Celica Forums General Discussion General No power when engine is cold?

When I start my car and the engine is cold the egnine has no power. When I push the gas it just bogs the engine. I recently installed an Injen CAI but it did it before I installed it. However, I think it keeps getting worse every time. Once the engine gets warm the car runs like it is supposed to. Does anyone know what the problem is? Does anyone have a similar problem? Any comments are greatly appreciated.

have you reset the ecu???

ummm how many miles does the engine have?? Um yes you want to reset ECU, and if you dont know how to do that, all you gott do is take off the negative (black) battery terminal and leave it off for about a couple of mintues and re-connect it back and let the car run for about 10 mintues and then give her a spin and see what happens. And rule of thumb always let the car warm up until the temp gauge has hit 1 click or 2 clicks. Also you double check and see if all the hoses are correctly connected and made sure you installed the CAI correctly. Doesnt hurt to re-tract your install! Good Luck mayne!

u gotta warm it up b4 you start driving.u dont really have to but to me it just seems like its healthier for my car.also ur not suppose to gun ur car when its cold.just drive really slow until it gets warmed up.i shift b4 3rpm when my cars cold n my car bogs too when its cold so dont worry about that.

yea, you have to warm up the car...for about 2-3mins.

yeah, wait and have a smoke in the meantime, that's what i do. It's somewhat normal.

regardless of whether or not he's warming it up, it shouldn't have much power, but the bogging would concern me, exspecially if it seems to be getting worse. Reset the ECU and let us know if that works.

in the manual it states warm up with driving , i just shift before 3000
on my 2002 mod it was a rpm block at 4000 when teengien was cold, dunno if it is on other models

The automatic shifts WAY early when its cold to protect the motor. Smart

when does it shift?

I forget, about 5000 I think.

I will see if reseting the ECU works, because I did not take off the negative terminal when I installed the CAI. The car has about 70K so it probably isn't the engine. The directions I got in the Injen box did not say to disconnect the neg terminal but I saw on the installation manual on this site that it is recommended. Thanks for the help and I will let you know if that helps. By the way, when I mean it has no power its not like I am trying to push the engine to perform like it is warm but it simply doesn't go.

I tried to shift really early like at 2000 just to see if that helps and it seems to help a little. But it still has no power. Then when it starts to warm up a little, the engine doesnt really want to rev past about 5500 or so. I am not a very patient person when it comes to waiting for the car to warm up...I just want to drive. Im sure a lot of people out there are the same way. Thanks for everyones input and I will let you know tomorrow.

word

I just posted about nearly the same problem. I have noticed that lift does not kick in when the engine is cold. Besides that, the engine has normal power, but once you hit 6300 it chokes. Two minutes later lift works perfectly, I love my lift!!!

Try to remember that when the motor is cold, not only has the oil drained to the oil pan but it is viscous & will take time to coat all the parts properly. Revving the motor when it is cold or making it work hard will do more damage than pretty much anything else.

Toyotas are smart, just try to lock your doors & leave the keys in the ignition.

yea mine does that too...sucks real bad when i wake up for ambulance calls at like 3 in the morining. I wake up and my car is cold as hell...but you dont have time to just sit around and let it warm up so i have to go while its still cold...it normally gets to one click by the time i get down my street and i just shift at about 4K and never gives me trouble.

buy a motor warmer

do the following, and you will definetely feel a better idle when you start ur car.
1- did you reset the ecu yet when you installed the cai? if so, then cool. or else reset it.
2- make sure you installed everything right on the cai.
3- clean ur MAF sensor. common problem is rough idling if MAF is a bit dirty.
4- clean ur throttle body. you will definetely feel improvement when you clean the throttle body. make sure when you clean it, pull the throttle cable so the throttle body opens up and you can clean the inside of it as far as ur hand can reach.

cleaning the throttle body will definetely solve ur problem, but i cant tell you how much it will solve it. cleaning it every 6 months ur throtle body is a good idea.
if ur car still dies while idling, then its ur idle control valve. a 250$ estimate price of part.
good luck, and let us know wut the problem was. while ur at it, make sure ur throttle cable is tight enough

workshop4ever: i recommend you get a remote start. whenever you get a hold of ur keys, you can start the car. until you reach to ur car, the car can at least warm up for 30 seconds.

I noticed that as I was waiting for the engine to warm up the tube running from the ECU had slipped loose. I have not had a chance to start the engine but I will check in a few minutes...I hope that was the problem. I will keep everyone updated. Thanks once again for all of your inputs.

Good idea.

A block heater & an oil heater would save a lot of wear.

Cold air Intakes aren't really any good for your engine because they effect the fuel/air mixture. Unless you can get your ECU remapped then mods like that are harmful. The engine being cold should have no effect whatsoever. Mine still pulls just as hard when its cold as when its warm. The only difference is theres a soft limiter at 7000rpm and lift won't engage. Its not recommended to rev above 3000rpm when the engine is cold anyway. I never go into lift until the engine is up to temperature (half way on the gauge).

And to be honest going into lift significantly reduces engine life. I don't really use it these days unless I'm showing off in built up areas or racing.

Really speaking engines need to be run in to about 10,000 miles before you can even think about taking them near the red line, with oil changes every 2-3000 miles. Fully synthetic oil is not great to use when running in either because modern oils are so advanced that in some ways they offer too much protection and don't allow the steel to bed into each other as well. Everyone caines their car before 10,000 miles but its the worst thing you can do. At 8-9000rpm its just carving itself up.

the better you break ur engine in, the better it will perform. if you want ur engine to last, then dont rev high for the first few thousand miles. if you want ur engine to perform at its peaks(some engines perform better than others), a lot of it has to do of how the driver broke the engine in. i dont know whats the best way to break the engine in if you want Performance, but i know you have to push it a bit a bit when it has a few hundred miles on it(rev it abit more than 6000rpm). my friend did that to his rsx-s and he beats every other rsx-s which have cai, he has nothing on

my car has over 70K so it should not need to be broken in. To clarify, I am not trying to hit lift or anywhere near lift while the engine is cold.

How much would a block heater and a oil heater cost installed?

This is a VERY interesting point because two friends of mine owned the same brand new MG ZT sports car and one thrashed it from the moment it left the showroom and the other one ran it in as the book said. They both agreed that the one who had thrashed it from the start had a noticeably quicker car. Neither have had any problems and both have exceeded 60,000 miles. You decide.

I have an aem Intake and the car bogs a lot when i dont let the car warm up. It is the worst when its really hot out. Im not sure why but when I do let the car warm up, the car drives a million times better and faster.

I connected the tube from the ECU and reset the ECU as described but it is not better than it was the day before. I will try to clean the throttle body and the MAFS as soon as I get a chance.