Geez. Glad I live in the South. You Northerners get some crappy weather.

 

Whe I lived in the cold climates of upstate NY, I never let the car idle in the winter except for the time it took to brush off the snow. I got in and drove and the car did drive and get warm during sub zero temperatures, even when I was driving a 78 Rabbit diesel.

 

With this being the first winter I've owned this car I don't know how fast it might thaw out when the real stuff hits. There were times when I would go out and start the Neon and in the time it took to get all the ice and snow off it was plenty warm enough inside.

When I had my first air cooled VW beetle I used to put my Coleman catalytic heater under the engine to keep it warm then once I got the buggy going I'd put the heater inside.

In no time it was plenty warm enough to even defrost the windshield.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how long you let the car warm up around here if it is sleeting or snowing many times just driving along even at the reduced speed weather like that calls for causes the crap to freeze on the windshield and other windows.

All you can do is stop and let it thaw again or do more scraping. Well I guess you could ***** about it and it may give you a certain amount of pleasure but really does nothing to help the actual problem.

 

I can't verify this because I've never done it myself, no real need where I live, but if a tech can access the service software/calibration file for the autostart feature with his Tech 2, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to change the run time.

 

Dave......

I'm not sure about this BUT,

I THINK you can do the 2 ten minute start cycles without letting the car turn off then restarting. Other words. if you re-due the auto start cycle BEFORE the car stops it will automatically add the 10 minutes to the first cycle. The caveat to this is that it RESTARTS the "timer" at the second try. So the best way to take advantage of this is to do the restart cycle at the 8 or 9 minute point of the first attempt.

Does this make sense? A bit of a nuisance however, since you need to keep track of the time.

I was told this but haven't tried it !!

 

This is false

This is true.

 

10 minutes should be plenty of time if you leave your heat settings on. In the cold weather your dressed appropiately anyway, I just want to speed up the window defrosting so I can get going...

 

Check your HHR for a block heater, Mine came with one, have never used it in the Ice box next door.

 

Allowing the engine proper warm up time is critical before you go hammering down the road.. The thermal expansion swells up the engine, so it is sealed around the gaskets & etc at it's best.

Then 'Hammer time"...............

 

My wife detests a cold car.... the remote start (with accompanying warm-up) was the best thing that's ever happened to her.... besides me!!!!