Car taking ages to heat up

Zascar

My mother just got a 2011 Nissan Qashqai diesel, she loves it but is very upset as it seems to take forever to hear up. She really hates the cold - so with her previous 15 year old Mazda 626, she's start the car for 2-3 mins before getting into it and it would be nice and warm by the time she got in.

She's saying with the new car she's tried waiting 15 minutes and it's still not very warm. She's very unhappy about this as she's spent quite a lot of money on this car and gutted she'll be cold driving it.

Does this sounds like a problem with the car or are they just like this? Someone else told me diesels take longer to hear up is this true? What could we do to try to improve it?

tossy

Zascar wrote: »

What could we do to try to improve it?

Drive it, it will heat up way quicker in motion than it will sitting still running.

yannakis

15 minutes sounds extreme to me. First thing that comes in mind is coolant level, but make sure to only check it when the engine is dead cold.

Cabin heating is usually grabbing heat off the coolant, and the heat exchange happens after the engine and before the radiator. If the coolant level is too low, the circulation pump will not be able to do it's job and this might eventually even damage the engine.

easygoing39

diesels do take longer to heat up,my sister's car takes 6 km to get the temp guage to normal.It's nothing to do with low coolant level,if it was low the car would overheat,not take ages to heat up like it is now.And tell your ma to just get in the car and drive,thats the quickest way to get the engine up to temp.

TeaBagMania

easygoing39 wrote: »

diesels do take longer to heat up

This ^^

punisher5112

Tell her to go back to petrol if she wants heat right away.

Diesel set up means much longer warm up time.

Its good practice to let run as she did for 1 or 2 minutes but she would be wasting fuel leaving much longer as 15 minutes is too much.

Diesel engines also need longer drives as that's where all the issues start where only used to go around the block or 5 minutes to the shop.

CorkMan_

I got a diesel last year after nearly 20 years of petrol cars. 1st thing I noticed was how much longer diesels take to heat up compared to petrols. Best thing she can do is drive it, only wasting time etc letting it idle.

yannakis

easygoing39 wrote: »

It's nothing to do with low coolant level,if it was low the car would overheat,not take ages to heat up like it is now.

OP is talking about cabin air temperature, not the engine (coolant) temperature gauge. The latter would possibly also show incorrect temperature in case coolant level is low as it would be in contact with the air in the system.

bliger

What could we do to try to improve it?

After short trip check/toch the radiator if its warm then thermostat is gone, change it not a big/expensive job.

demanufactured

Zascar wrote: »

My mother just got a 2011 Nissan Qashqai diesel, she loves it but is very upset as it seems to take forever to hear up. She really hates the cold - so with her previous 15 year old Mazda 626, she's start the car for 2-3 mins before getting into it and it would be nice and warm by the time she got in.

She's saying with the new car she's tried waiting 15 minutes and it's still not very warm. She's very unhappy about this as she's spent quite a lot of money on this car and gutted she'll be cold driving it.

Does this sounds like a problem with the car or are they just like this? Someone else told me diesels take longer to hear up is this true? What could we do to try to improve it?

What sort if driving dies she do?
Does the temperature gauge take a ling time to move after starting driving from cold?

enumbers

Sounds pretty standard , petrols will get up to temp much quicker

t305nqe

Buy her a jumper and tell her to put it on before she gets into the car....

Problem solved.

CiniO

punisher5112 wrote: »

Tell her to go back to petrol if she wants heat right away.

Diesel set up means much longer warm up time.

Its good practice to let run as she did for 1 or 2 minutes but she would be wasting fuel leaving much longer as 15 minutes is too much.

Diesel engines also need longer drives as that's where all the issues start where only used to go around the block or 5 minutes to the shop.

Why do you think it's good practice?

From my experience, if outside temperature is above -20 deg.C, there shouldn't be a need to let engine run at all before moving off.

4 cyl diesels are notorious for taking an age to heat up relative to petrols and large diesel engines with more cylinders.

It'll heat up quicker driving it, idling it to let it eat up is wasteful and largely pointless unless you wait 15 minutes which is ridiculously wasteful.

punisher5112

CiniO wrote: »

Why do you think it's good practice?

From my experience, if outside temperature is above -20 deg.C, there shouldn't be a need to let engine run at all before moving off.

Do you really think that's OK?

Turbo needs oil to circulate so really is a good idea instead of getting in starting and driving right off.

CiniO

punisher5112 wrote: »

Do you really think that's OK?

Turbo needs oil to circulate so really is a good idea instead of getting in starting and driving right off.

Yea, I start engine, let it run for few seconds before I fasten by belt and engage the gear, and I drive off.
Very gently on accelerator pedal in the beginning- usually not exceeding 1500rpm within first minute at which RPMs turbo doesn't even start spinning fast.
Then for next few minutes I drive more normal reaching up to 2500rpm and still gently pressing on accelerator.
And about 15 minutes of driving I don't hesitate to floor it as much as I wish, and rev up to 4500rpm.


I do similar in petrol cars, but usually instead of taking 15 minutes it's 5 minutes to have to nearly fully warmed up.

Also worth remembering that coolant temp gauge reaching normal temperature doesn't mean engine oil is already warmed up, so always good few minutes waiting before you floor it is desired.

But starting car and letting it warm up at idle is nonsense.
You will warm it up much faster when driving gently without causing any extra wear and tear to the engine comparing to warming up at idle.