Disabling or reducing the cold start sequence?

[MoneyPit#53]

Like the title reads. Are any calibrators able to disable the cold start sequence at start up or modify it for a shorter amount of time? I understand the reason car manufactures set it is because it warms the cats up quicker to burn off unused fuel as quickly as possible to lower emissions. My reasons for wanting it disabled or reduced are:

- I'm not a tree hugger and I don't care if my emissions are as green as everyone else in the first 2 minutes of my start up.

- It's a waste of unused fuel at start up and will lead to overall better MPG's if it can be disabled.

- I live in a small neighborhood in Germany where excessive noise is a finable offense. I'm in the military stationed here and leave for work at 4:30-5:00AM, so cold starts with an aftermarket exhaust can be pretty loud when the neighborhood is dead silent during that time.

I'm not 100% sure what parameters in PCM impact whether or not a cold start sequence is performed or not but I would think coolant temp and or oil temp would be a deciding factor. If it is simply coolant temp, I would think disabling the cold start sequence could be disabled by simply adding in a resister from the coolant temp sensor to trick the PCM in to thinking that the coolant temp is always above 100 degrees, thus starting in a warm start sequence opposed to the cold start.

-Nick

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[IvanCRF]

I watch my oil temperature gauge/ coolant temperature gauges(if I don't have an oil temperature gauge) before I start having fun with any car. I do the same(let the engine warm up) with my '69 Mustang and my dirt bikes too. I cringe when someone fires up any kind of engine and starts stepping or cranking on the throttle wildly. I would never get rid of my choke on my dirt bike just because it makes a little more noise at a higher RPM.

What I do for this '15 GT after startup is take it easy on the gas if I want to be stealthy so it doesn't make much noise.

 

[SpaceGhost]

I understand wanting to keep the volume down in residential areas but I really like how the car runs and sounds during the cold start.

 

[Glenn G]

I live in Germany too,
Though my EBM hardly makes the noise you GT does, my supra made more.
Best thing to do is crank it, let the engine settle at idle (10-15 secs) and just drive off slowly until the car warms up. By the time I get on to the main road (70kph) I'll have some decent temperature showing on the gauge, and will be at full temp by the time I reach the Autobahn entrance.
This is the best way to keep your car and neighbors happy. In Germany you are allowed to idle for 3 minutes. but all my neighbors get pissed off and come out to yell at me, or call the cops and I would still have barely any temp on the guage.

 

[MoneyPit#53]

I watch my oil temperature gauge/ coolant temperature gauges(if I don't have an oil temperature gauge) before I start having fun with any car. I do the same(let the engine warm up) with my '69 Mustang and my dirt bikes too. I cringe when someone fires up any kind of engine and starts stepping or cranking on the throttle wildly. I would never get rid of my choke on my dirt bike just because it makes a little more noise at a higher RPM.

What I do for this '15 GT after startup is take it easy on the gas if I want to be stealthy so it doesn't make much noise.

Never did I mention that I start romping on my car 5 seconds after I start it. Not saying that your saying that I do this but what you've advised pretty much doesn't have anything to do or add to what this thread was created for. This thread is intended to talk about the possibility of modifying the cold start sequence in a custom calibration/tune. Sorry if I sound like a dick saying this :cheers:

I understand wanting to keep the volume down in residential areas but I really like how the car runs and sounds during the cold start.

I do too, but my neighbors and German law disagree

I live in Germany too,
Though my EBM hardly makes the noise you GT does, my supra made more.
Best thing to do is crank it, let the engine settle at idle (10-15 secs) and just drive off slowly until the car warms up. By the time I get on to the main road (70kph) I'll have some decent temperature showing on the gauge, and will be at full temp by the time I reach the Autobahn entrance.
This is the best way to keep your car and neighbors happy. In Germany you are allowed to idle for 3 minutes. but all my neighbors get pissed off and come out to yell at me, or call the cops and I would still have barely any temp on the guage.

This is what I currently do as well. Problem is, during that initial 10-15 seconds, the damage is already done and all the neighbors have been awoken and they're already pissed, lol. It's nice to see another local that is familiar with the German law and how loud cars starting early in the AM are overall frowned upon here.

-Nick

 

[IvanCRF]

Never did I mention that I start romping on my car 5 seconds after I start it. Not saying that your saying that I do this but what you've advised pretty much doesn't have anything to do or add to what this thread was created for. This thread is intended to talk about the possibility of modifying the cold start sequence in a custom calibration/tune. Sorry if I sound like a dick saying this :cheers:

No worries. What I meant to say was that in the same way I would not remove my dirt bike choke, I would not mess with the start-up calibration and instead take it easy after starting your GT up. :cheers:

 

[KilluminatiDre]

It might be possible for one of the tuners can write something into the PCM to disable the cold start. Or perhaps switching back to stock exhaust until your tour is up?

 

[IvanCRF]

It might be possible for one of the tuners can write something into the PCM to disable the cold start. Or perhaps switching back to stock exhaust until your tour is up?

Makes me wonder how the car would react to starting with its hot-start program when it is actually cold outside.

 

[MoneyPit#53]

Makes me wonder how the car would react to starting with its hot-start program when it is actually cold outside.

I had a tune on a couple of '04 cobra's I owned years ago that had the cold start sequence tuned out. It didn't change anything besides it didn't idle at 1500-1800 RPM for the first 2 minutes. Instead it idled at 700-800 just like a warm start does and I let it idle for a couple extra minutes. All while it wasn't waking the neighbors at 4:30AM. Win/win situation

 

[MoneyPit#53]

It might be possible for one of the tuners can write something into the PCM to disable the cold start. Or perhaps switching back to stock exhaust until your tour is up?

One could only wish. Hopefully a vendor/tuner can comment to shine some light. In the E9x M3 world, this is a VERY common tune alteration.

 

[Lonmon]

Sounds like someone needs to develop a good valve design catback so we can have it closed down some on cold start up and then open once we are out on the open road. I know its not a good idea to disable cold start. Cold start up sequence has been around before Catalytic converters existed, its not just for emissions. Fuel enrichment has to be more when cold, oil temps need to be heated up some before much load is put on the motor. The car may not idle reliably at 600-700 rpm cold with enough fuel to start cold. It might load up. Hopefully a tuner will chime in and answer your question more specifically. Good luck finding the right answer for you!

 

[Glenn G]

Sounds like someone needs to develop a good valve design catback so we can have it closed down some on cold start up and then open once we are out on the open road. I know its not a good idea to disable cold start. Cold start up sequence has been around before Catalytic converters existed, its not just for emissions. Fuel enrichment has to be more when cold, oil temps need to be heated up some before much load is put on the motor. The car may not idle reliably at 600-700 rpm cold with enough fuel to start cold. It might load up. Hopefully a tuner will chime in and answer your question more specifically. Good luck finding the right answer for you!

You hit the nail on the head, While alot of the enrichment is done to help speed catalyst light off- the majority is to help the car start when cold. Depending on where the OP lives in Germany it can get bitterly cold here and make the car very hard to start. I live in Frankfurt which is not bad as far as temp extremes, but I have had a few -18c mornings where my old Supra took quite a few extra turns of the starter to fire up. I'll see how the EBM does this winter

 

[MoneyPit#53]

You hit the nail on the head, While alot of the enrichment is done to help speed catalyst light off- the majority is to help the car start when cold. Depending on where the OP lives in Germany it can get bitterly cold here and make the car very hard to start. I live in Frankfurt which is not bad as far as temp extremes, but I have had a few -18c mornings where my old Supra took quite a few extra turns of the starter to fire up. I'll see how the EBM does this winter

I live in Bayern(Vilseck, 92249).

 

[Glenn G]

This is what I currently do as well. Problem is, during that initial 10-15 seconds, the damage is already done and all the neighbors have been awoken and they're already pissed, lol. It's nice to see another local that is familiar with the German law and how loud cars starting early in the AM are overall frowned upon here.

-Nick

If you are leaving within that time I would say it's the neighbors problem but you do have an aftermarket exhaust which can cause issues with the German police.

While the police did basically tell my neighbors to suck it up as my car was (just barely) within the legal limit, I did find a note threatening me that bad things might happen to my car if it stayed that loud. I just bought an apexi Active tail silencer which I just left in to keep everybody happy. Hopefully someone will make something similar for the Mustang sometime soon.

 

[IvanCRF]

I did find a note threatening me that bad things might happen to my car if it stayed that loud.

Holy crap, man!

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