If it makes it any better, the factory remote start feature on the GX is defective-- you can remote start the car but it shuts off when you open the door. Stupid.

Also FWIW Chevy tends to offer a decent set of features as standard, so you will feel this same way going to a lot of other brands.

 

Not trying to be argumentative, but sorry I don't buy it.

I am not sure how fuel "condenses" when it is a liquid. If you are referring to the process of condensation as a result of a material having one part cold and one part warm (the cold glass of iced tea sitting outside on a hot summer day) then I get it.

Either way this should be a non issue if the engine is up to full temp during the drive.

 

1) it's a Toyota, not worried about engine life from warm ups
2) Even if it's as simple as you say, that would be 5min x however times you get in your ice cold (or steaming hot) car.

 

In fairly recent history there has been a shift against warming up a car before the drive, with various arguments all over the place, but the overall impetus appears to be based on fuel savings.

But again, this is a toyota V8, I don't think we need to worry about any of this.

 

I was told this is a safety feature and most car with remote start behaves that way.

 

My corvette with remote start stays running when you get in.

My GX is the only car that I have experienced this in-- and thus I rarely use it unless it is particularly cold out.

 

I agree with both of these statements. I believe it is also an agenda driven around emissions...

All the car mag reviews now proudly list the amount of CO2 a car emits by labeling it, as Motor Trend TV does, as an "energy impact" score. Of course for all of us who had the good fortune to take Earth Science in 7th grade before 2000 or certainly 1990 know that CO2 is a life-giving gas that is absolutely required for all plants and trees to grow. No reason to associate it with anything negative.

 

Simple physics ... exactly why engines need an enriched air-fuel mixture during cold startup ... the atomized fuel (in suspension) condenses on the (cold) cylinder walls, causing a lean air-fuel mixture, so an enriched air-fuel mixture compensates while also washing the oil film off of the cylinder walls, increasing wear. So the sooner the engine gets closer to full operating temperature, the sooner this enrichment can be reduced.

 

Oil dilution is more of an issue for DI engines. The GX engine isn't DI.

If anything, you can also argue that remote start would help emissions, since it allows vehicles to run and complete it's cold start emissions strategy. Most people jump into their cars, start it up, and drive away with 5-8 seconds and in these cases, the vehicle will abort it's cold start strategy and during this period, we will see very high tail pipe emissions due to non-ideal engine and inadequate catalyst light off temps.
​​​

 

... yes, more with DI but still a factor no matter the induction. Emissions is another subject.

 

During cold starts its going to basically run rich "open loop" ignoring the o2 sensors to quickly get to operating temp thereby increasing emissions. This happens regardless of engine load. Once your upto coolant temp, the system now runs based on load, and sensor data "closed loop". Oil temp increase to operating temp will lag coolant regardless.

The integral part is that a cold start regardless of remote starting it or sitting in your driveway or jumping in and driving off causes the most wear on a engine due to suboptimal oil temperatures; oil wont flow as fast as it needs to lubricate all parts of the engine, increased wear, compared to say having oil at operating temperature.

Either way, Lexus make remote start free for at least the factory bumper2 bumper warranty, so those who want to use it can, and those who dont have a feature that increases their residual values come turn in. If you can do it on the Corolla, I assume the GX is nothing too big.

 

My original point was specific to fuel dilution and accelerated cylinder wear on cold start, so better to drive off sooner than later (again, my original point) to reduce the time where an enriched air-fuel mixture washes off the oil film on the cylinder. This is also the reason to be moderate on acceleration once driving off while the engine increases to full operating temperature. As an aside, for most vehicles it takes 3-4 times longer for the oil to reach operating temperature as the coolant.

 

I agree. Obviously your ambient start temp plays a role in how long you want to idle before driving. The coldest I have ever dealt with was right around 9 degrees. I would let the car idle for right around 45 seconds to 1 min and then drive easily until warm. The faster the car gets to operating temp the better too. Obviously you don't want to drive aggressively while the engine is warming at such cold temps. Otherwise, when the temps are in the 20s to 40s I found about 20 seconds of idleing and then I'm off.
​​​​​​

 

no you do not. Once the module installed, you can use the OEM fob only to start using, the lock/unlock/lock sequence. You just need to be in range. To use the OEM fob, this option must be programmed in the brain.

 

Your practice above is EXACTLY my same approach. Also, I wait for well beyond full coolant temperature before hard(er) acceleration.