Is it normal to coast up a hill from a stop?

[ari]

Subsequent to bringing my 2001 Subaru Forester in for its 90K service,
I've noticed that the revs are sometimes higher than previously
realized. To test a theory, I exited off the highway onto an incline
ramp that eventually crosses a bridge that goes over the highway. At
the bottom of the ramp, I stopped the car. I then let go of the brake
and gas and shifted into "D" and watched as I coasted all the way up
the hill. The speedometer stayed at 0 and the tachometer was around
1500 rpm. I then called the service techs and they said it was normal.
Weird.

 

[Guest]

When you just start your engine, do you wait untill your tachometr gets to
750-800 rpm? I experienced it quite a few times, when I shatred my engine
and immediately start driving. Engine rews, I loose power, and when I set
gear to "N" my tachometer shows ~1500 rpm. In this case I stopp engine,
wait for 10-15 seconds, run it again and wait untill my RPM gets below 1000
before putting my gear to drive.

 

[tomcas]

Subsequent to bringing my 2001 Subaru Forester in for its 90K service,
I've noticed that the revs are sometimes higher than previously
realized. To test a theory, I exited off the highway onto an incline
ramp that eventually crosses a bridge that goes over the highway. At
the bottom of the ramp, I stopped the car. I then let go of the brake
and gas and shifted into "D" and watched as I coasted all the way up
the hill. The speedometer stayed at 0 and the tachometer was around
1500 rpm. I then called the service techs and they said it was normal.

Sounds like BS to me. It's not normal and it's way too high. Open your
hood and look for RPM idle spec on one of the stickers. It probably
calls for something closer to 800 RPM, in drive.

 

[The_Incubator]

Subsequent to bringing my 2001 Subaru Forester in for its 90K service,
I've noticed that the revs are sometimes higher than previously
realized. To test a theory, I exited off the highway onto an incline
ramp that eventually crosses a bridge that goes over the highway. At
the bottom of the ramp, I stopped the car. I then let go of the brake
and gas and shifted into "D" and watched as I coasted all the way up
the hill. The speedometer stayed at 0 and the tachometer was around
1500 rpm. I then called the service techs and they said it was normal.
Weird.

Before my WRX I had a automatic Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am. My driveway
is unusually long and steep, I'd guess at least a 15 degree incline, and
the Firebird would crawl up that in Drive without me giving it any gas.
Of course, it was a 5.7 liter V8 with an obscene amount of low-end
torque. There's just too many variables to make it easy to say whether a
given model of car should or should not be able to idle up a given hill,
as described on usenet.

I do think a 1500 rpm idle sounds too high. My WRX idles around 1500
immediately after a cold startup, and kicks itself down below 1000 once
it's warmed up a bit (about 1 minute). I'm assuming this is normal
startup behavior, because it's done that predictably and regularly since
I bought the car. Somebody let me know if it's not supposed to do that.
If it were idling that high all the time I would take it to the dealer.

Nick

 

[Edward Hayes]

I think that 1500 rpm would be normal because; the engine is being asked to
provide more power based on a lower intake manifold vacuum and vehicle speed
sensors and to compensate the computer readjust the fuel requirements and
rpm. I see alittle of this in my slightly angled driveway. Ed Hayes