...please tell me if there is something wrong with my car.
So today was a pretty cold winter day in Wisconsin, approximately 10 below, and my 2000 Legacy sat in the parking lot at school from 8:30 until 3:30. When I started it sputtered a little and then raced and made a high pitched whirring noise, the RPMs were also higher than normal, this continued for the first 10 or so minutes I was driving my car. Is this a sign that something could be wrong with it or the car just whining at me for leaving it out in the cold?
A true "whine" noise (sorta like a hydrolic elevator sound) is probably the alternator/serpentine belt. Mine does that too. Last year, it got worse and worse until my alternator died. With the new one, it didn't make the noise. The noise is back however, though I can't imagine the alternator is bad already. I am assuming it's just lube/wear on one of the pully-type parts and isn't siginificant. So probably don't worry about it. But if you get a light or any electrical oddness I would take it in. (So you don't get stuck in cold weather like I did!)
RPMs will be higher than normal because your car won't shift in the same places because the fluid in the transmission is cold and gooey and not as oily as it should be. That makes the valves and springs that run the thing think you are "pushing" harder and keeps it in a lower gear. You shouldnt hop in and go racing off in weather that cold. Let it warm a minute or two before moving, and drive several blocks slowly before trying highway speeds to give the fluids a chance to warm up to do their jobs. So I'd call that normal for 20 degrees or lower.
Nah, it's not just whining, it's flat out b____ing at you! :D
See Ed's note on belt tension for the "whirring" noise. Also, I'd heed the notes about letting the car warm up. Out here in SoCal, we seldom see freezing, but even at that temp, I can notice a HUGE difference in how my cars react until they warm up, so I can only imagine dropping another 40 deg F! My few hard core skier friends suggest staying in the parking lot w/ heater on "full" and not moving until you start feeling some heat... and then go easy until everything's working right.
Not really... Subaru's heating system is constant flow. There is no valve to shut off waterflow thru the heater core. Temperature is controlled by changing the *airflow* thru the heater core, not the water. There might be a few seconds difference in time. Also, the heat doesn't have to be a Santa Ana wind type hot, just noticeable.
As for the warmup time (to feel the heat coming out), Soobs do warm up quite quickly. At 25F, I've got comfortable heat in about 2.5 minutes.
If Sub's flow the same rate thru the core, as posted by somebody (nobody, lol), then putting the temp selector on "blue" won't make much difference (but it won't slow it down either). Some vehicles modulate coolant flow thru heater core by that control setting, and cutting off the flow will help the engine reach operating temps quicker.
The concept is to not drain off the warmth being generated by frittering it away in the heater core. It's probably not a huge difference, a matter of minutes at most, before you'll get hot air from the heater...and probably more noticeable the colder it is, longer the engine has had to cool to ambient temp, yadda yadda.
Yes, the Subie system is constant flow, so there's no difference whether the heater's on or off. Some cars have even had a "reduction" system in that when the heater valve's opened (actually regulating coolant flow thru the heater core as you described for "most" systems over the years), the flow back to the radiator is actually reduced. IMO, this is bad engineering, and the cars I knew of that used this system suffered overheating problems at times w/ the heater on at. I hope the engineers don't design anything w/ this type of system today.
But all that's unimportant... as is the worry of "frittering away" some of the heat. The actual point of the drill is NOT to wait to get a LOT of heat, but to be able to "notice" when the engine's starting to warm a bit, with oil flowing properly, temp sensors starting to do their jobs, all that kind of thing, before taking off and putting a strain on it. Kinda like a runner getting out of bed in the morning: he doesn't take off running right away, but moves about and maybe stretches a little first... I don't know about you guys, but I'm a bit cranky and stiff on cold mornings, and my cars seem to mirror my behavior!
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