When you first start your car after it has been sitting and the revs are high, does anyone else experience a very jittery and jerky acceleration when they first start driving. It is most noticeable in first gear. Also the ac just seems to ABSOLUTELY KILL power completely. Mabye I jus havnt driven it hard enough but I dunno. Thanks

Mike

 

Mine does it too. Starts like that in the morning and typically goes away by the time I hit third gear.

 

It's normal. Let your car warm up a bit before you drive about.

 

Happens with Si's and Rsxs... Let the car warm up that's all.. Normally I wait till my car hits the 2nd bar on the temp meter.. But some people normally just wait like 30 seconds..

 

As for the AC.. Mine doesn't seem to affect the power. Are you running the fan on high? Or is it also first thing after the car has been sitting for a long time?

 

Yea, same here. Normally happens in weather below 65f. Car starts at about 2K RPM, I'll either wait for it to drop to 1K RPM or the 2nd temp bar to appear before I start going.

 

same happend to me try lettin your car warm up for like 5 min before u drive it

 

just let it warm up until it goes to 1k rpm or lower

 

As for the OP's AC killing his power. I'm not sure what's going on there. I have noticed my headlights like to dim a little for a quick second if I turn my AC on, but other than that... no issues.

 

same thing happens to me, im glad i stumbled upon this thread

 

It's nothing serious. It's to warm the engine up before you drive. As said before, Just chill for a bit and let it reach operational temp.

 

The car will get up to temperature faster if you drive it rather than idling. With the proper oil (5W-30 has a wide temperature range) I believe it should be fine. I personally do not idle my car to warm it up. I just drive slowly for a bit until the jitters disappear.

As for the headlights dimming when turning the AC on, I believe that's normal. The battery and power to the lights is stressed a little with the start-up current load from the AC.

 

If you drive the car befor the warm up you risk the chance of scoring your pistons and or cylinder walls. Your cams have determined angles and degrees that adjust to the load on the engine, the pedal position percentage and RPMs.

You will also risk detonation by going into cold drive. Your combustion chamber at cold start has fuel stuck to the walls. Not only are you burning off the incoming fuel, you are also burning of the fuel on the walls of the chamber. that is the fuel your engine is not reading so you may be running rich at that point and can't tell.

Also, at high idle, your car may not preform as optimal. as it would at normal idle. I have a normal idle of 1000. I spend most of my driving time at 3000. If I idle at 2000 on start and drive it to 3000, now my cam angles are switching without warrent to accomodate the change in idle.

Now with engine oil, it's nice to have a wide temp range. But notice that you can not cross over into Vtech until it's fully warmed up. Remember, 99.9% of all engine fluids don't freeze. They gel. And gel sticks until it's melted/liquified. Until then, driving become a tough task for you car. Also, the oil scenerio become void when guys are forced to run higher grades to accomodate the heat commonly found in F/I setups and some NA setups. Just let the car warm up before you roll.

Now if you wake up late, that's a different story. Don't get fired. Then you can't by car parts. And that sucks.

 

I should add that I live in California and temperatures do not get low enough to cause start up problems.

http://action.publicbroadcasting.net...st/669811.page

The general consensus is that warming-up is only necessary for very cold environments in regards to modern engines.

 

You may also want to look into deleting the AAV. It atomizes the incoming startup fuel with air from the intake tube. It's a mod most of the F/I guys know of, but it also has advantages on NA setups as well. I did mine by accident.

 

may be sbc? or ecu

 

Possiblity ecu.. Not sure if chip or not..

 

Sort of a thread jack, but relevant topic. Do you notice the car shakes a little bit when you first start driving sometimes, esp on a colder day. It goes away for me after like 1/2 mile, but I do notice this.

 

What you are feeling is a tire or all 4 tires with an overnight flat spot/s as soon as the tire warms slightly it is gone.

That is mostly caused by tire manufactures using nylon cord in the makeup of the tire, years ago the bumping was much worse when they used all nylon today they use a mix of nylon and rayon to help loose the bump.

It's nothing to worry about it's just annoying my Micheline's do the same thing for about a 1/4 mile.

 

Great info, comforting to know this. +1 for you sir.

 

Original poster - did you car always jitter or is this something new?

 

Every car that I've driven acts a bit strange when cold. Just go easy on it the first 10 mins or so of driving and you will be fine.

 

mine doesnt do that lol maybe its cuz im tuned and running map not maf