Alex, thank you very much for your input
I had this same issue this morning. Started my car up for 5 mins, then started driving. It was about -7F this morning. It took almost my whole commute for the temp gauge to go up a few marks. Then when I parked at work and let the car idle, the temp gauge dropped. I thought it was extremely weird as well. I'm glad it's not just me but at the same time it doesn't seem like it should be happening.
i don't know how you guys do it, I would feel as if my car is wearing out it's guts, it's entrails, its internals, each and everytime I start the car. My car operates in hot and humid 7 out of 12 months, maybe 8 or 9 given how warm it has been all year. The winters here consist of temps in the 50s and mostly 60s, even today, as we speak. My OCIs only span 3000 miles in this engine meaning, even in warm weather when the engine and its fuel dilution is the same or better than in the winter nightmare you guys experience, I couldn't imagine how fuel diluted your cars would get when short-tripping or idling a lot which is how I only get 3k, on the nose, for oil change intervals.
My thing about fuel dilution is if I can smell gas on the dipstick at < than 3k miles, with MMS at 30%, so roughly 3000 miles at 5 to 0%, when you actually change it, how bad must the winters with negative to 0 degree F be? would the fuel dilution be, in that instance, be a far more grave and dangerous type of fuel dilution, given it dilutes putridly, in extreme cold temps? Ponder that thou.
There is a TON of engine wear going on if you car doesn't reach temps though. I am going thru short OCIs in warm as hell weather throughout the year so far, with sub 3000 mile oil changes driven by the MMS. And can smell fuel on oil. Atleast it is just short OCIs due to driving habits and not uncontrolled wear due it never warming up like it is in cold weather which i do not get so far.
I think the main thing we were worrying about wasn't the slow warm up time. But the temp gauge going down as the car was idling. It was -7F this morning and my commute is about 15mins so I'll chalk it up to the extremely cold temp for the longer warm up time.
But the fact that the temp gauge is going down means you are not staying at a high enough RPM to keep the car at operating temps and wear happens when the engine is cold and not up to temp. The majority or predominant amount of wear is when the engine is cold or not at operating temps.
I understand what you mean and this is the first ever vehicle I've seen this happen in. Let's hope Honda looks into it more because "it's normal" isn't a good enough answer.
Not staying at operating temps of 212 F means that you are wearing out the engine or lets just say, experience and unusually high amount of wear and tear just driving 15 miles to work and back. It is totally different from Honda stating that fuel dilution issue is normal for even 25-2800 mile oil change time span or clip for oil changes. Apples and oranges comparison because the temp gauge dipping means instant wear while the fuel dilution is totally controlled and normal.
Temp gauge (coolant) has nothing to do with engine wear, it is the engine OIL's responsibility to prevent wear and that doesn't happen until after the coolant is fully warm and the oil is fully warm which, under normal conditions, happens somewhere between 20-30 minutes *AFTER* the temp hits normal or continuous driving for 20-30 minutes afterwards. If your temp gauge is dipping, your oil has 0-0-0 chance and is nowhere close to being warm or optimal operating temperature for engine protection. warm oil=good oil, cold oil=wear and tear.
