cold startup revs

[newroc]

seeing as a few people are asking about idling, here's my question. For my first startup of the day, my cold I4 engine idles at 1800, with a "raw" sound that makes me shudder. To warm up the engine and avoid the high idling, I quickly shift to R or D, idle drop to 900, and I sit there for 30 secs, w/ my foot on the brakes, for the engine to warm up a bit before I drive off.

How long do you guys warm up the car? What's your cold startup rpm? Am I reducing engine wear by idling at "D"(900rpm) instead of "Park"(1800rpm)?

Edit by moderator: repost, please post all questions in the original thread http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php? ... light=warm

[bronzemaxell]

i spent 0.5 second warming up the car, don't waste gas
just start the engine and shift to 1st gear and so forth, but stay off 5th gear until engine warmed up.

[Sentinel]

while 1800 sounds a bit high, some computer must think its the thing to do. As long as it dosn't "klunk" too hard going into gear for the 1st time (if auto) I think you're fine. As far as warming up? As long as the car goes (and it should) there is no warm up needed. With one caveat: keep off the loud pedal for a minute or 2, and just accellerate gently untill everything has had a chance to simmer. Sitting there at 1800 rpm or even sitting there at 900 rpm with it in gear isn't going to be any better or worse than cruising gently. I think the days of "warming up" a car went the way of carburetors back when they got rid of... carburetors.

Off topic: I wish I could "trick" my auto into being in "warm up" mode, as it holds gears longer when cold... maybe an "aggressive" button that wouldn't shift into O/D at 30 mph.

[Yanks0114]

Please refer to this post http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php? ... light=warm

If you have any other questions, please post in the existing thread

[Yanks0114]

Off topic: I wish I could "trick" my auto into being in "warm up" mode, as it holds gears longer when cold... maybe an "aggressive" button that wouldn't shift into O/D at 30 mph.

That actually wouldn't work, if you notice it holds gears longer, but you can't get above 4-5k before it shifts or cuts out. It designed to warm up the engine asap without causing damage.