1.5T Cold Weather Idle Adjustments

[FK7 Mvnny]

10th gens are notorious for not hitting operating temp unless you actually drive them to hit temps, which I noticed in my car as well, but I'm very hesitant to do that in single digit weather for longevity purposes. It's pretty cold in my area to say the least, and I have a short commute. I'm running KTuner and can see that throughout my commute I'm hitting an ECT of 150-155 degrees max throughout a 2 mile commute, so it never actually hits operating temp (obviously I keep the car below 2k RPMs due to this). I'm thinking a good way to help the car hit operating temp faster is to change idle targets in KTuner (like Honda dealerships are doing officially with the idle relearn as part of their recall/TSB), but I'd like a second opinion. Anyone done this before (specifically for a cold weather application)? What specific target numbers should I change to? I'm assuming I should roll with whatever targets Honda techs are changing the idle to currently, but don't know what those numbers are.

I know there's plenty of debate as to how long you should let your car idle on the 1.5T platform and its alleged contribution to oil dilution, so I'm a bit hesitant to change idle targets due to that as well.

Any advice helps, thanks!

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[D-RobIMW]

The recall update actually doesn't alter engine idle speed targets based on ECT like we initially hypothesized. The big difference on the recall is the updated climate control module.

That being said, an elevated idle speed does seem to help warm the car. If you want, you can edit the target idle VS ECT manually in the calibration. Bumping it a few hundred RPM until about 170degF should do the trick.

 

[FK7 Mvnny]

The recall update actually doesn't alter engine idle speed targets based on ECT like we initially hypothesized. The big difference on the recall is the updated climate control module.

That being said, an elevated idle speed does seem to help warm the car. If you want, you can edit the target idle VS ECT manually in the calibration. Bumping it a few hundred RPM until about 170degF should do the trick.

Will do. Thanks Derek!
I glad you convinced me to trade in for a KTuner with you guys, it was definitely worth it.

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