Whats it called? Warm diesel engine up quicker?
- Thread starter Daff_Duck
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Soldato
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- 14 Jul 2005
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[TW]Fox;21213852 said:
Indeed. I must have some damp inside my car as I'm sure there is a hole somewhere in my driver's door seal. Even so though, I walk out to the car, clear off the ice (if there is any), start it, pop the heated screen and blowers on full and it is clear in seconds not mins, even with cold air it clears fine.
Leaving a car to idle to warm up is no issue, but it certainly doesn't take 1-2 mins for a modern multigrade oil to fully protect an engine, more like 15-20 seconds to wash any acidic deposits away, and circulate to all the bearings.
Sure you don't wanna thrash it til it's warm so all the tolerances are in the zone, but that is metal expansion not a lacking on the part of the oil
the crank. big ends, camshafts etc will all be floating in oil a few moments after starting, if not there is problems with your oil pump or the oil in the car.My car gets a 30 second or so idle in the garage so all the parts are fully lubed then driven off boost/low rpm until the engine is upto normal temperature.
I don't have any condensation inside Fox, but if I get in and hang around too long, my breath can mist the windscreen, I hazard a guess most have condensation/misting due to sitting inside a cold car shivering while they wait for their heaters to defrost the front screen
Leaving a car to idle to warm up is no issue, but it certainly doesn't take 1-2 mins for a modern multigrade oil to fully protect an engine, more like 15-20 seconds to wash any acidic deposits away, and circulate to all the bearings.
Sure you don't wanna thrash it til it's warm so all the tolerances are in the zone, but that is metal expansion not a lacking on the part of the oil
My car gets a 30 second or so idle in the garage so all the parts are fully lubed then driven off boost/low rpm until the engine is upto normal temperature.
I don't have any condensation inside Fox, but if I get in and hang around too long, my breath can mist the windscreen, I hazard a guess most have condensation/misting due to sitting inside a cold car shivering while they wait for their heaters to defrost the front screen
Likewise, even if my screen is not misted/iced up, I start the car, let it idle for 30-60s and then drive off. Unfortunately on freezing mornings it takes longer than this for the screen to clear, though the Jaaaag performs its magic trick as it has a fast clearing screen and it is a great thing, wished all cars had them.
The Audi A4 3 litre diesel takes a good while to warm up, takes a while to demist too, and typically does have condensation inside the car after a cold night. Even the seat heater takes ages to warm up properly, I can drive the car a few miles before I really start to feel the seat heater working. However the Volvo V50 2 litre diesel warms up quite fast, the seat heater starts working before I get to the end of my road, by the time I've gone a couple of miles (same place I'd be in the Audi when it just starts to make it's self known) I'm turning it off so it doesn't cook by back and behind. Also, the Volvo hardly needs any demisting at all really, and when it does it happens really fast.
I've had some pretty big differences in warm up time, demist time and such across my cars. I do miss the heated windscreen of the last Jag I had and the ST220 though, the best Jag, the black V8 however did not have a heated windscreen, only the gold V6.
Despite the fact the Volvo is one of the most dreary and dull cars I have owned, certainly the slowest and most boring I have had in many years, it actually has the best seat heaters and the best climate and heating system of any car I have owned, including the E39 (which was a very close second best imo). Although it doesn't have an auxiliary heater like that did as far as I can tell.
I've had some pretty big differences in warm up time, demist time and such across my cars. I do miss the heated windscreen of the last Jag I had and the ST220 though, the best Jag, the black V8 however did not have a heated windscreen, only the gold V6.
Despite the fact the Volvo is one of the most dreary and dull cars I have owned, certainly the slowest and most boring I have had in many years, it actually has the best seat heaters and the best climate and heating system of any car I have owned, including the E39 (which was a very close second best imo). Although it doesn't have an auxiliary heater like that did as far as I can tell.
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since when has idleing been bad for an engine?
Idling is't great for very prolonged periods and it's not ideal when the engine is cold either, as the fluids take much longer to warm up compared to just driving it, but it's nowhere near as bad as some people seem to suggest it is. They are just being overly cautious really.
I've yet to hear of an engine die because of 5-10 minutes of idleing.
A fuel additive to make a diesel engine to run hot?.....does not sound sensible at all
Neither have I, but as I said, technically it's not great, or ideal when the engine is stone cold ...but it's not really going to do any harm, it's just not 'ideal'. Which is mostly what other people have been saying. I wouldn't worry about it, hell I wouldn't give it a second thought. And I also said for very prolonged periods, by which I mean much more than 10 minutes.
Cool, where is this component.
Most anti-wear additives only start to lay down sacrificial Zinc Phosphate at 75-80C.
Cam loadings are highest at idle too, so you have the combination of highest loads and lowest protection on a car idling from startup. Add to this the cold air increasing wall wetting/needing a richer mixture and you risk bore polish and increase fuel dilution.
Obviously points taken above that you can't drive straight away buy you don't need 10mins to warm a car, even my leaky convertible is ready to go by the time ive scraped ice off.
Hardware and roller followers have mitigated a lot of the 'real world issues' but in reality idling a car from cold is not ideal and also a massive waste of fuel.
been a few cars stolen doing this (i leave my car sometimes on a morning) but i wouldnt reccomend it to anyone
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
This isnt really right
You are confusing letting an engine idle to cool a TURBO down with letting an engine idle to cool the engine. Its good to let it idle to cool your turbo but for the engine itself, it acheives nothing.
An engine idling wont cool down. Infact idling in traffic is amongst the harshest things your cooling system has to deal with. When idle, there is no airflow to cool the engine, the radiator therefore has to work much harder and the engine will get HOTTER and not cooler. This is why your electric fan cuts in when you are in heavy traffic - you are idling the engine and there is no airflow to cool it.
Therefore unless you are specifically cooling a turbo, it is completely counterproductive to allow an engine to idle with the goal of cooling it down.
Nobody sells a device that lets the engine stay on to cool it - these are turbotimers and exist purely for the turbo cooling functionality.
What a strange thread 
Life's too short to worry about damaging an engine to idle for five mins to get it warm.
I start my dag dag up in the morning, heater to full, fan set to recirc and it's usually warm in there and windows clear within five mins!
Life's too short to worry about damaging an engine to idle for five mins to get it warm.
I start my dag dag up in the morning, heater to full, fan set to recirc and it's usually warm in there and windows clear within five mins!
One could argue life is too short to waste 5 mins idling
Sorry, I don't understand your post?
What component are you on about?
Idling a cold engine to get the oil fully circulated for 15-30 seconds is recommended, there is no need to do it any longer than that as I said. A modern 0w-40 is going to have plenty of surface tension/viscosity to keep cam bearings loaded, although the colder oil creates more drag. The antiwear additive that is laid down is only to really protect during a cold crank, once the oil is circulated there is no metal to metal contact except in the pistons, and they are a loose fit until properly warmed, hence why a lot of engines have piston slap when cold, so cold oil or warm oil, the additive is not an issue for idling. Combustion chamber surface temperature and piston temperature will exceed 80 degrees C within 5-10 seconds of startup, coolant will obviously not be.
If you leave your car idling for 5 minutes on the choke/cold start circuit then sure, some bore wash is inevitable, but you would have to do it a lot to do any real damage (excepting some nikasil coatings that can die very quickly), the best reason to not idle your car for an extensive period of time is the cost to you in fuel and the environment.
Gotta be honest, you probably leave your car idling way longer than I do, as I never have to de-ice my car from the garage
Sure driving your car is the quickest way to warm it up, but that leads to morons driving down the road with a letterbox view on frosty mornings
What a strange thread
Life's too short to worry about damaging an engine to idle for five mins to get it warm.
I start my dag dag up in the morning, heater to full, fan set to recirc and it's usually warm in there and windows clear within five mins!
My rubbishy diesel takes about 10 mins before warm air starts to come out the heater. Luckily I don't drive that often now but when I did it was horrible at the start of the journey
Soldato
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[TW]Fox;21213852 said:
I was thinking this too, scrape the ice, couple blasts with the windscreen wipers and away i go.
My heater gets hot silly quick regardless though, about a mile from my house and its chucking out warm air! Although it might only feel warm as i'm unable to wear a coat while driving due to the bucket seat + harnesses, its bare metal all over the inside of my car and i often have the window down while smoking