estate-agent
Active Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2007
- Messages
- 119
- Car
- W203 270 CDI Wagon - previously CLK 320 CDI Sport
A regular car engine is fitted with a thermostat, this acts as a barrier in the cooling system so an engine can get up to its operating temperature as quick as possible. Driving it will almost definitely warm the engine faster than sitting at idle, airflow in the radiator will only be cooling pretty much what's currently in the radiator as the closed thermostat restricts the flow of coolant within the engine. Once up to a set temperature the thermostat opens and the water can flow around the engine to cool it, this thermostat if working correctly should keep the engines temperature stable unless you really are in extreme weathers.
Diesels are slow to warm compared to its petrol equivalent as it is a compression ignition engine rather than a internal combustion engine, the diesel engine blocks are also much thicker than a petrol motor taking much longer to warm up.
A thermostat change is quite often an easy DIY task or cheap job at a garage, well worth changing if you have over / under cooling to illuminate it as a problem.
Now its winter I usually start my engine, clean of my windows, choose some tunes for the stereo and then drive off after a few minutes, I then usually drive with ease of throttle and use a little boost on the hills if there's room in front to start building some engine temperature. Modern engine and oils etc mean a engine will happily withstand cold starts and driven fairly hard immediately without any major effects. My motors on a 130k now and once warmed up a bit sounds as good as new
.
Diesels are slow to warm compared to its petrol equivalent as it is a compression ignition engine rather than a internal combustion engine, the diesel engine blocks are also much thicker than a petrol motor taking much longer to warm up.
A thermostat change is quite often an easy DIY task or cheap job at a garage, well worth changing if you have over / under cooling to illuminate it as a problem.
Now its winter I usually start my engine, clean of my windows, choose some tunes for the stereo and then drive off after a few minutes, I then usually drive with ease of throttle and use a little boost on the hills if there's room in front to start building some engine temperature. Modern engine and oils etc mean a engine will happily withstand cold starts and driven fairly hard immediately without any major effects. My motors on a 130k now and once warmed up a bit sounds as good as new
.
