RE: PH Blog: The curiosities of cold-start driving

[mph]

The ride on my BMW 6 series was diabolical when it was cold.

After a few miles when it all warmed up ...... it was still diabolical.

[cjb1]

I had until recently a Jag 'X' type, and though I hadn't thought about it until now, at the time thinking back it did take a mile or two to awake from it's slumbers, my current company car, a 59 plate Honda Accord 2.2 diesel GT-ES Tourer thingamabob automatic feels awkward and frumpy from cold start, when it's warmed up it still feels awkward and frumpy.......piece of cr@p!!

[cjb1]

quick, patent that idea now!!

Gorbyrev said:

Much smiles! Remember the old Granada ad when they put it in the freezer and started it. It would be a brave man who did that back in the day. Those adjustable dampers on the XF - are they of the magnetoheleologicularistical type? If so, I can't imagine that oil plus iron filings makes for a good cold brew. Seeing as they cost a gazillion pennies each, might it be an idea to put a preheater into them?

[cjb1]

I'd love to try a Ferrari daytona, yes please.....

thiscocks said:

Try a ferrari daytona if you think a jag or clio is bad

[cjb1]

I used to have an old mini, the manual choke wouldn't stay out so I carried different sized coins of the realm in the door pocket to stuff in between the lever and the dash to keep the choke out, as the car warmed up I'd reduce the size of coin until none were required.......I was a bit snookered when we went decimal, the car never seemed to run right after that?

[mackie1]

The DSG 'box in my Octavia vRS tends to clonk into first gear the first few times when it's cold. Totally fine an smooth after everything is warmed up. Ambient temp will affect anything that uses oil I would have thought. I had Rover 414i many years ago that would absolutely hate going into 2nd gear when cold but was smooth as anything once warmed up.

[cjb1]

quote=Mitch2.0]All the BMWs I've owned have had such snappy clutches when cold, 2nd is always a bit jerky, and on some of them the lever sticks in the right hand gate (under 5th) rather than the middle gate (under 3rd). All these problems come good after about 5-10 minutes though.
[/quote]

A great post and takes me back to my old mini's, cortina's, a 105E Anlebox too, but Oh please...I quote you as saying "My favourite was an Alfa Romeo Alfasud sprint, it refused to idle, it flooded, it farted. It stopped. A lot" It was an Alfa for goodness sake, all characteristics of the marque, in fact of all Italian cars!!.[

[burling]

My Mondeo was running with a lumpy idle & and large smoke on start up. Sometimes it can be multiple issues combined that create the overall problem. I cleaned the EGR valve, fitted a blanking plate. One tin of BG244 fuel treatment. Use Shell or BP fuel, The car hated ASDA fuel. Fresh Clean air filter. Regularly cleaned MAF sensor. I didn't do all these at the same time, but all these gave a noticeable improvement & now runs fine.

[cjb1]

GRRRRRRR!!!!! ASDA fuel, don't get me going on that one......

burling said:

My Mondeo was running with a lumpy idle & and large smoke on start up. Sometimes it can be multiple issues combined that create the overall problem. I cleaned the EGR valve, fitted a blanking plate. One tin of BG244 fuel treatment. Use Shell or BP fuel, The car hated ASDA fuel. Fresh Clean air filter. Regularly cleaned MAF sensor. I didn't do all these at the same time, but all these gave a noticeable improvement & now runs fine.

[mjh64]

"run flats" are not an option on Jaguars according to their website, only option regarding tyres is the tyre pressure monitoring system and full size spare

Edited by mjh64 on Wednesday 4th April 13:23

Edited by mjh64 on Wednesday 4th April 13:23

[Manicminer]

dvs_dave said:

Sounds pretty grim, but 10 minutes into the drive when there's some heat in the thing, the car transforms and suddenly it all begins to work together in a wonderful visceral way like no other, and is an experience completely lost in modern cars.

Is that something to do with having loose bowels?

[twazzock]

My 205 XS will run on 3 cylinders for a few seconds when first started, then it's fine if a bit tappety. It's actually more of a pain when the engine's hot: refuses to idle at all (requires fancy footwork when slowing for lights and the like) and stutters like a bd when the second choke opens. Carb needs some fiddling...

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

My Peugeot 205 GTI.

The Lucas Jetronic injection system was legendary for playing silly buggers on a cold engine - wouldn't idle for love nor money.

Then when it was hot, the idle would go up and down by itself, continuously - and then sometimes stall.

At traffic lights - 500rpm > 2000rpm > 500rpm > 2000rpm > shudder, stall

So I tore all the injection off mine and replaced it with this setup running with open bellmouths:



Idle fault cured, cold starting - well, a bit better! Extra novelty item I had to fit to the dashboard? A choke knob! Lolz etc!

[cjb1]

and don't forget the addition of that lovely side-draft induction roar!!

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

My Peugeot 205 GTI.

The Lucas Jetronic injection system was legendary for playing silly buggers on a cold engine - wouldn't idle for love nor money.

Then when it was hot, the idle would go up and down by itself, continuously - and then sometimes stall.

At traffic lights - 500rpm > 2000rpm > 500rpm > 2000rpm > shudder, stall

So I tore all the injection off mine and replaced it with this setup running with open bellmouths:



Idle fault cured, cold starting - well, a bit better! Extra novelty item I had to fit to the dashboard? A choke knob! Lolz etc!

[toppstuff]

cjb1 said:

I used to have an old mini, the manual choke wouldn't stay out so I carried different sized coins of the realm in the door pocket to stuff in between the lever and the dash to keep the choke out, as the car warmed up I'd reduce the size of coin until none were required.......I was a bit snookered when we went decimal, the car never seemed to run right after that?

Ha ! Made me chuckle. As small kid I used to observe my older brother having similar issues with his Triumph Vitesse. What a car that was !

[GravelBen]

The GTB surges a bit on neutral throttle from cold, but thats about all.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

doogz said:

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

My Peugeot 205 GTI.

The Lucas Jetronic injection system was legendary for playing silly buggers on a cold engine - wouldn't idle for love nor money.

Then when it was hot, the idle would go up and down by itself, continuously - and then sometimes stall.

At traffic lights - 500rpm > 2000rpm > 500rpm > 2000rpm > shudder, stall

So I tore all the injection off mine and replaced it with this setup running with open bellmouths:



Idle fault cured, cold starting - well, a bit better! Extra novelty item I had to fit to the dashboard? A choke knob! Lolz etc!

You not bother with filters?

Na Doogz, it was a 10 year old car with 140,000 miles already on it by then, and not worth a great deal. The bellmouths were pretty much against the front panel anyway so it would have been difficult to fit filters.

So I just thought if it goes bang, bin it.

HOWEVER I did another 38,000 miles and it was still fine after that mileage, then I sold it on.

Amazing actually, sometimes those XU engines have a reputation for smoking / burning oil and the head gasket going. Despite me caning the tits off it everywhere with these open carbs, when I sold it the engine was still strong and didn't use any oil.

I know the engine had never been apart since the factory, because all the water hoses to the block still had all those 'one shot' hose clips, that you have to break to remove.

I think the longevity was down to regular oil changes with Magnatec and religious and careful warming up. I bought it with 90k on the clock so it fared well in my posession really!

Great cars. Keep thinking about getting another for Sunday hoons. Wouldn't mind one that's had an Mi16 conversion - or even a Turbo Technics kit

[New Scot]

Stayed in Coventry whilst at B'ham NEC Spring Fair trade show early Feb this year - each time I started my Mk5 GTi when temp was around or below freezing the temp & fuel gauges wouldn't work til the car was warmed up after about 5 miles. Never had that problem in Scotland... Must be something in the English cold air?

[Mitch2.0]

Just remembered when I had Performance Friction Z pads on my M3, great fun in the winter mornings - no retardation what-so-ever for the first 3 brakes, utter tosh pads!

[twoblacklines]

The DSG gearbox on my a3 hates cold starts, I live 15 meters from a 55 degree hill I HAVE to climb, it tries changing from 1st to 2nd halfway up this 5mph hill, clunking as it does so.

It takes about 20 minutes to warm the car up