2003 V70 petrol high Idle speed when starts

moussey · Post by **moussey** » 03 Jan 2013, 10:10

About 2 months ago I bought a 2003 V70 which I am very pleased with. Got 66k miles and in very good nick. I upgraded after having a 940 and '97 V70 for years.

The only fault, annoying rather than serious, is the initial idle speed when the engine starts. This is about 1900 rpm. It gradually goes down over say 10 seconds if left out of gear. Clearly this would be dangerous..... except that if I put it in drive it goes down pretty instantly so the car moves off normally. This happens with a cold or warm start, but probably only goes to 1500 if its warm.

Anyone got any ideas?

My previous v70 (97 - square shape) had a rock steady idle come rain freeze or whatever so I suspect something is amiss. I also had a haynes manual for this and did replace the idle air valve when i got it. The problem that I now have doesnt seem like a sticking idle valve but maybe i am wrong and I need to give it a squirt of cleaner. Its almost like the computer has been set to this idle when starting??? if so how do I reduce it?.

Japedo · Post by **Japedo** » 03 Jan 2013, 20:41

My 2003 v70 idles about 1500rpm for aprox 10 seconds on a cold start.

Once warm the engine starts and goes to idle immeditley. Not sure why yours would do the high idle everytime, unless ur cooant temp sensor was faulty. If that was the case u would have other noted symptoms.

Post by **JRL** » 03 Jan 2013, 21:20

Normal is 1500-1600, yours is a hair high, but as long as it comes down in 10 seconds, don't worry about it

moussey · Post by **moussey** » 04 Jan 2013, 02:41

Many thanks for the rapid and very helpful replies, this forum is a real goldmine. I will stop worrying since there are no other symptom or drivability issues.

It does offend my engineering sensibilities a bit however since I'm sure I've read that a high proportion of the wear in an engine is in the first few seconds when it starts from cold. I preferred the old v70 approach, not sure that this is progress, bit like all the other issues / horror stories that I'm just starting to read.

BTW, My car was first registered in March 2003, 66k miles, is there anything I should do before its 10 years old?

Japedo · Post by **Japedo** » 04 Jan 2013, 05:12

The higher initial rpm gets greater oil pressure to all parts of the engine faster. It is a benefit to the engine, everything ive owned does this. From volvo's to our nissan
And even my plow jeep.

So like jrl said, dont
Worry
About it!

tonysmithx · Post by **tonysmithx** » 12 Jan 2015, 03:18

I know this thread is a couple of years old now but I was glad to find out that the high idle at cold start is normal. Just as a matter of curiosity though can this function be turned off, and if so how could this be achieved?