the low temp light is on when i start my car. it goes off in a minute or two. wondering anyone else sees this. i wait until this light goes off before i drive. anyone else see this?

 

you drive a 2009 car. you dont need to warm it up. just dont be speed racer/ricer fanboi and you'll be fine.

btw, your car isnt even at operating temps when the light goes off

 

nice. thanks sol. appreciate it. sweet ride

 

of course its going to be low... you just started the car. regardless new car/old car i wait till that light goes off or when i start to hear the engine rev go down to about 1k rpm.

 

Yup - I just noticed this, too for the first time in the past couple days when the temps have been in the 40's and 50's. I just drive off and the light goes out after about 1-2 minutes.

 

on a 93 civic never had this technology. just wanted to check.

 

aah i see. well, on those cars, they have a temp dial. we dont. we have "stupid lights" lol.

 

I am going to be purchasing a fit in the near future and I am disappointed that it doesn't a temp gauge.

 

a scangauge does that job.

BUT, the gauge layout (of the GD, i havent seen a GE cluster) is very nice. simple, and effective. my last car was a 1990 mustang, and that had gauges up the ying yang. volts, temp, blah blah. too much.

 

Yea sounds like my old Yaris. Temp gauge was replaced by a cold light and a hot light. Thats all you need now days really. To know if the car is cold, norm or hot.

I just wish on the Civic's they'd have put the MPG instant gauge where the temp gauge is.

 

Certainly is poor judgement on the part of Honda, but whatcha gonna do?

I guess it wasn't enough of a material omission for me to dismiss the entire car since I did buy a SSM nav/vsa '09.

The Fit is a strange car. I know of no other car model with optional navigation and stability control, yet basics like rear disc brakes and automatic temp control are unavailable at any cost (for the US market).

I looked at Versa, Yaris, Sentra, Corolla, Xb, Forester, the Fit was the best overall value even after buying nav to get vsa. I believe the true cost of ownership after five years will bear out the value proposition.

 

In the manual it says the light will be on when you start up the car.

 

There is no reason to let your car idle. It just wastes gas. The engine will warm up quicker if driven. Just don't be redlining it while the light is on.

 

yep. exactly

 

pardon my ignorance....

but how come the newer cars do not need to be 'warmed up'??? Thanks!

 

Mainly fuel injection... much better at metering gas under varying conditions than old carb/choke setups. Electronic ignition can be flexibly controlled as well. And the thin 5W-X and sometimes 0W-X oils flow pretty well when cold.

So unless it's extremely cold, as said above, idling doesn't really buy you anything. Driving warms up the engine quicker and also lights the catalytic converter quicker which reduces emmissions.