OK, so this AM, I leave the house it is 13 degrees(not to cold by Maine standards) get out on the main drag car starts coming up to temp, I hear the revs. adding up , look down and I amm doing about 65-70 car is coming up on 4m RPM's wants to shift out to 5th but would not, I tried speeding upand slowing down to get it to shift out but it would not, ended up dropping into manual mode and shifted to 5th, still was a little reluctant to make that shift but she did. No problems the rest of the drive. Any thoughts my 06 is still new to me with only 6000 miles on it, wondering if this car simply does not like the northern climate!!!! Anyone live up north who has had there G for a couple of years with any input to it's cold weather likes or dislikes?

 

My 04 X Does The Same Thing It's The Stupid Computer That When The Tranny Temp Gets To Operating Temp It Will Go Into 5th. Let The Car Warm Up For 10 Min In The Morning And You Shouldn't Have That Problem.

 

I have a 6-speed, so can't really tell you if that's normal on the G, but...My wife's RX300 intentionally does that when it's really cold and the car hasn't warmed up yet. Our old '99 VW Passat did that too. It holds the higher RPM to warm up the car faster, then it's normal operations after that...

 

I don't put it into gear until the revs come down to 1100, and have not had that problem. I drive slow until the temp is within normal operating parameters.

 

I agree with these guys. Sounds like the car is trying to get up to temp and maybe gets stuck there for a little bit. You should always let your car warm up for a few minutes before you drive it in the morning.
That's one great thing about having remote start!

 

Great, thanks for the reply's(have to love this forum and ones like it). So would you say she seems to be alittle finiky in the cold. My Audi's and Scooby's have nevr winced at extreme cold temps negative 15-25 degrees. I put 612 miles on the G yesterday and only one ticket F*ckin cops in the sky, they loveto do this in Maine apparently it is the only way to balance the budget!!

 

+1 I personally play it safe and NEVER drive my car until the temp gauge starts to rise, especially in COLD weather.....in warm weather, I'm not as conservative.

ttrank doesn't have to worry about that $hit, living in the desert This AM it was 16 degrees here in MA...took a while for the car to warm up.

 

My moms RX300 was doing this from about 20k-80k (progressivley worse) miles. It eventually got so bad it was not shifting and eventually began slipping. A few thousand miles later it got a new tranny and sold. The RX is notorious for tranny problems, I bet yours is going to take a dump eventually.

 

Ours should be ok (knock on wood). I read on a few reviews that this was normal by design. Now if it does it when warm, then I'll worry...

 

Prolonged cold start idling is BAD. It is far easier on the engine and emissions compontents to warm up as quickly as possible. The correct cold start procedure is to start the car, let it idle for 10-30 seconds and start driving at a light throttle and keep the rpms below 3000rpms.

Extended cold start idles:

1) wastes a lot of gas due to the overly rich fuel mixture
2) doesn't adequately disperse heat throughout the motor
3) will foul/clog catalytic devices far quicker
4) will foul 02 sensors
5) break the engine oil down far quicker with fuel hydrocarbon

 

Best post in this thread. There is a specific reason why the ecu has a fast idle program. It's to get the car up to operating temps asap. Letting idle prolongs that and does no good.

 

For real? I know some on the forum challenge you & ask you for proof of your claims (and don't believe you), but I truly would like to find out where this info. is from....because if it is true, I guess I need to start avoiding cold start idles. (I'm not doubting you...just wondering how you know this)

Thanks Dave.

 

It's common sense if you understand cold start programs that the car's ecu employs. Most if not all modern ecu controlled cars employ this and do the same thing.

 

Exactly. Idling is in my opinion, giving alot of people this false sense of security. In addition to the points above, the coolant temp guage may say the motor is 'warm' but the trans fluid will be way off from running temp. I feel this is especially true for manuals, since they have no lubricant being heated by the radiator, unlike autos.

 

Search Google and you'll find link after link stating the same thing I preach. An engine under load will warm up far quicker than one not under load. Coming out of my office on 10 degree day with a stone cold engine, I start the car and let it idle for about 30 seconds and then I start driving. Within 2-3 minutes of driving or about 1 mile down the road, my car is at operating temp. On the rare occasions that I've had to let the car idle warm up because of snow and ice on the car, it takes nearly almost 10 minutes for the car to reach the operating temp (1/2 way on the temp gauge). AuAltima3.5 brings up a good point about transmission warm up too. It's probably more important to warm up your tranny the right way than the engine.