Have any of you guys gotten the blue temperature light on startup for about 30-60 seconds?

I normally let my car idle for 15-20 seconds before taking off, and this light has showed up for about a week now everytime I start it cold. I looked up what it's suppose to mean but I forgot now and the manual is in my car.

lol, in the older cars there was a needle that showed temp of engine, so the blue lgiht pretty much ='s cold engine, if u notice on ur dash there is no needle or gauge for temp, only the blue and red (which u should NEVER see). nothing to worry about

Yeah I vaguely remember it meaning the coolant was cold. Just never seen a dumby light come on when the engine was just started and cold.

Seemed kind-of dumb to me also. Since the xA is my wife's car, I just remember seeing it in the manual briefly.

Is it a two-color LED that can be use to show both the cold and hot indictations [which almost then makes sense], or do they have separate LEDs for both [which seems stupid].

two seperate bulbs.

I had the same problem but then i figure it out that the blue is just that engine is cold needs to worm up :) :roll:

I dunno just didn't go well with me...

I figured I'd ask...

I dunno just didn't go well with me...

I figured I'd ask... if the blue light stays on then something is wrong but since it goes away after 20-30 seconds or so its cool .........the lights just wants you to remind that you should leave the car running for at least 30 seconds
"me stupid" didn't listen to other people on my honda prelude and i blow off my cylinder head ! valves etc........damage over 4000$ used parts! ....... so have the patient wait that 20-30 sec and then first-R gear :)

I dont know about you guys, but my blue light will stay on for a few minutes. I let my xB idle for a min or so, and my subdivsion i live in takes me a few minutes to exit (20mph). Then, when leaving my subsivion, I enter a highway thats 55mph, and the light wont turn off until 35MPH I noticed. But sometimes it will turn off if i rev above 4k.

Its a odd feature i think. Are aluminum engine warms up fast!! One time I started my xB for the first time of the day, backed it out of my driveway to wash it. And the exhaust manifold was FREAKEN hot. It only ran for less than 1 minute....

Blue light means the engine is cold and has no warmed up yet. When it goes off is when the engine has reached temperature. Under normal conditions there should be no light. If the light turns red than you are overheating.

My car will be heated up after driving about 2 blocks, pretty amazing. My 89 Civic took like 10 minutes to warm up. Ahhh the beauty of new cars.

I didn't think it matters if the engine is "cold" or normal, so long as the oil has time to circulate a little before you start putting the engine under load?

You really don't have to let the car sit and warm up. It doesn't hurt but with modern engines they are designed to heat up as fast as possible.

I didn't think it matters if the engine is "cold" or normal, so long as the oil has time to circulate a little before you start putting the engine under load?
Yeah you're right, it's not so much the temperature of the engine it's the oil that you need to worry about.

I've always been told to give the engine 15+ seconds to cycle and lubricate everything.

The engine does run at peak performance when at the normal temperature vs cold at startup.

on older cars/engines it just about too for ever to warm up, wish i had a block heater at the time

I am now in my xB after blowing the engine in my Eclipse show car. I never let the car warm up and everyone ALWAYS gave me hell for it. Now that I have a warning light or "dummy light" in my case, I think I will listen this time. I do not move the vehicle until the blue light goes away. Personally just a little added security that the engine is warm enough to start driving.

I looked it up in the manual, and it says low coolant level. Red means high coolant level. Mine stays on for a few minutes every morning when cold, but goes out after 2 or 3 miles.
I'm assuming by the posts here that it is normal, but I'm just wanting to make sure. My dealer wasn't sure, they've not worked on a Scion yet, except to trick one out, or oil change one.

Joe
Scinergy IA

I am now in my xB after blowing the engine in my Eclipse show car. I never let the car warm up and everyone ALWAYS gave me hell for it. Now that I have a warning light or "dummy light" in my case, I think I will listen this time. I do not move the vehicle until the blue light goes away. Personally just a little added security that the engine is warm enough to start driving.

Read the manual, it says it's better to drive the vehicle to warm the engine.

I looked it up in the manual, and it says low coolant level. Red means high coolant level. Mine stays on for a few minutes every morning when cold, but goes out after 2 or 3 miles.
I'm assuming by the posts here that it is normal, but I'm just wanting to make sure. My dealer wasn't sure, they've not worked on a Scion yet, except to trick one out, or oil change one.

Joe
Scinergy IA

Blue = Low coolant TEMP , Red = High coolant TEMP

Blue is normal during start up since the coolant temperature drops from sitting. When you begin driving, it will remain Blue until the engine is at it's normal operating temperature, then it will shut off. It SHOULD stay off. If the coolant temperature rises above this range, the Red light will come on -- indicating that the engine is overheating. You should stop driving and find the cause!

the echo we had 2 years ago had the same thing. basically what the echo manual said was to drive the car gently til the light goes out.

I was also scratching my head over seeing blue when I start up the engine of my bB. Asked my dealer this afternoon and he explained it all to me, about engine not warmed up etc... me thinking of installing a water temperature gauge, more use to looking at a gauge then waiting for the red light to appear, if that ever happen.

i think there was another thread that discussed this, i remember reading that if the blue light is on it will not shift into overdrive (for automatic people) ...


edit...
found it.
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10227&highlight=overdrive

see, the search feature works.

I believe the manual suggest to let the engine "warm up" a minimum of 10 seconds after starting.

dude i want to try and change the color of them. Like Green for the Cold light and regular red for the Hot . Maybe?

You can change the colors if you're willing to pull out the dash piece. Easy to do, did it to make my speedo blue at night, and there's a LED for each light. The plastic piece has various colored pieces in front from what I could tell. So if you're willing to cut out the translucent piece and replace it with what you want, or just add a piece behind it and work with the resulting mix, you're set. Scotch tape and speedo markers to the rescue!

As to the coolant light, there's no need to wait until the light goes out, your engine warms up before the coolant does, and you're circulating oil before the engine warms up as well. Just don't redline it and spin your wheels pulling out of the driveway. :twisted:

Here's the scoop. The blue light means the engine coolant is cold and needs to warm up. It will come on and stay on until the engine is warmed up. It may, therefore take more time to turn off when the weather gets cold, or if it's been sitting awhile. The blue light is not bad unless it stays on all the time while you are driving (more than five miles or so), then you have a problem (probably a stuck open thermostat) and should see your service person (or replace your thermostat).

The Red light will turn on when the temp reaches a set high temperature. At that time, the car is over heating and needs attention. Too bad Toyota didn't spring for a "real" temp gauge, as you can see how badly the car is overheating.

MOST IMPORTANTLY -- As discussed you can hurt your car by driving it while it is "cold." The blue light has little to do with this, as any damage is going to be caused by OIL that's cold and not the coolant. Oil is what protects the engine when it's thrashing at 6500 RPM and keeps all the parts from tearing each other up. When oil is cold it becomes thick and does not go as good of a job as when it is warm. Pistons and Cylinders will also expand and contract, changing internal tolerances. As a result, driving a car hard when the OIL is cold is almost as bad as driving the car hard with no coolant or oil. It's one of the worst things you can do to your car.

I let mine warm up 30 seconds or so, then drive gentaly for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minute mark, then it's time to hit the red-line and use wide open throttle.

Jeremy