Just wondering? (CVT behaves different when freezing)

[spiritorb]

Hello, everyone. I was just wondering if anyone has had this issue: I have noticed, now that the cooler weather has arrived, that my CVT in my 2019 Mirage seems to rev higher and be somewhat sluggish in "shifting" when starting out from a cold start. After driving for about 1Km, it starts to respond normally. The temperature overnight has been around 0 and minus two degrees Celsius. I guess what I am trying to say, is that the CVT seems to hold back for the first few blocks. I have checked the fluid level when the car is hot, and it registers full on the dipstick. The colour is a light yellow. When the car is warm, it works just as normal. Any feedback would be appreciated. The car only has 9000Km on it, so I am not expecting issues yet.

[timw4mail]

Completely normal with basically any kind of transmission. The fluid is thicker when it is colder.

[PityOnU]

Yeah, this is normal.

The engine revving higher (and, perhaps unknown to you, eating more fuel) when cold is the ECU attempting to heat up the engine as quickly as possible. There are many reasons it does this, but suffice it to say that the engine is designed to run most efficiently within a specific temperature band, and the ECU will try to keep it there to the best of its ability.

[spiritorb]

Yeah, this is normal.

The engine revving higher (and, perhaps unknown to you, eating more fuel) when cold is the ECU attempting to heat up the engine as quickly as possible. There are many reasons it does this, but suffice it to say that the engine is designed to run most efficiently within a specific temperature band, and the ECU will try to keep it there to the best of its ability.

Thanks for the info. I have confirmed this is correct. This afternoon, when I left work and the temperature outside was more balmy(11 degrees Celsius) the transmission was back to normal shifting when cold. I don't push the car when it is cold, just let it warm up gently.

[Cobrajet]

Yeah, this is normal.

The engine revving higher (and, perhaps unknown to you, eating more fuel) when cold is the ECU attempting to heat up the engine as quickly as possible. There are many reasons it does this, but suffice it to say that the engine is designed to run most efficiently within a specific temperature band, and the ECU will try to keep it there to the best of its ability.

This. It is also done for emissions reasons. The engine runs 'dirtiest' when it is cold and warming up, so the faster the engine can be warmed up the better. Many conventional automatic transmissions will not shift into overdrive until the engine/trans reaches a certain temperature.

The additional RPMs help that happen faster.