Small problems come with cold weather.

[MindBlowin03]

Since it been getting cold I am having two small problems

1)Power steering belt squeels when I turn the wheel, but only when I first start the car. It only does this when its sub 35* out and the car is cold. Once the car starts to heat up the noise is gone. Belt is almost two years old, looks to be in great shape and seems to be pretty tight.

2)My idle is very 'up and down' when I first start the car. Again, only when very cold out and once the car warms up its fine. Idle is/was perfect when weather is nice out.

Any help on either of these is appreciated.

 

[90CherryTSI]

due to normal proglems with expanding and contracting with heat and cold? When cold the belt is smaller (maybe by only a little) so it's tighter and squeels a bit? And once it has warmed up it has expanded and fits better?

As for the idle thing does it have a "cycle"? Mine does this -

Start car, sits at 1k give or take a couple hundred, after 1-2 mins drops to 500, chugs chugs chugs like it wants to die for about 20-30 seconds, then goes up to 2k and slowly levels off at 1k and it's warmed up and I can drive it.

Something like that or just "normal" surge? If it's just normal surge than I don't think anyone has narrowed this down to fixing one thing but many have fixed everything and it still hasn't fixed it. Good luck...

 

[Defiant]

Make sure it's just the belt and not your harmonic balancer.

 

[Clinth]

This is normal, and colder temps your Power steering fluid is more viscis(SP). or harder to move. this causes more resitance to your Power steering pump.(causing belt slippage) as the fluid start to move it thins out. double check you belt tension and condition. As far as the iddiling it should be higher till it warms up but shouldn't be searching. I would look at your coolant temp sensor. Your motor should idle high till the coolant temps reach temp then drop to a standard idle.

I very new to DSM but not to cold weather(I live in Alaska) and how vehical act in the cold.

Clinth

 

[90CherryTSI]

and I'm not sure how much relevance it is but here's what he said. Cars have a "warm up" cycle and all the emissions stuff plays a part. My car is cold, no emissions, no EGR, so it takes longer to warm up w/o the hot exhaust gases recirculating and it's tricking some sensor on my car. This warm up thing really gets me. My car was running when it was "warmer" outside but it's getting cold and it's consistent. It usually drops warm up RPM's when it almost hits the notch past the C then once past that notce it is driveable.... :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown :thumbdown

 

[Clinth]

When a car first starts up(warm or hot weather) it's in "Open Loop" program which ingors the O2 sensor and some others providing for a High A/F mix(pre set) and step-up's the idle. This is due inpart to the O2 sensor isn't hot enough to registor a valid Vcc. Once the coolant temp (i belive maybe more sensor) reaches a set temp the ECU switch's to "Closed Loop" which it starts utilizing the O2 sensor and the rest of the ECU inputs to determine the best A/F mix.

Now, drive a car when it is in "Open loop" will cause it to run below par. If the engine is search(idling high then low) when it cold, you have one of two thing going on. A bad sensor or a Vacum leak.

Hope this help understand the difference between warm and cold idle/operation. If any one has got the ECU control scheme just for DSM please PM me I would love to look at it closer.


Clinth

 

[90CherryTSI]

what other sensors are involved is the question? Trying to figure out what else could be bad. I'm getting a CEL for my o2 heating element (I'm assuming this is just the o2 sensor itself throwing a CEL not just the heating element as there is no o2 sensor CEL in and of itself) but it's only been in the car about 1000 miles, a bosch one. I'm getting a new OEM one to try that out and see if it fixes the bogging down issue that comes with the warm up thing, maybe that'll fix it. I'm not so much concerned with the idle surging during warm up as that happens on my gf's car. Thanks for shedding some more light on the whole process!

 

[Darksyne]

My idle is very 'up and down' when I first start the car. Again, only when very cold out and once the car warms up its fine. Idle is/was perfect when weather is nice out.

Any help on either of these is appreciated.

My car has this same "problem." It is caused by the Fast Idle Air Valve that raises the idle until the car's coolant reaches a certain temperature (I'd have to check but I *think* 128).

You can replace the FIAV, but it never bothered me enough to worry about. I generally let my car warm up a bit before driving anyway which helps a bit. However, mine will only do this a few times after coming to a stop before it levels off.

 

[94EclipseGST]

The idle problem in the colder weather is from the FIAV. I got sick of it and finally replaced the thing and my idle is perfect.