piblondin

I have a 2002 A4 1.8T CVT, and the car has recently started to jerk--lunge--forward when I stop and shift from reverse to drive when I back out of the driveway in the morning. This happens only the first time that I start my car during the day--usually in the morning--when the engine is still cold. Other than that first 7 am shift from R to D, it's fine.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is it something to worry about? Thanks for any advice--

qfrog Ti20

I've heard talk about them being slower to shift when they are cold

afourcvt

My 03 CVT doesn't do that. but then again, I don't go into reverse first thing in the morning. Do you notice your car idles at about 1000RPM on a cold start? Then after 1 minute it drops to 800 RPM. I always let it warm up first before driving which is usually just a minute and driving but not wide open throttle till the temperature gauge warms to half way.

aepiua

what you describe is pretty standard.

piblondin

I do let the engine idle and warm up in the morning until I hear it quiet down--usually after a minute or so. I'll have to watch the RPM tomorrow morning to see if it changes too. I would imagine that it does as you said...

FoKai

this was one of the culprits during the "coilpack" debacle. tech said the extended idling wasn't good for our cars, esp. during cold mornings... something about the air sensor.

FireBirdSC

yeah, you should just drive it softly for a bit

Shagin'Wagon

i dont see how it could be bad? any operation at all is bad, but what constitutes bad?

Devius

The manual says just get in and drive. No warm up period.

Boston3.0_CVT

The idea behind the manuals instruction of warming up the car by 'running it lightly' instead of 'idling' is that the engine will warm up and get to the desired operating temperature more quickly. The enginer wear/damage occurs primarily when below the designed operating temp. With the engine warmed up, the catalytic converter will also warm up quicker. This is important for the enzymes (or whatever reactant is used) to reduce the gases that tend to be damaging to the environment.

Most (if not all) german car manuals suggest avoiding 'idling' as a means for warming up the car. Something which makes me grimace at the thought of remote car starters.