I have a 2010 Mazda 3 GX 2.O L Sedan. I bought it with 50,000 km on it. It now has about 130,000 km. I do take very good care of it with regular maintenance and all fluid and mechanical service. Ever since I have owned this vehicle winter or summer it will idle at around 1800 rpm for around 10 minutes on cold start then go down to about 1200 rpm after 5 min then to 800 rpm. My question is: Is it ok to drive off after only 2 or 3 minutes in the summer ?
Sorry about the metric, I live in a Igloo in Canada and sometimes I drink to much beer and forget.
Thank you Scotty for your time and helping others.
I drive off after 5 seconds of starting my car, sometimes when I’m in a hurry. And it’s 35C outside..
Just make sure you don’t rev the engine hard or redline it, until it gets to normal operating temperature first.
In winter, yeah, let it warm up before you drive off.
I've done that before and found that the car will not accelerate, it just chokes up and go's blah. I have to wait at least until it hits at least 1000 rpm.
Are you using the correct oil for your engine? In winter I’d let the engine reach operating temps, before setting off. Does your vehicle have an engine temperature gauge?
I use Pennzoil ultra synthetic SAE 5w-20. No engine temperature gauge.
Change your thermostat. 5 minutes is a long time for engine warp up. Regarding your question, in summer, you really do not need to let the car idle before moving.
Just let the car idle for 30 seconds or so. Drive the car easily until full warmed up.
My coolant level was always good and I never had a overheating problem, heat in the cabin during the winter was good enough ( I can take the cold way better than the heat ) so I never thought to check the mixture. It was pure coolant. Mazda calls for 60-40 mix. I'm going to flush and change the coolant and get a OEM thermostat.
Thank you all for your time and help.