Car: 1998 Civic DX with an automatic transmission and 173,XXX miles

This is kind of a engine and transmission question, but I'm more worried about the engine.

When my car is cold (not talking about temperature outside, but rather driving the car after its been parked over night), for the first couple of minutes no matter how hard I try the RPMs get higher than I think they should. Its the worst when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd because I can't keep the RPMs under 2500.

Is that high for an engine that is cold or not? I cringe every time I drive my car when its cold but am I just overreacting?

 

Ypu knoe im not sure but what you could do and see if this works is crank the car about 10 mins before you leave for work and see if that helps warm it up a lil bit then it shouldnt be a problem...that really dosent sound like the temp of the car is the problem though

 

I've actually tried that before and it does help a little. However, I've always thought that it isn't a good idea to let a cold engine just idle and its better to drive it easy until it warms up. Is this correct? Obviously the colder it is outside, the longer it revs up higher before it shifts (I live in Maine where it can get pretty cold during the Winter months). I watched it closely today and it didn't shift into 3rd until the RPMs hit 2700 (it was about 35-40 degrees outside).

 

You don't go over 2500 rpm in you car?? Dang.....

My car usually sits at 1500 or so till it's warmed up a bit

 

have you checked your FITV? theres a reason your engine does that when its cold. i disconnected/bypassed and the cold idle was pretty poor. search the site. i believe RonJ has a how to link on his signature that has something to do with the fast idle thermal valve.

 

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1564019
click this link and learn! courtesy of RonJ!!!
edit: nevermind, according to the link, your car wouldnt have an FITV. worth checking out anyways i guess tho...
edit#2:http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1575913
click this link, again courtesy of RonJ and see if this might fix your problem. these are both relatively simple fixes. good luck, and let us know if this works!

 

Ha, of course I go over 2500RPM, just not when the engine is still cold.

I'm not talking about the idle when its cold but rather how high the RPMs get before it shifts when its cold. Cold idle is around 1500 for me as well, but once its all warmed up it sits around 300RPM which is kind of low isn't it?

 

my 97 automatic acted strange sometimes, like it was in converter lockup. my trans acted sketchy for a while man, but with no probs whatsoever. mitch has it now. well over 200k and still no trans probs.

 

like the dude said it could be nothing but you never know... i would just take it to a local shop and let them check it out... or try the how to thing that guy sent you on the valve.. i hope everything gets worked out for you man...

 

^ you could do that. Shouldn't be too much to just have it checked.

My car sits around 300 rpm at idle too