GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Can anybody ellaborate on the "2000" rpm cold engine idle..it slightly annoying....is absolutly necessary?

quote:Can anybody ellaborate on the "2000" rpm cold engine idle..it slightly annoying....is absolutly necessary? They all idle around that rpm when cold... see the following thread for more info:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1038I don't think I have ever seen a 4-cylinder engine not idle very high while it is cold. I am sure it is necessary or it would not do this. The engine needs to get up to an appropriate temperature, so this is its way of making that adjustment. I am sure certain vehicle systems need to be initialized and be brought to a normal operating status. The high idle only lasts a couple minutes.. although you don't have to let it sit there and idle, you could just drive off. However, if you do give your engine time to warm up, it wouldn't do any harm.

The high idle also warms up the engine faster resulting in less harmful emissions.

I strongly agree the cold idle is too fast---For that reason I place it in gear when the engine starts in order to reduce it a little. But I have no idea how to adjust it --if you can (DANG ELECTRONICS).If you just let it idle in Park --it will drop to a reasonable level in approx one to two minutes depending on how cold it is. James

Vibe:Is it really OK to put a car in gear while warming up ? 'cause my Vibe's RPM dies down significantly once in gear.

it also builds up oil pressure. let it idle...i dont understand why your all so opposed to it.

really, what's the big freakin' deal? it's over in 2 minutes, just close your eyes and ears, it will be over before you know it

quote:Vibe:Is it really OK to put a car in gear while warming up ? 'cause my Vibe's RPM dies down significantly once in gear.You can let the car sit for 20 minutes, the RPMs will still dip when you shift into gear. When you add the resistance of the drive axle, it slows down the engine...or something like that. But the RPM drop will happen always. After driving for a while, if you shift into Neutral at a light, and back into drive when it changes, same thing will happen.

It has to do with the O2 sensors. As everyone probably already knows they use a resistance based probe to determine how much unburnt oxygen is in the exhaust, enriching or leaning out the feul mixture. You have two on the exhaust pipe, one before the cat and one after. These are called 'heated' sensors which operate similar to the M.A.F. sensor just after the air box. They have an element in them which must be warmed up in order to function properly. The O2 sensors use the exhaust gas and a powered element to acheive this. The time it takes for the motor to idle down is how long it takes for the second O2 sensor to reach temp. One indicator that the sensor is not funtioning is it not reaching a comfy idle for a long time or not at all. This new generation of O2 sensors have been in use since 1996 and are very common now, they can be very expensive but on the up side the ones in our car have a 100,000km/60,000mile life expectancy.