Warming up diesel engines

[Jackie_Black]

Evening all,

Quick technical question. My current vehicle is a SEAT mud burner running the popular 140hp audi/vw/seat tdi motor 2004 version. On the way to work (5 miles stop start for 20 minutes) it just about gets to normal operating temp 90 degrees.

Is this normal for a diesel i.e, do they take a lot longer than petrol to warm up? I have it booked in for a new stat but I suspect it may just be the norm. Does anyone out there have a car with one of these motors in it and does it take an age to get warm?

I'm only concerned as winter is due any day now and the heaters will take a fortnight to kick in as the car has no auxiliary heater (i checked boo).

[Wideboy]

alot of people say they take a long time to warm up but my 3 series is warmed up by the time i get to the motorway, which is under 2 mins away. I haven't noticed it taking longer than any of the petrol cars I've owned. not even my misses car.

[widepants]

that Gav , is because you drive like a "Barry"

[Specialone]

Ive got a diesel 115hp mk5 golf and a transit connect diesel, both take an age to warm up, most diesels do take longer.

[Wideboy]

that Gav , is because you drive like a "Barry"
nope, never rag anything unless its at normal temperature. Otherwise i wouldnt take it on to the motorway

[Jackie_Black]

Are you going off the temp gauge or the heaters? BMW's have aux heating so the heaters will get hot quick.

[Wideboy]

temp gauge, i do have heaters and preheaters all over that place on it.

[tigersaw]

I have a diesel Yaris. It takes forever to warm up compared to a petrol, it even went back under warrentee for investigation, but it looks like thats just how they are

[Jackie_Black]

Well thats enough evidence for me!! I'm cancelling the new stat. I've read a rumour some MKIV golfs came with pre heaters, same motor as mine and year range but the fuse is empty under the bonnet on my car, boo. So no pre heater = no heat for an age, suppose i'll just live with it.

[Wideboy]

can you not retrofit the the preheater? if its the same motor there might be things in place for it to be fitted.

[yorkie_chris]

My merc is nice and toasty warm pretty quick now I've put a new thermostat in :)

That's the prehistoric 108D OM601 lump same as E240D's etc

[Whitty]

We've got a Mitsubishi outlander what uses vw/audi tdi 140bhp engine. It warms up quicker than any other car I've had, petrol or diesel inc my focus petrol which is quick to warm!

[Fallout]

Mondeo 2.0 TCDI 100k miles. Takes a long time to warm up. 5 minute journeys doesn't get the gauge off the bottom. Milage probably has an impact. How many miles?

[Jackie_Black]

It's done 69k, does the org think new stat (£75 fitted) or its just ****, accept it.

[Tim in Belgium]

Compare:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/DieselCycle_PV.svg/300px-DieselCycle_PV.svg.png

to

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/P-V_otto.png/300px-P-V_otto.png

That's part of the answer ;)

[Jackie_Black]

Is that a graph that shows how **** diesel is?

[embee]

Yep, Tim is right.

Fundamental aspect of the diesel cycle is less heat rejected to coolant compared to petrol (otto cycle), better thermal efficiency, hence better fuel consumption.

[-Ralph-]

Diesel doesnt burn as hot as petrol or rev as hard. To be expected really.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk

[Jackie_Black]

So its inferior yet more expensive, rubbish

[Dicky Ticker]

An old trick we used on trucks was to fit a piece of plastic sheet over the front of the radiator.not too much about a quarter of the height just enough for it to warm up a bit quicker but not run hot[The fan should kick in and cool a bit sooner] Just experiment with the size of the plastic sheet 1/4----1/3----1/2 till you find the happy medium.
Plastic shopping carrier and a couple of bungees--------------cheap answer.
No problem insurmountable ,it is the volume of cold air passing through the rad that stops it heating up more than the actual engine temperature.

[tigersaw]

I didnt think the radiator was in circuit until the engine had first warmed up?

[Dicky Ticker]

With a properly working thermostat it wouldn't but even after it has opened you then have all the coolant to warm up so if you reduce the surface area of the rad it heats up quicker.Remember that the ambient temperature has a lot to do with how the fan/rad performs------------cold outside and a full radiator surface takes a fair bit of heating before you are at normal operating temp.
Think back to older vehicles that had radiator blinds in the winter----all the blind or varivane did was reduce the air flow through the rad.F1 cars use a bit of duct tape over the intake pods to keep engine temp up in cooler temps
I was only suggesting a cheap fix that costs pennies and can be taken on and off in a minute if it doesn't work

[timwilky]

The DW8 in my van warms up very quickly. However the 1.9 TDI in the vectra was terrible. Stopping the wife from turning on the heater motor to blow freezing air on my feet was a pain. she seemed to think the sooner you turn on the heater motor the quicker it would warm up.

[tigersaw]

Older vehicles had a cooling fan running direcly off the crank and even in the depths of winter they still turned

[yorkie_chris]

So its inferior yet more expensive, rubbish

Give them their due, my boss has a nissan with a diesel in it, it's got something like 200bhp and absolutely flies... and gets 50mpg. I can't see a 200hp petrol getting that mileage. I don't see point of petrol in cars.

Personally I like old clunky rattly diesels, you're an oil burner, act like it! :-P

Not uncommon to see them past 400k miles on continent... wouldn't see one of these silly common fail things last that long the high pressure pump would have destroyed itself by 150k miles...