200tdi warmup time

[Dixie]

How long should i be allowing for my 200tdi to warm up in the mornings?

Silly question I suppose, but I have replaced my temperature gauge and now the Donkey seems to take twice as long to show any movement on the gauge.

Generally, should I be warming up the car to full working temp before I set off or can I warm it for 5mins and then go? I have always taken it easy when setting off but wonder if I should be spending more time letting it get up to temp.
What's the norm?

[Mark_Solesbury]

Both my old 200tdi and my 300tdi seem to warm um quite quickly..

When driving, the needle starts to move within a couple of mins of driving, and it sits ever so slightly above half on the dash.

It takes an age if its on tickover, so i normally just set straight off

[POTASH]

id be out of fuel if i wated for mine to warm up :lol:

[Disco-Ron]

Why wait for it to get warm...... as said above, they take an age to get warm on tick over, i just start mine, let it idle for a few moments, then drive gently til it's warmed up, then hammer the hell out of it......!

[Dixie]

LOL, yeah I'm always thinking of that valuable fuel being spent on warmup. I generall give it about a minute and then set off on an easy start.

I'm puzzled why the change of gauge would change what is being shown. I don't know about the internals of a temp gauge but I would have thought it had a "sender unit" which it was just getting the info from. Is that right?

[Mark_Solesbury]

Are all guages the same scale??

There is a temp sensor that is bolted onto the engine, that sends a feed to the meter. They work on resistance... Once mine earthed out an the needle went right off the scale!!

What make have you got?

[Dixie]

Are all guages the same scale??

There is a temp sensor that is bolted onto the engine, that sends a feed to the meter. They work on resistance... Once mine earthed out an the needle went right off the scale!!

What make have you got?

Not sure what make, I got it as a cheap second hand option after the first one went off the scale.
I changed the bulbs in all my dials and 2 of the green lenses inside got fried! I then switched to LEDs but the LED end was square and wouldn't go in all the way. After a bit of brutish persuasion I managed to catch something in the gauge and it worked no more after that.

Is there any way of getting these damaged green lenses out easily?

[bigfatsi]

I've got a 200 in mine from a Disco and it takes ages to heat up. When I looked into it, it seems they are quite a 'cool' engine anyway. I've never had it really hot yet, even after long runs or heavy off-roading.

Simon

[Bob696]

2 miles before my 200Tdi even gets off the cold mark. On a cold morning it isn't even getting to the normal running temp mark by the time I get to work (6 miles/20 minutes)

[Mark_Solesbury]

Its all gonna be down to the heat shielding on the exhaust manifold, and the insulation under the bonnet...

I found the heater was more effective on my old 200tdi with the exhaust heat shield removed :)

[python]

i just start up and wait a couple of mins, it will warm up after 2 or 3 miles, no patience to wait for it to warm up itself.  :D

[ian_s]

i was once told by an engineer that you shouldnt let you engine idle when cold to warm up
it causes glazing in the bores and also increases the wear on the engine
the best thing to do was drive off ASAP and be gentle for 5/10 minutes before thrashing the goolies off it

[Evilgoat]

I did start a Poll on this somewhere. It does seem to be highly variable between cars.

[markyb]

mine starts to heat up after about 8 miles ,  I have an eletric fan that is hardly used, 8-[ :-#

[Tommo]

my 200 is at full working temp by 2.5 miles. i suggest yall check your thermostats. and ill check my rad and water pump!

[BPM]

Mine was just up to temp by the time I got to work (5 miles) so I fitted an electric fan to get rid of the viscous and use a household electric fan heater plugged into a timeswitch in the house for the interior, comes on 20 mins before i go just unplug and drive to work with no heater = warm landy from go and quicker warm up time = better engine protection and less fuel.

[X-Eng Simon]

My 200tdi SV90 used to take ten or miles to get up to temperature - and never really made it on cold days.

I changed the thermostat for a patterned one and it made it worse.  I then tested the new and old stat and neither closed properly.  I bought a spendy genuine one - and now it gets up to full temp within 2.5 miles regardless of the weather.

Si

[tonycougar]

Mine didn't really ever get warm in the winter (In summer it was redders what with the gearbox heat and all) so I have stuck a bit of ply down in front of the radiator just for the winter. Its lovely and warm now and the temp sits just on the half way mark.