can't help myself doing every once in awhile is putting the gear selector in L when i come to a stop, making the turn, giving it some, and then putting the selector back in D. my complaint is that it shifts out of 1st too soon, and when you want some acceleration its already in 2nd, so by holding 1st gear like that you can have much more acceleration on demand

so should i stop doing one, or both of these? i haven't noticed any issues and the car runs perfectly fine, i just don't want to find out that i did some major damage later on though

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

if you keep it maintained it'll be fine.

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

It's good for the engine. Google italian tuneup. But I would leave it in drive. It is a bit hard on tranny so keep tranny fluid clean

alien1974

i agree keep it in drive with the ect power switched on

Caseyjones

I get on it from time to time, as mentioned the Italian tune-up, now and then you have to *cough* blow the cob webs out.

Here is my take on driving style, WOT from a dead stop should be saved for avoiding getting rear ended at a light or eluding police . It really does place stress on things. I do some WOT but often while merging onto the superslab or passing cellphone wielding idiots/Harleys/RVs. The Sturgis motorcycle ralley happens here, I get quite a bit of WOT time during this time of the year just trying to get to work and get through the rolling roadblocks, its a bad time.

Also I would prevent throwing it around corners. While its a decent handling car It's not an M3, this also places undue stress on virtually all moving parts under the car. Things wear out anyway but I'll bet that many of the LS cars out there that have 250-300k on the clock and still nice were probably not driven hard very often. That being said if your driving style is often spirited than this is a great car to own. When I was a little younger I was not that easy on cars/bikes, I always drove and rode hard. In my experience Toyota, Honda and BMW products (cars and bikes) will take a beating better than most.

UNCNOR

iTrader: (1)

What is; WOT?

Stroock639

wide open throttle

YoshiMan

If anything, babying a car all the time is even worse for it.

I worked at a place once that had a a Wackenhut security guard "patrolling" the parking lot, pretty much whenever the place was open. The security guards had a brand new Ford Taurus with the funny yellow lights on it, that would pretty much rove the parking lot at 5 mph, all day, everyday.

After awhile, it started having alot of sputtering, idling, and general drivability issues, which everyone thought was odd, considering how new it was. It was soon discovered that taking it out on the local freeway and giving it the so called "Italian Tuneup" would actually clear things up very well. Must've been alot of carbon buildup inside that engine!

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

correct, i highly recommend stretching the legs of the engine every now and then to get the seals to the right temp. i've also asked what does everyone think about warming up the car in the morning? i know all about oil temps and such but how long does one wait until you start moving? i know ambient temp matters too.

Stroock639

oh i know all about the italian tune up, it's one of the most common excuses i come up with before opening it up a little lol... after driving in a "spirited" manner for a bit i've noticed the car actually might seem to drive better and feel a little more responsive, but that could just be mostly down to the software in the transmission and ecu.

as for warming the car up, i'll give it about 45 seconds max if its a cold start in low temps... i don't think there's real reason to do any longer. iirc the manual says something along the lines of "after 10 seconds the car is ready." i take it real easy until the coolant needle stops rising, just under halfway right above the tick mark. i've been in cars that have displays for oil as well as coolant temperature, and i've noticed that the oil takes quite a bit longer to warm up than the coolant. the oil is the more important one to have warm before driving the car hard so if i do it'll be after the car has been driving for awhile

clipster

timmy0tool - I'm also in SoCal, and in the morning I only wait 10-15 seconds for oil flow before backing out of the garage, then to give my 197K transmission a break I pop into neutral at long red lights (my first is always long) until engine temp is warm / normal.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

haha i thought i was the only one that put the car in neutral at red lights when the car is still cold. i did it for the same reason, as well to save my foot/leg from pressing onto the brake too hard since the car is still idling high and wants to go!

sam12345

iTrader: (1)

Eluding police? Are you a poster boy for "world's dumbest drivers"?

GH5T

I believe that was meant as a joke. At least I hope it was.

Sc0pe

iTrader: (1)

As far as driving style goes, the highway is fair game for spirited driving, but in the city, I usually keep things under 2000 RPMs. Lets you maintain a reasonable gas mileage, while giving you oodles of low-end power to get you boogieing from a standstill. Only time I WOT in the city, is if I decide to merge in during a blank spot in traffic, and need to match the speed ASAP (0-60 in these cars is actually pretty good).