V6 Engine REVS When Cold

[AussieToyotaAvalon]

Since owning the Avalon I find it REVS too high when cold and have extra effort to stop the car how can I trun the REVS down a little at the moment it's like 1900 by looking at the REV guage.

[Hiro]

Since owning the Avalon I find it REVS too high when cold and have extra effort to stop the car how can I trun the REVS down a little at the moment it's like 1900 by looking at the REV guage.

All modern engines bump the revs up when cold. Just let the car warm up a bit before you drive, and you should notice the idle revs drop back down to a normal number, around 800rpm is a decent guide

[leasaunce]

Since owning the Avalon I find it REVS too high when cold and have extra effort to stop the car how can I trun the REVS down a little at the moment it's like 1900 by looking at the REV guage.

All modern engines bump the revs up when cold. Just let the car warm up a bit before you drive, and you should notice the idle revs drop back down to a normal number, around 800rpm is a decent guide

what he said.

its normal. Also when the engine is still cold don't push the engine (shift early and don't shift above 3000rpm). Also when you're standing at the lights, put it in "N" instead of "D" (so you can let the engine warm up abit and you don't have to push the brake harder, according to NRMA shifting to "N" at the lights will save you 3% of fuel)

[AussieToyotaAvalon]

I just want to be able to bring the REVS down to like 1500rpm I know it's normal to be at 1900rpm I just find it not needing to be that high.

[dannywss]

when starting the car in the morning or cold weather, dont drive it straight away, start the engine and wait, wait till the temp gauge reach above "cold".

if u dont like waiting, get a remote starter, start the car and when u walked to the garage and opened the garage door, mb then the gauge reaches above cold.

I always urge my sister, to autostart the car before she drive, to warm the engine up, coz i believe no one likes waiting the car to warm up in a cold morning when you are late for class~

p/s: personal opinion, u might hate it or love it, but dont blame me~ thz><"

[AussieToyotaAvalon]

For the time it needs to warm up is wasting petrol big time when the revs are as high as 1900rpm and loud loud enough to bug your neigbhours every morning.

Other cars I have used seem to happy with 1000 to 1500rpm on cold starts.

[saintly]

i usually give it about a minute or more after starting the engine before driving, it is enough to bring the REVS down to 900-1000rpm....

[leasaunce]

modern cars, you dont need to warm up the engine, but if you do have the time to warm it up do (the engine suffer most damage during; cold start and high rpm).

It says in my Camry manual book, start the engine and then wait for about 10 seconds then drive. Never let the car idle for more than 10 minutes, you'll damage the engine.

[dimsim8]

For the time it needs to warm up is wasting petrol big time when the revs are as high as 1900rpm and loud loud enough to bug your neigbhours every morning.

Other cars I have used seem to happy with 1000 to 1500rpm on cold starts.

warm up your engine for like a minute doesn't waste that much petrol, cost you 5c most. I would rather warm my car up a bit in the morning than having to drive around with a really cold engine and thick motor oil that doesn't lubricant anything

[Alphabeta777]

My dad's Camry Altise V6, which I'm sure has the same engine as the Avalon revs on cold mornings as well.

Reversing out of the driveway requires use of the brake to limit speed on a cold morning while it requires application of the accelerator in the afternoon.

[aussie_camry]

As for thread topic, as everyone has said its completely normal... and it would be stupid really to reduce the revs, you want the engine to warm up faster and any fuel saving will be negated by the reduced life of your engine!

so you can let the engine warm up abit and you don't have to push the brake harder, according to NRMA shifting to "N" at the lights will save you 3% of fuel

Ive heard this from a friend... I find it hard to believe. In drive or neutral my car at least revs at the same level, so its using the exact or close to same amount of fuel to keep the engine at the specified RPM. Only thing I can think of is the brakes... maybe additional power is needed for that? (Im not extremely familiar with the entire braking system of cars but Im guessing some assistance is needed for the master cylinder or something... like the power steering does?)

Never let the car idle for more than 10 minutes, you'll damage the engine.

No way! Idling is putting alot less stress on the engine then when your driving and its under load, I usually prefer to keep my car running when I wait for someone that Ive dropped off then turn the car off and have to restart it (albeit not usually 10mins+)... better to have oil running through the engine then start it without it!

[saintly]

No way! Idling is putting alot less stress on the engine then when your driving and its under load, I usually prefer to keep my car running when I wait for someone that Ive dropped off then turn the car off and have to restart it (albeit not usually 10mins+)... better to have oil running through the engine then start it without it!

Don't they (maybe RTA/VicRoads) ask you to switch off your car if you are stuck in a jam?? There's even signpost that says that... I think I saw one on the M2... 6mths ago~

[alarum]

I wish my V6 would rev higher when cold!

It's been suspected the throttle body needs adjusting, but lately in the mornings if I don't apply a bit of pressure to the accelerator she immediately dumps out...

Bit annoying keeping your foot on the accelerator when I could be doing other things like bucketing the fog off my windows... (:

[Hiro]

No way! Idling is putting alot less stress on the engine then when your driving and its under load, I usually prefer to keep my car running when I wait for someone that Ive dropped off then turn the car off and have to restart it (albeit not usually 10mins+)... better to have oil running through the engine then start it without it!

Don't they (maybe RTA/VicRoads) ask you to switch off your car if you are stuck in a jam?? There's even signpost that says that... I think I saw one on the M2... 6mths ago~

Thats to save you petrol, not to prevent damage to your car.

As for starting your car without oil in it, most new oil filters have a valve in them to stop the oil draining out when the car is stopped. This way the engine will retain at least some oil to lubricate on startup

[aussie_camry]

^

Interesting... but still thats not much consolation, better to have the engine running then having to start up constantly (the stats out and about are that 70% or so of wear occurs at start up and that it takes 2mins+ for oil to reach every part of the engine). Anyway I did some research and the idling for 10mins thing is referring to initial start up, they believe its bad to idle for to long as it takes longer for the engine to heat up and being that engines are designed to run at operating temperature its not great for them (this relates to the original poster in that its recognised longer warm up is BAD... so dont touch the cars idle speed - not that Im sure you can change start up idle anyway, I would think thats done through the ECU whereas the idle screws on some cars throttle bodies are for regular idle). In my case where I have already driven and dont turn the engine off thats ok... as I would expect.

Still not sure about the going to drive from neutral thing, I can only think the brake booster or something soaks up some more fuel... because the car has a tendency to push forward more in drive requiring more brake pressure. But then I would think constantly switching from drive to neurtal and back wouldnt be great for the transmission in the long term either.

Maybe some things for the Mythbusters.

Edited June 7, 2007 by aussie_camry

[AussieToyotaAvalon]

I found out today that the ECU controls the revs and was shown the electronic unit that controls the revs so nothing can be done but the mechanics at my local dealership agree that the revs on these engines are too excussive for our aussie climates more suited to cold climates.

[aussie_camry]

I dont think it matters how much it revs, the faster your car gets up to operating temperature the better. The only time you need to fiddle with idle speed (in cars that have screws you can adjust) is when the cars idle speed once warmed up is off.

Edited June 9, 2007 by aussie_camry

[jonbays]

My Aurion at first start up in six degrees does rev a bit too but only about 1500rpm in neutral. the first time gear selection it does clunk into gear with those revs on board but within 5km its 100% normal. The ECU controls the idle speed but there are other things that could be making it rev too high like a faulty or not connected vacum hoses somewhere. may be normal if its dammned cold out your way i dont know but worth getting looked at. Not a home hobby thing to tinker with anymore though.

[icejagans]

thats like my avalon as well.

On cold mornings its sitting around 2000rpm.

Also the fuel consumption during the first 2 mins are incredbly high. Around 20L/100kms.

[Leroy]

Still not sure about the going to drive from neutral thing, I can only think the brake booster or something soaks up some more fuel... because the car has a tendency to push forward more in drive requiring more brake pressure. But then I would think constantly switching from drive to neurtal and back wouldnt be great for the transmission in the long term either.

I'm mechanically inept :P, but why would it be bad?? If anything, wouldn't it be easing the pressure on the engine? Automatic car is always delivering power when in gear, which means that while you have your foot on the brake pedal the car is still trying to move. Surely keeping it in constant drive for that long, while not letting the car actually move, is worse for it than taking it out of gear...

[Dead]

The greatest killer of an engine is the cold. Expansion. Contraction. Expansion. Contraction.

Note how ex taxi's usually have well over 800,000km's on them and they're still running fine at the end of that cycle. It's because they're running the majority of the time and the temperature is regulated.

To be honest I'd be wanting my car heat up steadily, but not excessively. I never turn the motor off if I'm waiting in heavy traffic or a drive through etc. I tend to favor keeping it on as much as I can if I'm out and about in it.

1900 seems a bit high in my opinion, but if it's still warming up at a steady rate I wouldn't be worried.

[ME70]

Its the automatic choke, perfectly normal, without it your car would'nt start in the cold.

Edited April 9, 2008 by ME70

[Danos]

Took notice of mine this morning - It idled at 1,500 rpm when I first started.. 1,900 rpm seems quite high

[icejagans]

i think its beacause mine is 6 years old compared to the newer models.

hey it doesn't matter too much, its just that fuel consumption is dreadful and i often see it at 2800rpm when crusing when it should be 1800-2000. but thats just life