Warm up diesel car

[Mbstarz]

Who sits and warms up their diesel before driving off. And for how long?

Should this be done or are modern diesels good to drive straight away?

What are your thoughts..

 

[Sp!ke]

drive straight away is better for the engine according to Mercedes.

 

[whitenemesis]

A diesel will take ages to warm up at tickover. You need to work it to get any heat into the engine and coolant.

What I used to do was start the engine, scrape the windows and then drive away.

If it's a real issue for you get a mains powered block heater fitted. I was close to fitting one but sold the car first. The petrol engined replacement warms up very quickly in comparison

 

[henley]

I drive off straight after starting the engine, have found engine warms faster in sport mode in and around town. It also keeps the RPM up nicely which is also good for the DPF.

 

[nb_racing]

A diesel will take ages to warm up at tickover. You need to work it to get any heat into the engine and coolant.

What I used to do was start the engine, scrape the windows and then drive away.

Agreed. Leaving it to tick over you'd be there a long time. Diesels don't produce a lot of heat compared to petrol engines.

As above, if the car needs a scrape, i'll start up, scrape, then drive. But to be honest it more to get the seat heater on...

 

[artyman]

I drive straight off, drive between gently and normal for the first couple of miles.

 

[camerafodder]

Start it, drive it. Obviously take it easy at first.

 

[balge]

Always warm my 603, less than two minutes at 1500 gets the gauge off the stop, so hitting 40C, then I can turn the heater on.
Time to get comfortable, adjust the mirrors, seat, radio etc etc

 

[panason1c]

I always drive off immediately but drive gently for the first few miles.

 

[AMGeed]

I don't think any manufacturer of either a petrol or diesel car would recommend letting them tick over to warm up before driving off.

 

[Sp!ke]

I don't think any manufacturer of either a petrol or diesel car would recommend letting them tick over to warm up before driving off.

I'm not sure its even legal now..

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Start it, drive it but don't hammer it!

 

[markjay]

Drive off immediatly, but in the olden days when cars were equipped with oil pressure gauge it meant drive off as soon as the needle reaches its normal position.

These days, I just wait around 5 seconds after starting the engine, giving enough time for the oil pressure to build-up, then drive off.

 

[markjay]

On my Alfasud TI... which I had 35 years ago... the engine temp warning light was lit while the engine was cold, and it went off only once the engine reached normal working temperature.
So it doubled as engine-overheating warning light and engine-still-cold warning light... quite useful, I thought.

 

[Sp!ke]

On my Alfasud TI... which I had 35 years ago... the engine temp warning light was lit while the engine was cold, and it went off only once the engine reached normal working temperature.
So it doubled as engine-overheating warning light and engine-still-cold warning light... quite useful, I thought.

Engine tolerances are much improved now and warming is not required.

 

[markjay]

Engine tolerances are much improved now and warming is not required.

True, but 5 seconds is not warming..

 

[markjay]

Engine tolerances are much improved now and warming is not required.

Sorry, I misunderstood your post before hand.

I don't think there was an expectation from Alfa Romeo that drivers leave the engine running until the light goes off... what they meant is that you should not drive it 'Italian Style' - revving it to the red line and beyond - before the engine properly warmed-up.