CVT quirks

So I noticed for a while now that when im in a hurry and I start my car and immediately put it in drive to move, the revs go up to 2K rpm automatically and it makes starting off a little jerky because its taking off at 2K rpm. This only happens when I start the car after it's been sitting for a couple hours and the engine is cold. Is this normal or is this something weird? Not that big of a deal just annoying sometimes. The car performs normal afterwards.

After my car sits overnight, I put the CVT in reverse to back out out my space and then put it in D to take off. In both cases, (but even more so in D) the CVT takes a second or two to engage. I've learned to wait until it engages to give it gas. From what I understand, this is normal with our CVT when cold.

Could it be you're giving it throttle before it's completely engaged?

This is programmed into the car. It’s called high idle and is used to heat up the catalytic converters faster. All cars have it to some degree.

gtman said:

After my car sits overnight, I put the CVT in reverse to back out out my space and then put it in D to take off. In both cases, (but even more so in D) the CVT takes a second or two to engage. I've learned to wait until it engages to give it gas. From what I understand, this is normal with our CVT when cold.

Could it be you're giving it throttle before it's completely engaged?

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WhatTheFun said:

This is programmed into the car. It’s called high idle and is used to heat up the catalytic converters faster. All cars have it to some degree.

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Hmm makes sense, I guess its just more noticeable in the Civics because I haven't really noticed it in my other cars. As for giving it throttle before engaging, when i'm in a hurry to leave before the traffic starts I generally just disengage the parking brake, toss the gear into D and hit the throttle, but there is obviously a couple second gap where I notice the revs go up to 2K rpm and it makes for a jerky start. At least I know this is normal though and i'm just going to have to stop being so impatient and wait for the revs to settle before I throttle on so my take off isn't as jerky.

WhatTheFun said:

This is programmed into the car. It’s called high idle and is used to heat up the catalytic converters faster. All cars have it to some degree.

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So it like the heat risers in the old carburetor cars

I wonder if, in this situation, the engine block and oil are still warm while the coolant, exhaust, and other parts with sensors are 'cold' (by the definitions of the ECU). I always give the thing a couple of minutes anyway before driving. But it seems that, until *everything* is up to temp, pressure, etc..., it's gonna' adjust the idle/mixture/whatever. I'd be surprised if simply waiting a minute or two before driving wouldn't solve this issue.

shoegazer said:

I'd be surprised if simply waiting a minute or two before driving wouldn't solve this issue.

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Waiting 5 seconds would solve this “issue.”

Doesn't sound normal. I usually remote start my car everyday from home, so that's a bit different as it allows the car to warm up. When driving from work, I don't remote start and it's a mad dash to get out of the parking lot so I immediately put it into reverse/drive, and the RPM's don't shoot up to 2k... I live in upstate NY, which is definitely colder than NoVA.

If you're starting to drive before your radio display is booted up, you're taking off way too fast.

Give your car 10-15 seconds at least before you put your car in R or D. You want your oil to be coating everything and all your fluid systems to be completely primed before you put your car under any stress.

I usually use the remote start from work to home and let the car get to temp it’s not because of cold weather it because my place of employment is right off the highway so I have to get up to 65 pretty quickly . In my earlier post it like the old heat risers witch took a longer time to warm up . But I had the same issue with my 2014 Elantra it didn’t have a cvt

saz468 said:

I usually use the remote start from work to home and let the car get to temp it’s not because of cold weather it because my place of employment is right off the highway so I have to get up to 65 pretty quickly . In my earlier post it like the old heat risers witch took a longer time to warm up . But I had the same issue with my 2014 Elantra it didn’t have a cvt

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I also have a question people! I have a 2018 civic sedan SE CVT only has like 4k miles on it so anyways whenever i first start it up in the morning its about -18 so pretty cold. It would idle at 1500 then i give it about 5 mins to warm up then it would go down to 1k but then when i start to put it on R it goes all the way up to 1500 again for like a second and then it goes back down to 1k then it drives normal.. Sometime even R and D it revs to 1500 when i first drive it in the morning only for a quick sec tho. Is it normal? any of u guys know?

jred721 said:

Hmm makes sense, I guess its just more noticeable in the Civics because I haven't really noticed it in my other cars. As for giving it throttle before engaging, when i'm in a hurry to leave before the traffic starts I generally just disengage the parking brake, toss the gear into D and hit the throttle, but there is obviously a couple second gap where I notice the revs go up to 2K rpm and it makes for a jerky start. At least I know this is normal though and i'm just going to have to stop being so impatient and wait for the revs to settle before I throttle on so my take off isn't as jerky.

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Just autostart as you walking towards the car. Then by the time your seat is buckled in and phone is hooked up and you got music rolling, you’re ready to go.

10thGenCivicW said:

I also have a question people! I have a 2018 civic sedan SE CVT only has like 4k miles on it so anyways whenever i first start it up in the morning its about -18 so pretty cold. It would idle at 1500 then i give it about 5 mins to warm up then it would go down to 1k but then when i start to put it on R it goes all the way up to 1500 again for like a second and then it goes back down to 1k then it drives normal.. Sometime even R and D it revs to 1500 when i first drive it in the morning only for a quick sec tho. Is it normal? any of u guys know?

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Yeah it’s gonna shift revs shifting gears. It’s fine. My old 97 did it too

10thGenCivicW said:

I also have a question people! I have a 2018 civic sedan SE CVT only has like 4k miles on it so anyways whenever i first start it up in the morning its about -18 so pretty cold. It would idle at 1500 then i give it about 5 mins to warm up then it would go down to 1k but then when i start to put it on R it goes all the way up to 1500 again for like a second and then it goes back down to 1k then it drives normal.. Sometime even R and D it revs to 1500 when i first drive it in the morning only for a quick sec tho. Is it normal? any of u guys know?

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When it does it on my car it’s a very short time I do let my car warm up for a while because I get right on the highway where I live in Florida the coldest it get is in the high 40s and 70 degrees the rest of the day in the winter I never had my civic in the cold weather (I mean up north cold weather )

saz468 said:

When it does it on my car it’s a very short time I do let my car warm up for a while because I get right on the highway where I live in Florida the coldest it get is in the high 40s and 70 degrees the rest of the day in the winter I never had my civic in the cold weather (I mean up north cold weather )

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It’s not as big of deal as y’all think. Just accelerating slowly into the highway 3 mins from my house usually brings the temp to operating temp.