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High Rpm at low speeds?

('14-'18) 
12K views 33 replies 18 participants last post by  Roscoe_Burdick 
#1 ·
Hey all - I picked up my forester touring last week. It is the first automatic car I've had in a number of years. I am noticing at low speeds, 40-50km, even after driving for quite a while, the rpm's stay around 2050 instead of dropping down.

I was talking to someone else with the exact same model as me, who purchased about a year ago after the 14s just came out. Theirs does the same thing.

Is this normal? Just seems high to me, like the car is always on the verge of changing gears, but doesn't quite make it.

It has been fairly cold here since I picked it up, -15 to -20C before wind chill, if anyone thinks this has any effects. Again, I've only had the vehicle for less than a week, so I don't have a lot of time in it to compare.

Thanks for the help.
 
#4 ·
Annoying RPM until warmup

Ditto here. When the temperature is low, it will stay around 2000 rpm until the tranny gets warm. Usually stays like that for mine until oil temp reaches near 180 degrees. On a cold day at low speed, that can be 20 minutes. Just be patient, when the weather warms up (if ever!) you will enjoy a buttery smooth transmission (I am not generally a fan of CVT's, but I think Subaru did a fine job here....even with minor annoyances at startup, and 'bucking' a bit when it was brand new, the torque delivery is impressive for a 4-cylinder....not to mention the fuel economy (I have averaged 28.5 mpg in 5500 miles per the trip computer). MPG was the selling point for me; had been strongly leaning toward the new Cherokee until economy numbers were released. I miss the Bush years and sub-$2 gasoline....but the past is the past.
 
#5 ·
Ditto here. When the temperature is low, it will stay around 2000 rpm until the tranny gets warm. Usually stays like that for mine until oil temp reaches near 180 degrees. On a cold day at low speed, that can be 20 minutes. Just be patient, when the weather warms up (if ever!) you will enjoy a buttery smooth transmission (I am not generally a fan of CVT's, but I think Subaru did a fine job here....even with minor annoyances at startup, and 'bucking' a bit when it was brand new, the torque delivery is impressive for a 4-cylinder....not to mention the fuel economy (I have averaged 28.5 mpg in 5500 miles per the trip computer). MPG was the selling point for me; had been strongly leaning toward the new Cherokee until economy numbers were released. I miss the Bush years and sub-$2 gasoline....but the past is the past.
Gas was pretty high under bush....only reason it was so low when Obama took office is becsuse demand took a nose dive for obvious reasons . (No im not a Dem)
 
#9 ·
Paulc
we live in Winnipeg and have noticed the same thing our rpm stays at 2000 for as long as 45 minutes on some days when the temperature is -25 or below. For trips of less then 30 minutes it often doesn't drop at all. The worst part is the poor fuel economy when the revs are so high.
 
#10 ·
Appreciate the replies all. Certainly sounds normal then; my drive to work is less than 10km; the engine oil barely has time to even heat to 70c. It's been cool here too, -20 to -30 with wind chill in the mornings.

Was mainly wondering regarding the tie in with fuel consumption (and since I've only had it for a week tomorrow, that there was nothing funky with mine in particular)
 
#11 ·
I have the same issue with my 14, here in North Dakota. I've been to the dealership several times about this. I agree it's a function of the TQ converter. What I don't understand, I can get the RPM's to drop back to 1,000 or so (40MPH) once I turn the heat off? Even after I turn the heat back on, the RPM's stay in the 1,000RPM range?

On a side note, I too have issues with the passenger seat belt warning while nothing is in the seat as well as the tail gate deciding not to open sometimes. Cars been great this past winter in the snow, but I think Subaru could have done a better job preparing this car for cold climate areas, like installing a stronger battery, I replaced the basic 400CCA.
Good luck
 
#21 ·
you guys had me curious, so when I drove the wife's Fozzie yesterday, I looked for and saw this same thing happen. tooling around in town, engine cold, RPMs were solid around 2050 regardless of speed; after it warmed up, much less (~1200 or so, regardless of speed). wasn't that cold here and the wife was in the car, so I couldn't switch the heater off.
 
#22 ·
Just starting experiencing the same thing in my 2015 since the temperatures have dropped. It hasn't been that cold. Maybe in the 20's to low 30's and it is taking 15 minutes before the rpm drops below 2000. It sure lowers the winter gas mileage a lot. Can hardly wait to see how bad it gets when the temp really drops. I will try the heater trick to see if it brings down the rpms
 
#23 ·
I verified turning off the heater does bring down the RPM. It also dropped the rpms from 2000 to 1600 if I turned the auto climate control temp down to 61F. It is crazy to program the cpu to sacrifice MPG for a little creature comfort. My ride to work is 25 minutes, and it would take 15 minutes for the rpm to drop on a cold day. I end up losing 3mpg on the trip with the higher rpm.
 
#24 ·
#25 ·
I don't disagree that the heater isn't the most powerful. You just would think they could come up with a better way of cranking out more heat than having the engine rpm increase for longer times. I suppose like anything else they have to keep the costs down, so it is easier to just do it with software instead of hardware.
 
#26 ·
Well, it's simple physics...almost 100% of the heat generated by the engine is due to burning fuel. Unless you were to add an electric heater element to the cabin heater system, which would require more fuel to burn to put out that much electrical resistance, your cabin heater is at the mercy of your coolant temp. To get the coolant temp up, you MUST burn more fuel....it's a "catch 22".
 
#28 ·
I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding. Are some people here idling the car for it to warm up for 15 min or more waiting for the rpms to drop? I usually give it no more than one minute and drive slowly the first 5 miles or so. During that time the car is running a little higher than normal rpm. I'll notice that once my temp gauge reaches around 120-130 that it settles down. Based on my experience the car seems to warm up faster this way.
 
#32 ·
With the CVT it is. I usually only see 2,000 RPM when going 60 mph or faster.

When the engine is cold, I see it run up to 2,500 to 3,000. That is "high" for what we normally see.

That said, you are correct when you say nothing is wrong. It is working exactly as designed to get to operating temp quickly.
 
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