Warming up a diesel?

[gldgti]

A question for the owners of the older diesels. Do you notice a difference when using your cold-start cables. Really my 1500 diesel seems just as happy starting with it in or out and doesnt seems to alter the revs at all. or is it meant to charge the fuel mix?
I'm wondering if it not adjusted correctly, broken or just normal and not really needed in a sydney winter.

mate,
the cold start cable advances the injection timing on the injector pump below 2500rpm, thats all.

if your injector pressures are a long way out (very old) or your glow plugs are crap (very old) then you may notice little difference in the cold starting behaviour. you should be able to notice an increase in the diesel rattle when the cable is pulled out at idle.

hope that helps

[Greg Roles]

OK to make up for my newbie bad behaviour several posts back......

Just wanted to add that the Exhaust gas recirculation system is also designed to assist warmup. On the latest TDI ( not sure about the earlier ones ) the exhaust gas cooler in this system is bypassed until the water temp gets over about 40 degrees, adding straight hot exhaust gas to the inlet, to assist faster warmup.

If I do cripple this system, I am currently considering leaving this cold start portion in place, and just blanking off the cooled pathway.

[bluey]

I found this an interesting read, though slightly old now.

http://tdiclub.com/TDIFAQ/

It mentioned diesels being so thermally efficient they would not warm up appreciably idling.

Mobil's lubricant selector recommends for Polo 1.9TDi Mobil 1 especially 5W30 grade. Put you own car in and see what it says.... (All companies seem to have something similar.)

http://www.datateck.com.au/lube/mobil_au/

Personally, I'm happy keeping synthetic in the engine. Bedding in rings might take a little longer but I'm happy not wearing out the other moving parts using an inferior lubricant.

[Soup Nazi]

VW Tdi engines are cool running and take long time to warm up compared to others. Fully synthetic oils are ideal for this application as they flow very well when cold and remain stable at high temps for the turbo bearings. Additionally they are absolutely critical for the cleaning of the EGR system, nothing short of blocking the EGR off altogether will keep your intake manifold completely clean but this is the next best thing. You should also consider a provent.

PD engines also have very high loads on the cam lobes, vw has gone to great lengths to establish a spec for the oils they use, stay with them.

IMHO anyone using any petroleum based oils anywhere near a Tdi should be scheduled! Oil is cheap.

[Shifter]

SN, could you elaborate on the use of sythetic lube oils a little for me?

Is it not true that VW recommend and use a Castrol lubricant (VW506)?

Castrol as far as I am aware do not make any base oil stocks, they blend using "other" base stocks, presumably BP now?

Would Mobil 1 (0 -50W) or a good quality CG-4, CH-4 or even CH-I oil be a good substitute for the Castrol oil? Mobil of course do make their own base stock.

Interesting!

[brad]

SN, could you elaborate on the use of sythetic lube oils a little for me?

Is it not true that VW recommend and use a Castrol lubricant (VW506)?

Castrol as far as I am aware do not make any base oil stocks, they blend using "other" base stocks, presumably BP now?

Would Mobil 1 (0 -50W) or a good quality CG-4, CH-4 or even CH-I oil be a good substitute for the Castrol oil? Mobil of course do make their own base stock.

Interesting!

It might be worthwhile to do a search of the forum & read the oil threads.

VW recomend you use oil of the correct VW spec. For most of the late model diesels, this is now VW507. Your owners manual will confirm this.

VW do not recomend any particular brand of oil & factory fill is generally thought to be Shell or Fuchs. Here is a list of some of the VW aproved manufacturers of 504/507 spec oil. nb: double check that Australian product is compliant/approved as this list is eurocentric.

The SAI(??) specs that you quoted don't really count.

[Transporter]

SN, could you elaborate on the use of sythetic lube oils a little for me?

Is it not true that VW recommend and use a Castrol lubricant (VW506)?

Castrol as far as I am aware do not make any base oil stocks, they blend using "other" base stocks, presumably BP now?

Would Mobil 1 (0 -50W) or a good quality CG-4, CH-4 or even CH-I oil be a good substitute for the Castrol oil? Mobil of course do make their own base stock.

Interesting!

VW tests the oils and when they pass their test they give it an approval. I have some saved documents on Castrol oils and engine tests in this LINK

[Shifter]

API specs are the ones I quoted CG-I etc.

Thanks for the listing of various lube oil - interesting to see Castrol Edge there and some Mobil products.

I will continue my quest to find a sound wquivalent to the VW 507.

It might be Penrite Enviro Plus 5W 30, but will have to do a little more reaserch. http://www.penriteoil.com.au/pis_pdf...ine%20Oils.pdf

[brad]

API specs are the ones I quoted CG-I etc.

Thanks for the listing of various lube oil - interesting to see Castrol Edge there and some Mobil products.

I will continue my quest to find a sound wquivalent to the VW 507.

It might be Penrite Enviro Plus 5W 30, but will have to do a little more reaserch. http://www.penriteoil.com.au/pis_pdf...ine%20Oils.pdf

As I said, check the manufacturers Tech Data Sheets as Australian Edge 5w30 is only 502/505 IIRC.

There are plenty of alternatives available in Australia. Mobil1 ESP 5w30, SHell Helix Ultra Plus, Fuchs, Valvoline & Motul all have product.

[Shifter]

Thanks for the info.

[flat04]

Would just like to say a big thank you for the useful information in this thread. Thanks for your time contributing.

Andrew

[Frankenstrat]

This is all new to me since my 103TDI is the first diesel I've driven.

My typical day's driving comprises the following;
Drive slowly out of my garage down the driveway (I live in a complex of four townhouses).
Approximately 5 minutes of 50km/h in a built up area.
Two to three minutes sat at the lights waiting for them to change.
Three minutes of 60km/h then I'm on the freeway (if I get through the second set of lights).
Approximately 17 minutes of mostly 100km/h
Leave the freeway then fifteen minutes that varies from 80km/h, 70km/h, 60km/h, 40km/h, 60km/h 80km/h, 60km/h. Then I'm at work.

In future I will make a conscious effort not to use the cruise control on the freeway, although I have to override it fairly often usually when traffic is entering.

The display on the dashboard tells me when to change gear, and sometimes when I lob it into 6th, it feels to me like the engine is labouring, so I drop it back down. The fact that you guys recommend giving the engine a bit of stick is very welcome news to me, particularly since it won't adversely affect the fuel consumption. On the odd occasion when I've had to jab the throttle, the car responds really well, so it's gratifying to know we're both deriving benefit from that!

[NovaArtist]

Regarding the auto "upshift" indicator in the dash - you're doing 70 in 5th at about 1200 rpm and it tells you to up shift to 6th. You can feel that you just on the edge of the engine being happy at that speed in 5th - so going to 6th does not make sense to me. I think you have to pick your times when to believe the computer display, and when to say "yeah right - as if"