I have new ignition coils & plat plugs on my 2000/5 speed. Also, I know that my coolant temperature sensor is good. I find that for about 3 minutes in the morning until I get the engine warmed up a bit it chugs. It's good in first and mild in second, but really noticeable in third. My street goes up a slight incline and the problem is most noticeable around 1500-2500 in third gear, but I wasn't sure if this is normal (car is simply not happy when cold!) or if it could be anything else...

 

most cars are like that when they are cold. it is REALLY bad to drive a car cold, especially if it is below freezing.
rule of thumb, if you have to scrap the windows, start the car and let it warm up for a few minutes before you drive it. turn on the heater. when warm airs starts to come out it is warm enough.
hope that helps

 

my car is the same way. i even notice that it is harder to change gears when it is cold and i live in houston(really freaken hot). i always let my car warm up a little but if i have to drive it i do not let it get above 3000rpm. i try to constantly keep it at around 2500rpm(driving, NOT reving) until it is warm

 

yeah over night the oil, etc settle. the car needs to get all the stuff moving again. even in warm areas. its ever worse in cold area. everything settles and because it is cold takes a little longer to get moving.
so idling is best. but yes if need be just keep the RPMs low.

and for us people in cold states, turning the heater on lets you know when it is warm. so you can get your late @ss to work

 

i do the same thing as Luquire...when the engine is still cold after warming it up a little but i won't go passed 3000rpm's untill i see the temp gage go to half...

 

I use mobil1 5w-30 fully synthetic motor oil to help protect the engine in this freezing weather. (Summer I use 10w-30), and when I drive in the morning, I start the car and immediately drive it slowly to school(No staying in one spot type of "warm up"). Shifting around 2200RPM~2500RPM. Shifting is OK, feels kind of "sticky" at first, but smooths out after the car warms up.

 

Not necessarily true. This has been debated time and time again here, and I'm not trying to start another 10 page debate on how to properly warm up a car, but on a newer car it is generally not good to leave it sit and idle to warm up for more than a minute or two. In cold weather, give it a good minute, then drive it easily until it warms up completely. The reason being that the engine warms up much quicker and more efficiently while being driven at low RPMs than it does idling in the driveway.

And IMO turning on the heater before the car is warmed up only increases the strain on your cold engine. My $.02.

 

In addition to this, when you let a car sit idle and warm up only part of the car is getting loose, the engine. Other parts of the car, bearings, etc., are still cold so warming up the car while driving is more beneficient than letting it sit idle because it gets most if not all parts moving and warm.

 

I dunno if you have "Automatic climate control", but I do , if you put it on "AUTO" mode, it will turn on the air compressor, thus put more work on the engine. But if you use "ECON" mode(Which I do for winter), it will automatically adjust the speed and heat from the heating unit until the car is warmed up and ready for "FULL blow" w/o using the air compressor.

 

Yup, mine does the same thing (2k5sp too), in third around those RPMS it just bucks like crazy, i keep it in 2nd (mild bucking) as much as possible, luckily it warms up before i hit the highway each morning -- i dont let it warm up for more than 30 seconds in the morning (unless it's iced over), i just jump in and go!

 

My car runs normally in the cold (I live in Canada)... it idles quite high for the first minute or so, but then the idle comes down. I was always taught to warm up the car by driving it - but never revving more than 2500rpm. I thought that's what all the cold weather testing was for - so they could ensure the car would operate properly in every climate. Never had any "chugging" in cold weather in any gear.

 

I'm glad that at least a couple of you have the same thing, though I wonder why lowblackdub doesn't...well, as it is now I won't worry about it. The thing was bucking like a horse when cold until I got the coils replaced, and now it just chugs a bit, but once it warms up a touch I'm good to go.

--

In regards to turning the heater on to warm the car up a minus of that is that the heater will suck some heat away from the engine, which would mean it heats up a bit slower...

 

my car runs smoothly in the mornings when its a cold start. But it could be because I don't drive it till the temp gauge starts moving a little bit and I put the shifter into a couple of gears first.

 

yes it sucks heat away. my point was really what when you feel heat start to come out then that means the engine is warmed up. i didnt mean to say it "helped" warm it up or warmed it up "quicker"

 

exactly! im telling you all, let it warm up a little and you will see a diffirence.
and yes, if you have a MT, shift around to a couple gears to get the fluid moving around all the gears.
then off you go with your car running smooth and happy.

 

Just go my oil changed and my radiator flushed and my whip is driving better tha ever- my Max loves the cold(Franken) Shifter is good as well

 

umm me gears are actually smoother when i change them if its cold, and the car is more responsive. i did put in MT-90 but when its cold the shifter just pops in to gear while i put in very little pressure...

 

It's normal to be a little "chuggy".

I suspect it's from being in open-loop with warm-up enrichment, which isn't as smooth/responsive as closed-loop especially when the idle is artificially held high by the ECU.

I jump in, let it have just enough time to get oil flowing(hear lifters quite down ), and then drive using light throttle shifting before 3K until she warms up.

Shifting the tranny is another story. MT-90 helped, but it's still a grumpy b!tch to get to downshift. RPM has to be perfect or like this morning I got a screeeeeetch. I hate that!

 

haha... yep, its almost impossible to get my car back in first gear at very low speeds during cold starts in the mornings. I always get honked at coming around a turn cause I end up accelerating out in 2nd gear from about 5 mph.. which has a slow pick up.

 

Give her a healthy throttle-blip and she'll give.

Trust me, mines ALWAYS been like that. Only car I've ever drove that requires either A)come to a complete stop or B)punch the throttle just to downshift from 2nd->1st.

 

Hmm, mine has no problems getting into 1st, even on cold mornings like this morning (only several degrees above freezing I think). I have MT90 there now, but it wasn't problematic last year either.

A little chugging is ok, but this chugging is severe enough that it's really kind of hard to make the car smooth until you see the temp gauge start to rise up. It's one thing to notice under my foot some lack of smoothness, but in this case it's something the passengers can notice as well and the car just doesn't seem so happy.

I guess it's running too lean - what could be the cause of this? I am not sure yet if it's "within normal spec" or if my car is overly chuggy.

FWIW my 93 sentra with 174k miles drives like a champ even when it's freezing cold and it's been sitting all night. No chugging at all

 

My tranny's significantly more notchy in the cold... I got MT-90 in there right now (had it in for over 10K miles now I think)
The engine drops RPMs much quicker when I push in the clutch pedal when it's cold (so I have to shift a little quicker)... that gradually smooths out as the engine warms up, until the engine's operating like normal (RPMs drop much slower when it's warmed up). Other than that, I don't feel any problems with it... I don't push the engine when it's cold though.

 

so in other words, its ok to start your car and just drive it immediately but at low RPMS. I just want to know, because I hate sitting there for the Max to warm up and that takes about 2-3 minutes.

 

Unfortunately you won't get a concise answer on that from experts across the board, as I've heard both pros and cons of both. Some say you should let it warm up and others say that modern engines don't need it.

Personally I can think of little more boring that sitting in a cold car waiting for the thing to warm up, so I always start it, wait about 2 seconds for the oil to get good and pumping, and drive...I do go real easy on it though - low throttle and low rpm until I see it fully warm up.

 

I think it doesn't really matter that much how long you warm up the car unless your boosted. But since I have nothing to do in the mornings if i'm not in a hurry, I just pop the hood to check a few things, stick on stamps for the mail i gotta send out, etc to kill time while the car is warming up.

also, i'm not sure what this "chugging" sensation is.. but our cars buck alot on low speeds in first gear. Its just a maxima thing....