[Sabarufirstitmer2019]

Hi,

I just got my Forester 2019 last week *WOOT* and it was the first car that I ever bought.

I realized that whenever I try to start the engine after leaving overnight outside (I live in Massachusetts), it will first be first jumping up to 1500rpm ish for a couple of minutes to warm up the car then it will drop down to around 800 rpm.

However, in the few minutes that I am waiting for the car to drop down to sub 1000 rpm, I felt a lot of vibration coming out from the engine. The vibration is pretty significant but once it reaches below 1000rpm, it becomes quiet. I only feel the vibration when the engine starts up. I used to drive other cars and I had not once felt the vibration as significant as in Forester.

1) Is this something that I need to bring into my dealership to check up on?
2) How long should I wait until it is ok for me to drive the car? Until blue light disappear? Can I drive the car under 2.5k rpm while the blue light is on? It doesn't indicate that on the user manual for guidance.

 

[Scooby24]

Every vehicle has this high idle warmup procedure and the roughness is characteristic of direct injection engines. On a cold engine the fuel doesn't burn efficiently and it has some roughness until warm.

 

[Sabarufirstitmer2019]

It just rougher than what I would expected so thats why I just want to check to see does other people experience the same thing.

And also, do i need to wait until the blue light is gone before i started driving or I can start driving after 2 minutes of warming up the car?

 

[hoshie]

I'd wait. But you can drive if you keep your revs low.

I'd wait the few mins though.

 

[Danno001]

It just rougher than what I would expected so thats why I just want to check to see does other people experience the same thing.

And also, do i need to wait until the blue light is gone before i started driving or I can start driving after 2 minutes of warming up the car?

The highish cold revs help the cats light up quicker for reduced cold start emissions. DI could cause some of the roughness, I have 3 DI Hyunda/KIA engines in the fleet (3.3L V6, 2.4L and 1.6L ) and I can't say they are rough on a cold start - noisier yes, but not rough.
Yes, do drive it when cold - good to go after you have put on your seat belt, checked mirrors, cleared your windows if parked outside. It will warm up quicker. I don't use more than 1/3 throttle until the engine warms up.

 

[UhOh]

Congrats on the car!

I realized that whenever I try to start the engine after leaving overnight outside (I live in Massachusetts), it will first be first jumping up to 1500rpm ish for a couple of minutes to warm up the car then it will drop down to around 800 rpm.

However, in the few minutes that I am waiting for the car to drop down to sub 1000 rpm, I felt a lot of vibration coming out from the engine.

My '99 with 225,000 has had similar cold start-up engine performance since forever. My fix: wait about 4 seconds after start and then shift quickly from Park to Neutral and then back to Park. Idle speed drops immediately to below 1000 and it quiets / sounds good. I then let it idle for 2 or 3 minutes (5 if it's really cold) before driving off - I'll go back inside and get the last bits of my stuff together for the day. Give it a try.

 

[bigbird1]

My '18 starts and fast idles very similarly, sometimes with a fair bit of vibration.
As soon as you put the shift into "D", the rpm should drop smoothly to around 1k rpm as Drive engages without any clunk or bang, unlike typical automatic transmissions.
No need to worry.
And yes, you can drive the car with the blue "cold" light illuminated.
The light is on to just remind the driver to take it easy on the accelerator and rpm's until the light extinguishes.