Nissan Versa Warm up?

[kobiversa]

Hi,

Just bought Versa couple days ago. New 2008 1.8 S HB w/ABS.I've noticed the following:When the engine is kind of cold, it takes time for the car to shift to the 2nd gear transmission.For example, yesterday night, the car was parking at my work's lot, and it was kind of cold (around 65). I've started the engine, and started driving. The blue indicator was on. I just needed to drive 1.5 miles away. I've noticed that the transmission is not shifting to the 2nd gear... Even when trying to drive faster, it just increase RPM, but no 2nd gear...Is it normal?

Thanks in advance,

[matt_a]

Our Versa has the CVT so I can't say 100% for sure, but I'm pretty positive it's normal. My wife's last car was a Scion xB with an automatic trans and it did the same thing. When it was cold (and the blue temp light was on) it would wind the gear shifts out extra long on purpose to warm things up. It was a topic of discussion on the Scion boards too. Totally normal.

[kobiversa]

Thanks for the reply.

OK. Today, I let the car 2 min to warm up before driving. I just waited till the blue indicator is off. No issues. It ran smoothly.BTW, I think it is mentioned in the Manual.

Thanks again.

[matt_a]

Thanks for the reply.

OK. Today, I let the car 2 min to warm up before driving. I just waited till the blue indicator is off. No issues. It ran smoothly.BTW, I think it is mentioned in the Manual.

Thanks again.

No problem. It's not necessary to wait untill the blue light turns off before you drive. You just need to be aware that it's going to hold the shift a lot longer at first. BTW...welcome to the forum!

[kobiversa]

BTW...welcome to the forum!

Thanks ;-)

[Rockhound]

It's not necessary to wait untill the blue light turns off before you drive. You just need to be aware that it's going to hold the shift a lot longer at first.

Well, it's not "necessary" - but it is recommended to keep revs low while the engine/transmission are still cold, I think Nissan says sub 3,000 rpms or something like that?

In the winter, I'd give the car at least 1 minute of a warm-up before shifting into gear and taking off. Your heater still won't blow hot yet, but at least that give the oil a chance to circulate.

I live in the back of a fairly large neighborhood, so once I've given it a short warm-up, I just take it easy until I get out to main roads.

[matt_a]

Well, it's not "necessary" - but it is recommended to keep revs low while the engine/transmission are still cold, I think Nissan says sub 3,000 rpms or something like that?

Good point. If you do drive it during that time, keep the RPMs low.

In the winter, I'd give the car at least 1 minute of a warm-up before shifting into gear and taking off.

My wife and I both park in our garage, so we aren't going to let a car sit and run in there. It would fill up the garage with fumes and we would pass out and die. That would suck. But, because we park in the garage, the cars are already warmer than a car that sat outside all night and then was run for one minute...so I guess it's a wash.

[kobiversa]

But, because we park in the garage, the cars are already warmer than a car that sat outside all night and then was run for one minute...so I guess it's a wash.

Same here. When parked in the garage, it's not that noticeable, but yesterday, leaving my work's parking lot, it was pretty chilly. (Well, relatively chilly for SO CAL)

[Rockhound]

My wife and I both park in our garage, so we aren't going to let a car sit and run in there. It would fill up the garage with fumes and we would pass out and die. That would suck. But, because we park in the garage, the cars are already warmer than a car that sat outside all night and then was run for one minute...so I guess it's a wash.

Well, we park both our cars in the garage, too.

That's why you back out onto your driveway and sit there for a minute.

Plus, you're supposed to let the oil circulate and such no matter the ambient temperature. Even in the summer you should let your car idle for a while (I've heard 30 seconds...) before taking off.

[matt_a]

Plus, you're supposed to let the oil circulate and such no matter the ambient temperature. Even in the summer you should let your car idle for a while (I've heard 30 seconds...) before taking off.

I'm sure there is wisdom in that. It probably would be best to do that. But speaking for myself, it ain't gonna happen. I already know this about myself. That's why I pay a little extra for synthetic blend oil. It supposedly leaves a layer of lubrication on all of your engine parts after it's been shut off instead of it all settling to the bottom like conventional oil. They claim it's much better for "start-up" protection. Who knows.

[kobiversa]

That's why I pay a little extra for synthetic blend oil. It supposedly leaves a layer of lubrication on all of your engine parts after it's been shut off instead of it all settling to the bottom like conventional oil. They claim it's much better for "start-up" protection. Who knows.

Cool, my first day in the forum and already learned bunch of new things I should consider waiting 30 sec for my other car as well ...

Thanks guys.

[sooner4x4]

I have not noticed this behavior in my 07 S. Even when temps get down into the 40's, with virtually no warmup at all, when I back out of the driveway and proceed down the street, it shifts through the gears easily without any revving or holding of a gear. I do accelerate slowly as I am cruising through my neighborhood.

My Tundra on the other hand, holds first gear when first driving on a cool or cold morning way too long, so the engine will rev up to 3 to 4k rpms in first gear even with very gentle driving.

[equlizer]

so me letting it sit for 10 mins to warm up the cabin is bad? Ive been doing it for years with my other cars too. And in the summer time, about 5 mins to cool down with the AC

[Ever Victorious]

so me letting it sit for 10 mins to warm up the cabin is bad? Ive been doing it for years with my other cars too. And in the summer time, about 5 mins to cool down with the AC

It's not bad per se, just wasteful. While you're idling, you're getting precisley 0 MPG.

For getting the V cooler quicker during the summer I'll get in and start up and drive off immediately, but I will roll down all 4 windows part-way for the first few minutes. Once most of the hot air has been vented, I then roll up the windows, and the A/C doesn't have to work as hard or as long to get the cabin cool. If you have a sunroof, it's actually quicker and more effective to open this up, as warm air rises and it will get pulled out of the car faster than with windows.

I now have a garage for my V, but when I didn't, this was my cold morning procedure:

Start car. While car idles, scrape windows. As soon as scraping is done, get back in car and turn defroster to full heat, level 2 or 3 (A/C on, of course). As soon as I had adequate frontal vision, I would drive off. This was usually 3-4 minutes total time from startup to driveoff.

[jfanaselle]

I live in a large apartment complex. When I start my car in the morning, I spend about 1-2 minutes going through my procedure of putting my face plate on, hooking up my radar detector, my xm radio, etc, and then I idle the car all the way out of the complex. It takes me another minute or two to get to the street at less than 5 mph, but by the time I hit the road the cold engine indicator light is usually off and I'm good to go. As long as I don't touch the gas, it's the same as idling in place only I get to make it to the street while doing it.