Allow Time to Warm Up the Engine In order to start a diesel engine and keep it running in cold weather, you must make sure you allow plenty of time for your engine to warm up. If you do not let your engine warm up before driving, you will make it work harder than necessary, which will lead to problems later on.
If your fleet is running within the cloud point of your diesel fuel, not warming up your engine could lead to some potential issues with the fuel filter plugging. Cold filter plugging point (CFPP): The CFPP indicates the lowest possible temperature a diesel fuel can still pass through a 45-micron filter.
Modern diesel vehicles have better cooling systems than those of old and are designed to warm-up the vehicle quickly. Letting the vehicle start and idle for a minute or two will not hurt it and will only help but much more than that is really unnecessary in my opinion.
The more cold-starts your diesel is subjected to, the shorter its lifespan will be. Inconsistent metal expansion and poor-flowing (thick) lubricants don't provide protection from moving parts. Another thing to worry about is fuel washing the cylinder walls before compression ignition can occur.
Myth: Diesel engines need to warm up at idle for 5 to 10 minutes or more especially on cold days before driving them. Fact: This is one of the most common myths about diesel engines. Most engine manufacturers recommend that newer diesel engines idle for no more than 3 minutes before driving.
Unnecessary idling wastes fuel, causes air pollution and increases engine wear. An idling diesel engine produces much higher emissions than it would while using the same amount of fuel under load. Extended idling causes a build-up of soot inside the engine and results in a puff of black smoke when the engine revs.
Diesel's should be driven hard periodically. The reason for this is found in the large amount of carbon deposits that build up in diesel engines that are not opened up on occasion. A good way to do it is, simply to drop into a low gear while pulling a hill to get the RPMs up for several minutes.
Over the years the speed of 56mph has often been talked about as being the optimum speed. This was due to the old fuel consumption test being run at three speeds: urban, 56mph and 75mph – and 56mph was always, unsurprisingly, the most efficient of these. Typically, cars are most efficient at 45-50mph.
Consider Heating Options
A Diesel-Fired Coolant Heater: This heater can allow you to heat up your engine in an area where electricity may not be readily available. Glow Plugs: These can help you ignite cold fuel, and ether can heat the fuel-air mixture inside of a large-sized engine.
Just 0.4 percent coolant containing glycol in diesel engine oil is enough to coagulate soot and cause a dump-out condition leading to sludge, deposits, oil flow restrictions and filter blockage. According to one study, glycol contamination results in wear rates 10 times greater than water contamination alone.
The best thing you can do to warm up your diesel engine—after letting it idle for no longer than two minutes—is to start driving it. Heading off at a steady pace will heat up the engine and get the oil circulating.
Many diesels come equipped with built-in electric-powered block heaters to keep the engine block warm overnight. You just park the vehicle, plug the heater cord into a heavy-duty three-pronged extension cord, and then plug the extension cord into a 110-volt electrical socket that can handle a threepronged plug.
Diesel engines depend on high temperatures created by compression to ignite the injected fuel and that makes them harder to start in cold weather than a gasoline engine. In fact, starting a diesel engine at 0°F (-17°C) is five times harder than starting one at 80°F (26°C).
In practice, refueling with diesel fuel, while the engine is running, is non-hazardous. If you drop a lighted match into a pool of diesel oil, the match will go out. It is very hard to ignite the oil in bulk. It has to be in a very hot environment, of atomised by the car's injectors, before it will ignite.
As a consequence of a higher compression ratio (longer stroke and turbocharger), diesel engines produce more torque which means you get more acceleration off the line.
But a diesel car could be right for you if your annual mileage is around 15,000+ miles per year. This is because diesel is around 20% more efficient than petrol so it should be cheaper to run in the long term, but only for drivers who go long distances or travel on motorways regularly.
Due to diesel engines' increased fuel economy, you can get up to double the kilometres out of a tank, meaning less trips to the service station. Diesel fuel is less prone to price fluctuations than petrol.
In regards to actually learning to drive, you'll find there's not going to be much difference, only that the diesel may feel more powerful and is more noisy to drive. You'll notice these more if you practice with a friend or family member in a car that's a petrol.
Diesel engines, because of the weight and compression ratio, tend to have lower maximum RPM ranges than gasoline engines (see Question 381 for details). This makes diesel engines high torque rather than high horsepower, and that tends to make diesel cars slow in terms of acceleration.
As a general rule of thumb, if it is below zero degrees Fahrenheit, you should allow your engine up to seven minutes to warm up. If the temperature is between zero and fifty degrees, the warm-up period should be three to five minutes. Over fifty degrees will only require one or two minutes to warm up.
Diesel engine longevity is primarily due to two factors. The engines are built more durably to handle the compression force of the ignition cycle, and the fuel itself is an oil that gently lubricates the engine as it runs.
If you are caught in an unseasonably cold weather situation, consider leaving the engine idling when possible. While this will limit your fuel efficiency, because idling does burn fuel, it will keep the fuel warm and prevents it from gelling.