Cold Start Warm-up

[Redfearn]

I have a short (3 mile) commute each morning, and while I live in Southern California, it does get "cold" here overnight - it was down to 38 this morning. I traded a Lexus IS350 for my G37 and on cold mornings, the IS350 would not completely warm up by the time I got to work - the temp gauge would still be lower than it's normal position. The G37 (2010), in contrast, seems to warm up much faster - the temp gauge reaches is normal position when I am about half-way to work. However, I have noticed over the past several days that the car automatic transmission still holds lower gears to keep the revs up even when the temp gauge shows warmed up. In fact, if you shift to the manual position, it will not let you shift up to a higher gear - it just beeps at you and holds the lower gear. Is the engine computer looking at more than the water temp on the engine - say, oil temperature, or transmission temperature, for example - before it thinks it is completely warmed up? For those of you dealing with much colder temperatures, how does the car react in the morning? How quickly does the temp gauge look normal and how quickly does the car shift normally?

David

[biggie]

VQ heats up quickly, even from cold start its only 1-2 miles before its at normal (at 10-30 degs).

My AT will usually hold a lower gear as soon as I'm leaving on a cold morning out of my steep driveway, but seems fine after that. Maybe your AT fluid should be checked or the transmission ECU is having issues, not dealt with that though.

[Kendahl]

With a 3 mile commute, you may be getting the temperature gauge up to "normal", but you aren't really getting the car hot. Unless you do regular weekend trips of at least 1 hour to make up for the short commutes, you need to get oil changes every 3 months no matter how few miles you have gone since the last one.

Would a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle be a viable alternative to commuting in your G37?

[Redfearn]

It gets oil changes every three months. Actualy I drive more than my wife who has a Mini Cooper S that is two years old with 3,000 miles total! BMW/Mini says that means one oil change a year (synthetic).

Actually I would be a perfect candidate for the Nissan Leaf!

David

[joe603]

I also have a 3-mile commute...but we take the G out for other trips

[Kendahl]

..... Mini Cooper S that is two years old with 3,000 miles total! BMW/Mini says that means one oil change a year (synthetic).

If your wife takes the Mini out once or twice a month and puts 50 to 100 miles on it, one oil change per year is fine. However, if she makes many short trips, like yours, she needs to be on a shorter schedule.

There is more to the calculation than just months or miles. An overly simple rule of thumb would be, "Short trips are bad, long trips are good, and the time in between trips doesn't count."

[Redfearn]

The once a year oil change interval is determined by the MIni engine computer in the car. It tells you when the next oil change is due. (Mini includes free maintenance for three years - as determined by the computer.) The dealer reads off the requirements from the car key which pulls the info from the computer. BMW is the same way, except they pay for four years.

David