300tdi warm up time

Hi all,
Just wonderin how far you need to drive before the engine is warm?. my car seems to take a while to warm up, maybe 10 mins driving or so before the gauge gets going, once warm it stays constant just below 1/2 way ,regardless of speed / load, there is a stat in there, no overheating or waterloss problems.
cheers.

D1SCO said:

Hi all,
Just wonderin how far you need to drive before the engine is warm?. my car seems to take a while to warm up, maybe 10 mins driving or so before the gauge gets going, once warm it stays constant just below 1/2 way ,regardless of speed / load, there is a stat in there, no overheating or waterloss problems.
cheers.

Click to expand...

takes about 5 mins in mine to get upto normal temp

Sounds about right. Wait until the winter. It will reach normal but when is another story. I take it you've not had it very long.

D1SCO said:

Hi all,
Just wonderin how far you need to drive before the engine is warm?. my car seems to take a while to warm up, maybe 10 mins driving or so before the gauge gets going, once warm it stays constant just below 1/2 way ,regardless of speed / load, there is a stat in there, no overheating or waterloss problems.
cheers.

Click to expand...

Sounds like mine too, i have not had it long either so the winter should be fun. I've had series LR's and they took ages to warm up in the winter, even with the grille blocked

hippolover said:

Sounds about right. Wait until the winter. It will reach normal but when is another story. I take it you've not had it very long.

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Thanks, no point in changing the stat then.
This one ive had a couple of months, last one a v8 , tdi before that, but i thought the old tdi warmed up a bit quicker.
cheers.

I understand that in winter a Tdi takes 4 or 5 miles to get a warm heater where as the V8 will be hot in 1 or 2 miles, so remove the viscous fan and blank the lower half of the rad and then keep an eye on the temp gauge.

With the Defender I just used to put a bit of cardboard in front of the radiator grill in the past winter as it was fecking freezing, will this work on a Disco?

D1SCO said:

Hi all,
Just wonderin how far you need to drive before the engine is warm?. my car seems to take a while to warm up, maybe 10 mins driving or so before the gauge gets going, once warm it stays constant just below 1/2 way ,regardless of speed / load, there is a stat in there, no overheating or waterloss problems.
cheers.

Click to expand...

Mine is exactley the same

davek0974 said:

Sounds like mine too, i have not had it long either so the winter should be fun. I've had series LR's and they took ages to warm up in the winter, even with the grille blocked

Click to expand...

Anything like mine last winter and you'll have icycles hangin off ya nose by the time you get where you were going

I'm not sure about the newer engines but I think the 300tdi runs pretty cool .. just how it is. I replaced the stat not so long ago but it still takes at least 10 mins to get to temp and never goes above 50 deg c while the engine is running.

Is it worth replacing the viscous fan with an electric one to speed up warm-up time?

Is it worth replacing the viscous fan with an electric one to speed up warm-up time?[/quote]

Had been thinking of that dom, followed the thread on it, but i may just remove the fan over winter, as i can switch the a/c fans on if it gets warm.

Just remove the viscous fan as I understand the TDi is an 'over cool' engine and doesn't need it in the UK unless u are doing things such as towing heavy trailers up hills..

Took the viscous fan off my 300 tdi over a year ago now-got it in boot just in case-never has been needed,temp never gets up past half way-also takes about 10 mins driving to move guage

I had the same problem 2 years ago .Took ages to eventually warm up.Changed the thermostat and wonderful heat very quickly.For all the cost in time and effort worth a try. This has come up many times and changing the thermostat seems to be the answer.

cheers
Jim Anderson
1996 300Tdi auto(Jap reimport)

in the 4 years the only problems I've ever had with the cooling system was last winter when the water pump p gasket let go on th M6 at 11pm on Saturday night and I had to get back home.
I removed the viscous fan about 2 years ago and have never refitted it, the tempreture guage has never got above half way what evr I'm doing, off road, towing, fully loaded with a farm trailer ( local Scout groups kit for a weeks camp) on rough tracks in the mountains.
Maybe I've been lucky but I agree with Discool about the tdi being an overcooled engine.

The tdi 300 is, imo, an overcooled engine to cope with big towing in middler east conditions.

Assuming that your cooling system is working properly you can safely run without a fan on, permamnently. We do. It's always in the boot just in case - but never needed.

I would also change the thermostat. I did this with the first TDi 300 we've had and I now do it as a matter of course. Costs about £3 and takes 10 mins - so why wouldn't you?

Cheers
Dave

Yep, mine takes 2 miles of driving to get the needle on the move and warm air coming through, but it has to be under load.

You caould leave it sat there running for 10 mins and nothing (but at least if you do that it'll heat up a bit quicker when you do get moving, not great for de-icing the car though)

I did some enquiries (just trying to remember where, might have been Webasto) and my 98 Disco 300Tdi is able to be upgraded to an auxiliary pre heater, instead of having to have a complete unit fitted. Couldn't get a price though, the dealer info they gave me in Bristol never replied to my e-mails.