Advice on engine temp

[Funkyboy]

Hi All,

Just into my second week of owning a E250. One thing I've noticed is that it takes about 20 mins when you first drive the car for the temp gauge to get to 80ish. Is this normal I've always had diesels and am aware they take longer to get upto temp but I can't for the life of me remember if it was 20mins.
Doesn't take that long for the in car heating that's seems really fast.
Thanks for any advice

 

[Stratman]

Odds on the thermostat has failed. Replace it.

 

[Abcan]

Hi All, Just into my second week of owning a E250. One thing I've noticed is that it takes about 20 mins when you first drive the car for the temp gauge to get to 80ish. Is this normal I've always had diesels and am aware they take longer to get upto temp but I can't for the life of me remember if it was 20mins. Doesn't take that long for the in car heating that's seems really fast. Thanks for any advice

My 250 is the same. It takes a fair time to get up to temperature.

 

[kid-jensen]

Sounds reasonable to me.

As long as the heater works quickly, I wouldn't worry.

 

[Steveatki]

It is likely that your e class will have climate control, in which case there is an electric heater that provides warm air until the engine reaches temperature. In winter my e220 takes 5 or 6 miles to get to temp.

 

[whitenemesis]

Does the E still have the separate cabin heater (electric) to speed up cabin temps?

I know from my C270cdi the engine temp could take an age to warm depending on how it was driven. Crawl along in traffic and it never warmed up. Get straight on to an open road and it would reach operating temp in approx 6-7mins. The C didn't have the separate cabin heater so it was obvious when the engine got warm!

 

[Lit91]

Sounds completely normal and will be heavily based on the type of journey that you do, slow moving low rpm range will take longer to warm up, fast paced motorway journey at higher/constant rpm range will be quicker to warm up - this also depends on the time of the year, outside temp etc.

 

[Eric Alex]

Nothing to worry the car is okay considering the already outlined circumstances


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[Funkyboy]

Sounds reasonable to me.

As long as the heater works quickly, I wouldn't worry.

I think this is the quickest I've ever known a car heater to work was just concerned about getting to engine temp. From the feedback here it seems normal

 

[sappers]

I have an ML270 that has had some problems with the engine running badly and have just picked it up Friday only for it to reach normal running temperature that I took to be 80 degrees (half way on the guage) and start playing up again. However, Sunday morning and the time comes for me to take it back to the specialist and show him what's wrong and even leaving it running for half hour and then driving 3 miles up a dual carriageway at 70 then 10 miles on the motorway at 50, 3 more dual carriageway miles at 70 then 5 miles down windy back roads it still would not get higher than 60 degrees! Bloody cars!

 

[kid-jensen]

This time of the year, the best way to warm up an engine is to keep it stationary with the engine running.

Driving it (especially slowly) just blows it cold again.

That being said, if it won't go above 60, you've probably got thermostat problems. hopefully a cheap fix..

 

[markjay]

This time of the year, the best way to warm up an engine is to keep it stationary with the engine running.

Driving it (especially slowly) just blows it cold again.....

I believe current advice to drive-off as soon as the oil pressure picks up (2-3 seconds after starting the engine), then drive moderately until normal operating temperature is reached.

 

[kid-jensen]

Quite right, the manufacturers are looking for you to get the best economy, or you might start questioning thier "official" figures....

In this case, "sappers" is looking to warm the engine up to locate a fault...

 

[markjay]

Quite right, the manufacturers are looking for you to get the best economy, or you might start questioning thier "official" figures....

In this case, "sappers" is looking to warm the engine up to locate a fault...

My understanding is that driving the car puts mild load on the engine and helps it warm up quicker.

Also, running a cold engine while stationary carries a risk of increased cylinder bore wear due to excess petrol washing down the oil from the cylinder walls. Not sure how this might affect diesel engines though.

 

[markjay]

Quite a lot of info out there regarding this issue:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/amp19086/warming-up-your-car-in-the-cold-just-harms-engine/

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/videos/amp30249/why-you-shouldnt-warm-up-your-car/

Etc.

 

[markjay]

https://youtu.be/xKALgXDwou4

 

[kid-jensen]

Again true, but sappers is only interested in getting the engine above 60 for fault-diagnosis reasons.

You would have to be pretty masochistic to leave any car idling for 30 mins!

 

[markjay]

...You would have to be pretty masochistic to leave any car idling for 30 mins!

In very cold countries it may be difficult to get the engine to warm up properly when idling - hence if you don't drive off and get it up to temp quickly, you might be looking at a very long idling on the driveway...

At any rate I have been taught to drive-off as soon as the oil pressure picks-up - and because (sadly) modern cars no longer have an oil pressure gauge - I translated this to 2-3 seconds from engine start up. But to each his own....

 

[kid-jensen]

That's good practice, but more in relation to getting within the ball-park of the manufactures fuel figures than minimising engine wear.

No manufactures have any interst in in owners minimising wear...

 

[Yugguy]

I always drive off after 5 or 10 seconds. Start car, put on seatbelt, drive off.

When cold I will accelerate slowly and even use the stick to manually change gear at low rpms initially - under 2k.