When Engine is cold poor accel. and after 10min its good accel...huh?????

[Sbeing1]

When i start my car and run it cold and try to accelerate, i have very poor acceleration. Then after about 10min its fine and acceleration is fine. I had a mechanic look at the tranny (auto) and he said its a bad tranny filter and if i change it, it will accelerate just fine from a cold start. what do you guys think?

 

[seefour]

I don't think there is an internal combustion engine in the world that doesnt have slower acceleration when its cold. The way pistons are designed, they dont seal nearly as well until they are at normal operating temp. Hell, my car barely runs until it idles for a minute or two.

 

[Sbeing1]

I don't think there is an internal combustion engine in the world that doesnt have slower acceleration when its cold. The way pistons are designed, they dont seal nearly as well until they are at normal operating temp. Hell, my car barely runs until it idles for a minute or two.

, you dont understand, this is slow like 0-10mph in 10 sec slow then after 10min its normal

 

[kelvinb]

its not warmed up yet

 

[v8s_are_slow]

its not warmed up yet

He's in Florida. It's not like the car is in Alaska. Do ya have a datalogger? Know anyone who has one? Possible tps problem or plenty of other reasons. Doubting it's a tranny issue though but then again, I've never dealt with auto's. Does it do it everytime you start it up? 1st thing in the morning? Anything else you can tell us?

 

[Sbeing1]

It does it everytime its sat out, morning, afterschool anytime it sits. But after ten minutes its perfect. No, i dont have a datalogger and i dont know anyone with one. What should i do? im changing the tranny filter this weekend.

 

[GILZTSIAWD]

It is because the car is cold. The vehicle does not allow the ecu to enter open loop mode until the car has reached operating temperature. The IAC also keeps the engine in warm up mode dumping more fuel and a higher idle and things until the car gets to operating temp, this is why you don't want to go with too cool of a thermostat because your car will run like crap. You should never try to accelerate hard until your car gets warmed up anyways.

 

[kelvinb]

It is because the car is cold. The vehicle does not allow the ecu to enter open loop mode until the car has reached operating temperature. The IAC also keeps the engine in warm up mode dumping more fuel and a higher idle and things until the car gets to operating temp, this is why you don't want to go with too cool of a thermostat because your car will run like crap. You should never try to accelerate hard until your car gets warmed up anyways.

Exactly. I am in lincoln nebraska and the weather here will be from -10 to 100 and my car will sit idling for atleast 2 minutes before i drive it. The reason? The engine has to get to operating temp before its ready to drive. An example is you literally waking up from bed and trying to run a mile. Doesn't matter if your in Florida Alaska or California. Operating temp is above the ambient temp anywhere in the world.

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Yes but we don't know what thermostat he's running either. Regardless, I've never had that problem unless my car was in really cold temps, or unless I was having a hot start issue.

Try maybe checking this link out. Read near the top.
http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/answers-problems.htm

And although it might not be hot start that you're getting, this may help as well.
http://www.dsm.org/how-tos/JFM/HotStart.html

 

[Sbeing1]

Thanks alot for those links! They helped me greatly and ill try all of them. Also, how do i know what temperature the car is at and when its at optimum drivablity? thanks alot guys

 

[v8s_are_slow]

Thanks alot for those links! They helped me greatly and ill try all of them. Also, how do i know what temperature the car is at and when its at optimum drivablity? thanks alot guys

The only way to tell the exact temp you're running is with an aftermarket guage that has numbers on it, or to have some sort of logging device. Really, it shouldn't take long for it to be running okay. You're not in Alaska. You and me are in Florida. Guys keep forgetting that our cars would be closer to operating temps here cause all the pistons, rods, the block etc. are a lil closer to operating temp here than say for example, the north pole (why do you think guys in northern regions have block heaters?). The parts are gonna be freezing and the oil is gonna be much thicker. So in colder climates the oil isn't gonna circulate thru all those freezing cold parts as fast until it heats up so for them, they have to let it sit and warm up. We really don't have that problem here. Of course you don't wanna just crank it up and romp on it as soon as it's started either. Pretty much just wanna at least have all the oil circulating thru the motor (unless of course it's cold out) and you'll be fine.

As for the thermostat, which one are you running? stock is like 190 but a lotta people go with a 180 to make it run a lil cooler. If you go too cold though, the ecu sees this and thinks it's still in warm up mode and dumps extra fuel in. Also, the fuel trims won't change which could play havoc if you're trying to tune. I had a 160 in and had to bump it up to the 180 cause it was just too cold. Also keep in mind that your fuel trims won't move around until it's close to operating temps as well so might run a bit richer.

 

[99gst_racer]

Also, how do i know what temperature the car is at and when its at optimum drivablity? thanks alot guys

Get a pocketlogger. It will display your coolant temp. I typically wait until I hit 150* on my coolant. Some people that run forged pistons wait until 180*.

On a cold engine, my throttle feels like mush (my TB doesn't like being cold), my clutch feels like crap, and my timing gets pulled. I never drive my car until it warms up in the morning - even if I'm late for work.