today was the first day below 0, -10 actually in upstate NY. I went out to start my car and the RPMS skyrocketed after a roughER start. Stayed at about 4.5-5k RPMS with a mild seal/rubber burn smell, and then the RPMs started tanking/going back up dramatically for about 1-2 min. before warming up.

Is this our 8's way of coping with an unfamiliar environment?

 

jamesf, yes, at super low temps, the ECU kicks the RPMs up a bunch at start up until it get to more normal "cold" levels and it will drop to simply a normally high cold idle.

I usually get it at least once each winter, sometimes more depending on how cold it actually gets on average.


If you ever get the RPMs jumping to 3,000rpm (or 4,000rpm? I don't remember which) and it stays there without fluctuating and the throttle pedal doesn't respond, let everything warm up, put the heater on floor heat to max heat and let the interior of the car warm up. Then shut off, let it sit for a few minutes, and try again. I've had this happen where the accelerator pedal position sensor froze, and wouldn't respond, which puts the ECU into a solid-state RPM limp mode. The sensor needs to be thawed and the ignition power cycled before it will recognize it again. The ambient was at -16f when I found this. It's not at all common.

 

i got a 2004 and its minus -27c here, and alll is fine, no probs so far

 

i saw 0 yesterday, that was enough for me!

i do notice the car is super rich for about the 30-60 seconds, enough that it doesn't like big throttle movements, which is fine, my Weber fed P port does the same thing, the weber actually likes to be warm

 

-16 degrees here today in VT! I had the same problem today and yesterday, very high RPMs at start for about 15 seconds before returning to 2.5 - 3k and then progressively going down until warm.

Didn't know about the oil pump priming tip, will do that from now on.

 

-5 degrees F here in MA this morning. Car started fine although a little slow cranking. It's been a few weeks since I'd driven it. Found out summer tires tramline like mad when frigid and the rear diff locks up a little until the fluid warms up. Got almost 30k miles on that Redline oil, time to swap it out I guess as last winter it didn't have problems in the cold.

 

Seems like others have the same thing. Well, it was just kind of weird, because it was high at first in the 4k rpm range and i thought oh its cold. Then, when I put it in neutral and take my feet away from the pedals with the ebrake on to let it warm up, the RPMs just went up and down and up and down, kinda like a car with a bad vacuum leak not knowing what to do.

 

Yeah, that's normal for super cold starts.

 

Gotcha, thanks for the info. and darn paimon, if you hadnt have said you were trolling I probably would have been outside turning my key on and off letting all my co-workers know I am super cool for priming the omp lol.

 

Where in Upstate NY r u from? Haven't risked driving my 8 the six years I've owned it here in Batavia, NY. She's sleeping in a climate controlled building soon as there's word of the 1st snow flake...lol.

 

The only issues i have is when its so hot, like over 90 degrees, the car stops. Right now, its running perfectly fine (32 degrees).

 

What are your start times on first start in super cold weather? as in how long do you have to crank the car for.

 

And here I am bitching about 40F lows,

 

Well it actually wasnt a problem for me to get it to crank. It sounded frozen at first (slow cranking gradually getting faster) and after 1-2 seconds cranked normally and started right up. Once it started it went on to the other issues which RIWWP pointed out are normal for super-cold starts.

 

Yeah, same here. I am in not too far from you getting the same temperatures.

I don't even drive my car in rainy weather. But that means I have to drive my F150 with no heater..

 

90F is too hot?!
Move down here to Cali, 110 average
124F was the hottest I have driven the 8.. She did not like it, I parked her in the shade and hid inside the rest of that day.

 

No, i mean hot for the engine to run normally. My engine idles low and stops with temperatures above 90 degrees.

I know the weather in California, i used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it gets sweaty humid...i know. I've even visited southern California once in a while when we want to go to the beach in the summertime.

 

Oh man...Those negative temps are rough on my 8...

HA!...I kid...I live in Texas

The coldest it usually gets in north tx is about 15F...Unless we decide to skip winter like we did last year :/