[JRHAWK9]

I'm just curious. How many of you:

A: Treat it like any other car, get in, start it and immediately put it in gear and start driving normally completely ignoring the blue light.
B: Get in, start it and immediately put it in gear but take it easy till the blue light goes off.
C: Either remote start it or start it and sit and wait till the blue light goes off before even putting it in gear.
D: Get in, start it but wait till all the dash lights, etc turn off and the car settles a bit before you put it in gear.
E: I get in and redline it at the nearest intersection.

I currently do 'C', but may be changing it to see how much it increases my fuel economy. Just want to see what others do, out of curiosity.

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Since you asked, B.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Since you asked, B.

Can you cast you vote please? 😁

 

[FLCrosstrekker]

Sorry, pre-coffee for this late-rising retiree.

 

[AstroKats]

We're in a warm climate and it doesn't take long until it goes out. I wouldn't get on a freeway with the blue light on but it's moot as it goes out before we get to the end of the street. So, I voted B.

Btw, the manual mentions it but doesn't tell you what you're supposed to do, only in the case that it's red (overheating).

 

[dpc166]

My Crosstrek doesn't have the fancy blue light to tell me the engine is cold. As long as you keep the rpms low when you start driving, it'll heat up properly.

 

[Bluefoton]

There is no reason to wait until the blue light is off until driving...
BTW, it remains on until coolant temperature reaches 50C.

 

[AstroKats]

My Crosstrek doesn't have the fancy blue light to tell me the engine is cold. As long as you keep the rpms low when you start driving, it'll heat up properly.

That's weird, I thought the Hybrid was the same spec as the Limited.

 

[AstroKats]

There is no reason to wait until the blue light is off until driving...
BTW, it remains on until coolant temperature reaches 50C.

Right but I think you're supposed to take it easy, keep the revs low.

 

[dpc166]

That's weird, I thought the Hybrid was the same spec as the Limited.

Yeah, it's interesting that there's no light. When the engine comes on, it actually runs at idle for a few minutes and I suppose that's all it needs to heat up and avoid a blue light. I'll take a look at the manual and see if it says anything different.

 

[dpc166]

Right but I think you're supposed to take it easy, keep the revs low.

Some cars won't even let you go over a certain rpm. My brother's 2000 BMW M5 does that (forces you to stay under 2,000 rpm or so and has lights to let you know when the next range of rpms are available to use).

 

[erader]

There is no reason to wait until the blue light is off until driving...
BTW, it remains on until coolant temperature reaches 50C.

yep. i ignore the blue light

 

[dpc166]

That's weird, I thought the Hybrid was the same spec as the Limited.

My manual only has "Coolant temperature high warning light".

 

[warmwind76]

The blue light shuts off when the coolant temp reaches 112 degrees F. If it is a cold morning/day, I generally let the engine idle until coolant temp reaches 80 degrees F. Kinda arbitrary temp I use, but there you go.

So neither A, B, C, nor D.

 

[AstroKats]

Some cars won't even let you go over a certain rpm. My brother's 2000 BMW M5 does that (forces you to stay under 2,000 rpm or so and has lights to let you know when the next range of rpms are available to use).

Not sure about that feature. What if you needed a bit extra power to get out of trouble or merge into traffic?

On ours, it's the same light, blue when it's cold, off when it's normal and red when it overheats. Never seen red.

 

[dpc166]

I've got a note in my manual that says, "When the engine coolant temp is still low, the transmission will upshift or downshift at higher engine speeds than when the coolant temp is sufficiently high in order to shorten the warm-up time and improve driveability."

There's a blinking red too. When it blinks red, it's about to overheat. Solid red is overheating. Definitely never want to see either of those.

 

[Montanan]

Most of the time I'll just give the car 15 or 20 seconds before putting it into gear, which is plenty, but I might give it a few more seconds when it's really, really cold out. That's how I'd treat any modern car, regardless of the existence or status of a "blue light". I see that light as more of a reminder that I'll get a blast of cold air on my legs if I crank up the heater while the light's on.

As others have (and no doubt will) say, there's no reason at all to let the car idle until the blue light goes off ... in fact, it's probably better for the car if it starts moving sooner, because it will achieve normal operating temperature more quickly.

When I first enabled the remote start on this Crosstrek, I'd assumed I'd be using it fairly regularly in the winter, but it turns out that I hardly ever do. Mostly I use it in the summer, to keep the car cool when I have the dogs along on errands.

 

[dpc166]

Most of the time I'll just give the car 15 or 20 seconds before putting it into gear, which is plenty, but I might give it a few more seconds when it's really, really cold out. That's how I'd treat any modern car, regardless of the existence or status of a "blue light". I see that light as more of a reminder that I'll get a blast of cold air on my legs if I crank up the heater while the light's on.

As others have (and no doubt will) say, there's no reason at all to let the car idle until the blue light goes off ... in fact, it's probably better for the car if it starts moving sooner, because it will achieve normal operating temperature more quickly.

When I first enabled the remote start on this Crosstrek, I'd assumed I'd be using it fairly regularly in the winter, but it turns out that I hardly ever do. Mostly I use it in the summer, to keep the car cool when I have the dogs along on errands.

Yup, letting the car sit for more than 30s to warm up in the cold was a thing from the age of carburetors.

 

[AstroKats]

Yup, letting the car sit for more than 30s to warm up in the cold was a thing from the age of carburetors.

When I lived in the UK, in the winter, it was what you did while scraping the frost off the windshield...

 

[JRHAWK9]

The main reason I started to let it sit till the light turned off was the high idle. I didn't like putting it in gear when the idle was so high. Reminded me of doing "neutral drops" as a kid. I knew it didn't hurt anything, it was just something I was not used to.

I think I'm going to start treating it like I do all my other cars. Just giving it a bit after starting before putting it in gear and taking it easy till it reaches operating temp.