I've noticed my 06 seems to have a slightly uneven idle on the first start of the day. It fires up fine, but just has a slight uneveness to the idle that goes away after only a minute or two of the engine running, and there are no other driveability quirks like misfires or hesitation even if I pull away from idle - just smooth revving and power. What seems odd is the car can then sit all day at work, and starting up at the end of the day to go home it's fine, perfectly smooth idle - it just seems like a longer period like overnight or whatever between starts seems to be needed to trigger this.

I'm not really sure what the current state of spark plugs, air filter, etc are as I've only owned the car for a little over a month. There's no maintenance indicator showing, the car has 75,xxx kms on it (approx 47K miles)

 

Many moons ago, cars use to have manual chokes on them that you had to pull and run for a few minutes before pushing it back in. Today, the ECU performs all that stuff. I'm guessing that the ECU is set a little rich or a little lean in the early morning start-up.

I wouldn't worry about it as you described.

 

Also to elaborate, after work the fuel is mostly near all of the injectors, so you don't see the issue. After about 12 hours, the fuel is not as abundant in those areas and hence the electronic choke kicking in.

Of course a chocke in the strictest terms is for a carb that we don't have, but there is a FI equivalent.

 

it is normal. The idle air controller is doing it so it depends on the out side air temp. one thing is to not move until it passes 1/4 pass the cold line. You will also notice the brake pedal feels different until the car is normal temp. And no it has nothing to do with the plugs or air filter. And if you have ever tried to warm up the car faster you will notice if you hold the gas at 2000 rpm it will turn the power steering off so you cant drive making you restart the car and let it warm up. The most important thing on any car is to let it warm up before you drive and your car will love YOU.

 

^ I may be wrong, but I understand that with the new synthetic oils, warming-up a car is not necessary.

The entire idea in the old days was to warm-up a car so that the oil pump could pick-up and coat the engine. With the syn oils, they stick to the parts alot more than draining back into the oil pan.

 

Although what is said above as engine management is true, it is likely more a result of the ULEV2 management.

Honda engines are designed to perform with ultra low emissions, which are typically worse at start up. In attempt to squelch these excessive emissions the engine management systems may compromise a smooth idle at start up. Engine 'warming up' is no longer required, as ECUs are much more sophisticated in orchestrating combustion and sensor feedback.

If the engine idles normally after typical engine temperature is reached, likely everything is fine. Still a clean air filter and typical engine maintenance cannot be overlooked as these do affect engine start up and ULEV controls. I rarely notice it in my RL but it was much more obvious in my former TL. Extreme hot or cold climate conditions tend to affect this behavior.

A cold start with some idle variations is what we sacrifice to keep Global Warming in check and a nod to Honda's portfolio of environmental concerns.

 

Thanks, when I read the comment about the TL being more noticeable I just remembered my buddy's 06 TL that I drove for two weeks in California last spring did the same thing on the first start of the day, just a slight extra "burble" or whatever to the idle sound and feel for the first few minutes after startup.

It will be interesting to see how the RL fares with morning starts in the winter up here with -20C. I'm probably going to get either a block or in-line heater, I kinda got spoiled for winters with a remote starter in my previous daily driver.

 

it doesn't matter what car or kind of oil you have you always should warm up your car and the first 5 min of driving i take it easy also to warm up the gears and diff. But if you don't really care about your car because your just going to dump it and buy another then get in start it a rip it !

 

Sorry but I beg to differ. I'd just let any car idle for 30 seconds max (unless it's something like 30-40 below 0) and just start driving it, gently. Once the car get's totally warmed up, about 15 minutes, then have some fun.

Here's a link showing where someone in North Carolina had a remote start for their 07 Silverado, let it warm up for 5 minutes everyday and had a bad oil analysis:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...1761731&page=1

 

well you can differ if you want but it is a fact! some goofy test on a usa car tells you nothing. I have had lots of different cars and i have tried every brand of oil. Some oil brakes down so fast that it wont even matter if you warm it or not so thats why you cant believe everything you read. But going through about 8 motors and 14 different cars in my life i have found this is the best thing to do and i have tested it. With the right oil and the right car it will last for a very long time if your nice to it!

 

from Click and Clack:
Briefly:

1. Your engine warms up quickest with some load on it, i.e. driving it.
2. An idling engine runs very ineffienctly and pollutes more than a loaded one. In addition, your are not moving while you're idling; causing even more waste.
3. The fuel/air mixture during idling is not the best for maximum engine life; raw gas washes the oil off the cylinder walls.
4. If you warm up the engine first, than take off fast, you are putting incredible strain on the other components of the car that are still cold. Taking off shortly after starting warms up the whole power train and suspension together.

In spite of the (4) points, you need to idle the car long engough to get the engine oil to circulate to the valve gear on top of the engine. In most of the US, with 5W30 oil this takes no more than 20 seconds or so. If you start the car, belt yourself in, check mirrors, you should be ready to take off gently and when the temperature gage is half way to normal, you can blast off.
In all cases, make sure your windows are clear before taking off.

Happy and GREEN motoring!!

 

i hope you don't believe that it's a bunch of BS! Anyway thats GM this is an Acura Fourm. When you start your car is when the most ware happens beleive me i have blown 8 motors in my life and now after all the trial and error i have figured it out. Its all in the oil's that you use and when you change them. We have a lab that i have sent oil samples to and confirmed all findings. But if you change you oil ever 8500 miles like THAT link says your car will not last long that is way to long to go with out an oil change.

 

GETAKEY of course it warms faster when you drive it but that is not the idea. But it seems like your in a hurry so do what you like but i will bet my car will last way longer than yours. To each there own but i plan on keeping my car for a long time and i want it to be as good as the first day a drove it.

 

What year, how many miles do you have? Mine: 2005, 120K miles
Have changed oil according to MID reminders. Most of the time the period between changes is 10K miles. I doubt Acrua is going to put a formula for oil change that is not conservative. They don't want customers that folllow their maintenance schedule getting blown motors.
Not trying to spin this up, but I've owned many, many cars with many going over 100K miles and never had a blown engine.

 

To each their own. You can do as you wish! It's what you've experienced.

I've gone through 7 cars along with my parent's 6 cars (Japanese, German, and Big 3) in the past 17 years and done exactly as I've mentioned, along with other folks and never blown an engine. Have you considered why you've blown the engines? Perhaps it's due to the idling causing contamination of your oil? I'd suggest an oil analysis and perhaps that will convince you to change your warm up habits!

Good luck!

 

I am very picky if the engine doesn't run just perfect it junk to me. Burning oil , leaking oil, head gaskets, engine sweating. I have had oil analysis done and now i know what oils are good and how to build and treat the motor so it stays dry as the dessert and fast as f*#k. Just want to pass on the info to you guys.