So since it's a small engine (and assuming synthetic oil) im assuming the engine warms up pretty fast.

That being said, are yall keeping the RPM's below anything when driving? I mean obviously no WOT when it's cold, but I assume mid-throttle is ok? since it's a small engine and probably heats up quick.


thanks

 

Like most modern engines, just crank up and drive normally*.

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*presuming by "normally" you are not jonesing for the cover of Hooning Monthly magazine.

 

Why would you assume synthetic oil? My 2015 Fit still has the factory fill.

 

I think the factory fill is a synth blend. Is it not?

 

I don't know, but people constantly debate that question (and when to change it). I think we will do the synthetic blend on oil changes, but will not change the original fill until at least 5,000 miles (whatever is in it).

 

I guess I was wondering since I don't recall seeing anything in the owners manual...and yeah you may be right about the synthetic oil from the factory.

 

agreed. there is a little blue temp light that comes on when the car is cold, and when it warms up, the light goes out. it happens fairly quickly.

in the winter, i warm it up, more for my comfort then for the car.

 

There is no need to warm up a modern day engine. As for oil it is recommended to use the oil from the factory as it is a Special break in oil (car will ask for a change at around 8k).

0 weight oil is already a synthetic blend.

 

This.

0 weight oils are all synthetic blends, that's they only way to get the cold viscosity properties of 0 weight.

Be easy on the throttle when it's cold. The car is in open loop and dumps a ton of fuel. Also, oil is not at temperature, and although it's 0 weight, it's still not at the right viscosity to work its best yet.

Will you kill the car if you do? No. But if you plan on keeping it a long time it may save you some oil consumption issues way down the line.

 

I try not to go crazy on the gas, and keep it under 3k. Still you gotta give it some throttle ...i mean it is a 1.5l after all lol

 

depends what you mean "warm it up". If you mean idle in park, this probably won't hurt but isn't helping either.

I posted this before, but here's the thought experiment. What is the engine RPM doing when it's "cold"? It is idling faster. It isn't chugging along at a lower than normal warmup rpm.
So if you want to assign what the car "wants to do", it wants to run the engine faster to warm up, not run the engine slower. So just head out and start driving along with say up to mid-throttle, instead of sitting in park.

 

As the above 2 mention just be light on the RIGHT till the blue light turns off.

 

I live in Phoenix, and it takes 2 seconds to warm up in the summer. Well, maybe a bit longer I drive from the house to the freeway, a bit over 1 mile, and the engine is warmed up. The little blue light goes off pretty quick, within 1/2 mile. I just drive it normally, get up to around 55 MPH to merge onto the freeway (usually in 5th by that time). It does pretty good for such a little engine, never have a problem getting up to freeway speed.

 

My obd2 reader tells me that the blue temp light goes off at about 140 degrees F, which is not quite the fully warmed up of 185-189 degrees. In warm weather holds water temp at 185 degrees seemingly indefinitely. I let my engine warm up for about 1 minute before driving away. Then I wait till the blue temp light goes off before I work it hard. In warm weather after about 1.5 miles at 30 mph or 3 minutes, I think maybe even less, the blue light goes off. Quicker than any car I've ever seen. Not an awful lot longer in freezing weather. This is a result of all kinds of computer controlled stuff that make sure all sorts of things that cool the engine doesn't go on, until they are needed, not just the coolant thermostat and the choke like in older cars. In older the cars with belt operated radiator fans, the fan turns slowly until the coolant warms up. In modern cars an electric fan doesn't turn at all, until the coolant warms up. There are probably air intake air preheaters and who knows what else, stuff to warm up the intake manifold maybe. Maybe exhaust gasses directed to warming up intake air. The cabin heater air starts to feel warm even before the blue light goes off (although normall I don't try to heat the cabin until the blue light goes on - should enable the engine to warm up faster). However the cabin heater takes a while to heat the car to comfort level. And the air never feels nearly painfully hot like it does in some other cars. In really cold weather, I think it must take a good 5 minutes, 5 miles at 30 mph, for the car to go from 30 degrees F to 70.

 

I just drive very conservatively and keep the RPM's low, at least until the low engine temperature light goes out.
If there was no advantage or reason? Why would Honda include one?

 

I think it is indeed best to take it easy until the light goes out, however if you are looking for reasons that the water temperature light might be useful, another one would be that you won't get much hot air from the heater until the light goes out, in fact most of the time that the engine is running before the light goes out, you'll be getting air from the ducts that's even colder than the ambient air. Furthermore, blowing that air into the car will make it take longer for the engine to heat up to the point where the light goes out. So the light tells you it might be best not to run the heater until the light goes out. I wonder why they don't simply connect the heater to the circuit that turns the light on-off, so that not only does it keep the light on, but it prevents the heater from operating? I wonder if the climate control system - the one that isn't available in the US but is available in Canada, and India, and elsewhere - I wonder if this has the heater on such a circuit.

 

I thought this too. 210F was common after autocrossing. 45 seconds of full throttle and 4000+ rpm overwhelms the cooling system a little bit!!!

Mine's a stick. I usually just stay under 1/4 throttle until the blue light goes out!

 

It is a mystery to me. If it is that important Honda should tell you what you should and should not do, rather than guessing what you should do.

 

I swear I remember (but I could be wrong) that in my 2010 Honda Fit's Owners Manual, it even actually said something about driving conservatively until that light went out.

I could not find a similar statement in my 2016 Fit's Owners Manual.
So maybe it's my imagination.

But in any case, I think it pretty solid logic to recognize that the low engine temperature light is on, and drive conservatively until it is off.

Yes, I try to avoid using defrost or even cabin heat, also until the light is off.

 

I checked again and yes, in warm weather it takes less than a minute and less than a mile for the blue light to go off, assuming I start the car and let it run for about 5-10 seconds before shifting into D and driving off.