Car slow to warm up

tuxy

Since only a diesel car I have noticed it takes longer for the temp gauge to the half way point. It normally takes about 10 mins where it used to take less than half that in a petrol. But now since the cold weather it can take up to 40 mins! It eventually gets there and stays on the half way mark once it does but it just takes so long. Is this normal?

BTW car is a 2.0 d4d corolla

Cookie_Monster

well the whole block is considerably colder than in normal weather conditions, plus air flowing around and into the engine much colder too.
I don't really see much of an issue.

Apparently Dublin buses have quite a hard time reaching operating temp in this weather and as a result no heating in the cab.

tuxy

Yeah it's not much of an issue, just any petrol car I've had has never taken this long to warm up no matter what temperature it is outside. 40 mins just seems excessive and I was wondering if there could be any adverse affects from running the engine for so long when it has not warmed up.

Diesels take longer to develop excess heat, they are a more efficient engine. Many new ones don't rely on engine heat to warm the cabin for that very reason.

BlackWizard

I have a piece of cardboard on my front grill. Helps with heating the engine up because it blocks some of the air flow.

But my car seems to take a long time anyway to reach optimal temp. It's a 3.0 diesel so that might be the reason.

keithclancy

Totally normal, during the really cold weather (-17) last year it took my TDI about 45 minutes to warm up.

Pkiernan

By warming up, do you mean that the car is just idling?

At these temps it is quite possible that if the engine in just idling it may never get warm enough to heat up the cab to a comfortable level.


You may have to just try to drive it normally and suffer the cold until it does warm up.

tuxy

keithclancy wrote: »

Totally normal, during the really cold weather (-17) last year it took my TDI about 45 minutes to warm up.

Did it hit -17 last year!? -12 was as cold as it got here in Tipp
But is it not weird that it takes your TDI 45 mins to warm up in -17 and my D4D 40 min at -6/8

tuxy

Pkiernan wrote: »

By warming up, do you mean that the car is just idling?

At these temps it is quite possible that if the engine in just idling it may never get warm enough to heat up the cab to a comfortable level.


You may have to just try to drive it normally and suffer the cold until it does warm up.

No by warming up I mean I am driving it but generally would be averaging about 2,000 rpm so taking it fairly handy.

a_v525

my diesel bimmer could take all day to reach the miracle halfway point of operating temp in this weather. Just blows cold air. Few weeks ago I drove from Dublin to Limerick in the worst of the snow & the car never reached over 1/4 on the temp gauge, stayed just in the blue :rolleyes:

And when I arrived in Lim I stil had about 1.5 inches of snow on the engine.

but43r

I would check the thermostat. It is possible that the thermostat is stuck in open position and the coolant is circulating the big circle all the time. This would lead to car taking ages to reach optimal temperature or may even never reach it.

I have also heard of thermostats that are designed to operate in colder climates but don't know how true is it.

I'v seen cars taking little bit longer to reach optimal temperature in -30 but it would't be anywhere near 40 minutes.

Biglad

My SAAB takes about twice a slong to get to normal operating temperature which in these conditions is about 15mins I'd say.

Didn't think that in modern cars the heater temperature was fully depending on engine temperature?

keithclancy

tuxy wrote: »

Did it hit -17 last year!? -12 was as cold as it got here in Tipp
But is it not weird that it takes your TDI 45 mins to warm up in -17 and my D4D 40 min at -6/8

Living in the South of Holland. This was in Duisberg in Germany though, about an hours drive from here. It did get bloody cold !!!

Biglad

keithclancy wrote: »

Living in the South of Holland. This was in Duisberg in Germany though, about an hours drive from here. It did get bloody cold !!!

Noord-Brabant, that's where my home place is

Anan1

I dunno lads, my (petrol) Forester still only takes 5 minutes to reach normal on the gauge. 45 minutes sounds like a definite thermostat problem to me.

Biglad

Anan1 wrote: »

I dunno lads, my (petrol) Forester still only takes 5 minutes to reach normal on the gauge. 45 minutes sounds like a definite thermostat problem to me.

Agree, but with a faulty stat would you expect the car to reach normal operating temperature at all in these conditions? I would have thought she would stay well below if the stat was open all the time.

Anan1

Biglad wrote: »

Agree, but with a faulty stat would you expect the car to reach normal operating temperature at all in these conditions? I would have thought she would stay well below if the stat was open all the time.

I suppose it depends how it's being driven. I'd expect it to reach normal temp eventually in traffic, but the temp would fall away fast once the car was up to speed on the open road.

BrianD3

Drove a Megane 1.5 DCi yesterday for about 2 hours and gauge didn't get above 1/8th "full". A combination of heater on (blowing fairly warm air) diesel engine and sedate open road driving in cold weather.

tuxy

Anan1 wrote: »

I suppose it depends how it's being driven. I'd expect it to reach normal temp eventually in traffic, but the temp would fall away fast once the car was up to speed on the open road.

I used to have a 2.0 petrol celica that had a thermostat that was stuck up and this is exactly how it would behave. With the car I have now it does not drop temp on the open road. Just trying to find out what is normal for a diesel engine.

Biglad

You would have to compare your vehicle with somebody with the same vehicle and enigine I suppose. Like I said, my SAAB 93 1.9TiD takes a bit longer to warm up but then runs at the same temperature as it does in the summer.

I was always under the impression that diesels heated up quicker than petrols but reading abck that must be a missconception, it's been years since I had a petrol car and it would run on LPG so no comparisson.

Anan1

Is the radiator fan running when the engine's cold? Also, how long does it take the heater to work normally?

niallfullback

BrianD3 wrote: »

Drove a Megane 1.5 DCi yesterday for about 2 hours and gauge didn't get above 1/8th "full". A combination of heater on (blowing fairly warm air) diesel engine and sedate open road driving in cold weather.

Experienced the same. Also had it showing half way and then cooling as we slowed the pace down:eek:

RandomAccess

Up until recently most Diesels were made with cast iron engine blocks, whereas petrol engines have been made from lighter alloys for some time as far as I know.

I expect cast iron would take longer to warm up than an aluminum alloy or such..

Anybody have any facts to back this up?, as for once googling is failing me!

SouperComputer

One way to check if its the thermostat is to watch the temp when you get on a main road and are cruising. If the car was already warm and you see the gauge drop, then your thermostat isnt working as it should.

Nissan doctor

If you are starting the car and then turning on the interior heating to full then the engine will take a lot longer to get up to temperature then if you have the cabin heater switched off.

If everything else is working correctly and all levels are ok then I'd say its normal for these abnormally low temperature we have.

John.G

I know this thread is 10 years old but still topical?.

Above car, 65 BHP petrol, seems to take a inordinate time to achieve normal coolant temperature, even in summer months.
Yesterday, for example, ambient of 2C, in driving ~ 12 kms, fairly sedately, with blower speed on 1, it never reached 90C, more like 70ish, I definitely know that a 2005 Polo with practically the same engine, driving under the same conditions will reach "normal" in well less than half that distance, a VW petrol Bora was very similar.
It is also quite slow to reach normal coolant temperature in the summer, with the blower off.

It is certainly not the thermostat as I felt the hoses a few times and they were stone cold. Just wondering if the the small degassing (venting) hose that bypasses the thermostat and then is teed in to the main top rad hose, is flowing enough water through the rad to slow down the heat up process, also this engine is more efficient than the 2005 one as it has ~ 40% better fuel economy which doesn't help the heat up process, you can't win.

corks finest

Pkiernan wrote: »

By warming up, do you mean that the car is just idling?

At these temps it is quite possible that if the engine in just idling it may never get warm enough to heat up the cab to a comfortable level.


You may have to just try to drive it normally and suffer the cold until it does warm up.

I've a Honda hybrid and a warning blue light comes on until the engine reaches normal operating temperature,
So I don't put on the heater, heated seats, A/Cetc until it goes out which normally takes a few minutes

bazz26

Lets hope the car warms up quicker than this 10 year old zombie thread.

Beltby

John.G wrote: »

I know this thread is 10 years old but still topical?.

Above car, 65 BHP petrol, seems to take a inordinate time to achieve normal coolant temperature, even in summer months.
Yesterday, for example, ambient of 2C, in driving ~ 12 kms, fairly sedately, with blower speed on 1, it never reached 90C, more like 70ish, I definitely know that a 2005 Polo with practically the same engine, driving under the same conditions will reach "normal" in well less than half that distance, a VW petrol Bora was very similar.
It is also quite slow to reach normal coolant temperature in the summer, with the blower off.

It is certainly not the thermostat as I felt the hoses a few times and they were stone cold. Just wondering if the the small degassing (venting) hose that bypasses the thermostat and then is teed in to the main top rad hose, is flowing enough water through the rad to slow down the heat up process, also this engine is more efficient than the 2005 one as it has ~ 40% better fuel economy which doesn't help the heat up process, you can't win.

Drive the car on. It will never heat up in cold weather if you're driving like Captain Slow. Hold onto the gears for longer and bring the revs up. Drive it a bit harder.

Buddy Bubs

If I drive my 2.0 audi diesel into work on my normal commute, 50 kmph or so through urban areas its not warm by the time I get there 15 mins later. If I get stuck in traffic and it takes me 25 mins it's still not warm. Temperature Guage still shows minimum. It's an 8 speed automatic and rpm never goes high on the commute.

If I take the car from cold and go the other direction and hit the motorway, it will be at optimum temperature in 10-15 mins on the open road.

Alanstrainor

John.G wrote: »

I know this thread is 10 years old but still topical?.

Above car, 65 BHP petrol, seems to take a inordinate time to achieve normal coolant temperature, even in summer months.
Yesterday, for example, ambient of 2C, in driving ~ 12 kms, fairly sedately, with blower speed on 1, it never reached 90C, more like 70ish, I definitely know that a 2005 Polo with practically the same engine, driving under the same conditions will reach "normal" in well less than half that distance, a VW petrol Bora was very similar.
It is also quite slow to reach normal coolant temperature in the summer, with the blower off.

It is certainly not the thermostat as I felt the hoses a few times and they were stone cold. Just wondering if the the small degassing (venting) hose that bypasses the thermostat and then is teed in to the main top rad hose, is flowing enough water through the rad to slow down the heat up process, also this engine is more efficient than the 2005 one as it has ~ 40% better fuel economy which doesn't help the heat up process, you can't win.

Just start a new thread.