Whenever myself or my step daughter starts up the TC, it's almost like the engine is louder than it should be. No mods have been done whatsoever. It sounds as if the car's engine is rattling. I know the car isn't the quietest on the road, but does anyone else's TC sound louder when you start it. I guess I will take it to the dealer. Hopefully, the warranty will help me out.

 

I just bought my car new like 2 weeks ago and I noticed the same thing - coming from a Jetta (one of the quietest cars I've ever driven), the engine does kind of make a loud start up noise, thought it probably isn't anything to worry about. I think it's just doing its warm-up thing.

 

Thats exactly it, the engine has a warm up time and in neutral will rev higher than normal until the engine is warmed up. Its completely normal. If it stays at a higher rev once the engine is completely warmed up then yeah, you should get it checked.

 

I didn't know anything about the warmup time or whatever it's called. Interesting, so I guess I have nothing to worry about. I thought something may be wrong with the constant times that whenever I start the car up, the loud rev just won't go away. Figured something was wrong. Is this common with the TC?

 

so you don't warmup your car before you drive? hmmm.. i dont know but I think there's a bad effect if do it like that!

 

It is true, the tC revs about 1900 rpms when it is started cold. It is especially noticable when it is colder outside for obvious reasons. ^^ This does NOT mean that you don't have to warm up the car. You should at least wait a minute and still drive the car nice and easy until the temperature gauge is up.

Adter the car is warmed up, you'll notice the rpms lower to their normal idle. It usually takes me about a mile and half of driving.

Don't worry, be happy...

 

5W30 conventional oil takes about 30 seconds to get circulated through the motor meaning that you're rubbing metal to metal for about 30 seconds. BAD!

5W30 synthetic takes less than 20 seconds so it helps prevent a good bit of engine start up wear.

A good rule of thumb is to let your car sit idle for 3-5 minutes. This will allow the engine oil to circulate and begin to lubricate internals and also allow engine heat to warm the transmission fluid. Try shifting a car that just started and see how jumpy the clutch feels. Gears will feel rough and engine will buck at you.

If it's really cold outside (20 or lower), let it idle for 5-10 minutes. Remember, the lower the temp, the longer it will take to reach the same increment of engine temp as it did at a higher exterior temp. (takes less time to reach 195 degrees at 40 degrees than it does at 20 degrees)

 

the same things been happening to me lately its been about 30 degrees out and in the morning i usually dont have to much time to warm up my car so i drive off and i hear the funny noise but i know its because then engine hasnt warmed up yet. Yesterday though, when im leavin school my car didnt wanna start and it was about 30 degrees again. Im gonna try to warm up my car form now on to avoid all this.

 

Cars have trouble starting with cold air as well. That is a common problem in colder climates. Colder air has so much oxygen in it that it leans out the A/F mixture for a short time right at the beginning causing an occasional staul.

 

This morning was 31 degrees farenheit, and my clutch felt like a wet noodle. First time i've ever noticed a very significant difference due to temperature. I couldn't get into any gear but reverse without double clutching three times.

 

That's really odd. Check the fluid level if you can. It's a bit of work but just jack the car up and open the drain plug. You should be able to feel the liquid with your pinky tip if you have enough. Sounds like you may be a bit low in fluid.

 

Oh, if you change the trany fluid to synthetic (recommendation is Redline MT-90), it will help assist in better shifting in colder temperatures and doesn't break down in hot weather and heavy city driving.

 

Almost every toyota i have seen does that. when the engine is cold it revs higher while it is warming up. once the car warms up for a few minutes it goes back to a more normal idle speed

 

Yeah, basically every car does that. It's a feature to prevent added engine wear in the start up phase. But, the hard shifting and gears not aligning properly seems to be either a low fluid symptom or somehow, a synchro problem.

 

great info web. thanks

 

anytime

 

I figured that was due to cold tranny fluid being less viscous. I have the same problem and my tranny fluid is fine. The difficult shifts go away after a few minutes of driving.

Also, I believe the owner's manual states that the best way to warm up the engine is with gentle driving, not idling for X minutes.

 

I've always let the cars just idle b/c it puts less stress on the engine. If you drive while it's cold, the engine is working harder while the oil/trany fluid is still quite cool and not lubricating the internals as well. Plus, it's just so rough when you drive it and it's cold. RPMs drop so fast when you push the clutch in and it catches so rough.

Synthetics are forumlated to keep their viscosity in high and low extremes of temperature though. The trany shouldn't be preventing you from shifting into gears while driving.


Zebman: How long does that shifting problem last from startup? A few minutes or longer than that?

If it's just a few minutes, it's just b/c it takes time for the trany fluid to heat and circulate to lube the parts. But, if it's longer than that, I suspect low fluid.

 

It's not a problem, it's always been like that, but the morning average temperature is 40-50. My dad had to leave for work, so I had to start up and immediately move in 30 degree cold. Like captain said, it was probably due to the viscosity of the fluid. Thanks for your concern though.

 

Yeah, all good.


Good call Capn.