Having only owned Petrol cars in the past and now having a diesel I am still in the habit of jumping straight in to the car in the morning and turning the key, without remembering to wait for the glow plugs to heat up and the light on the dash to go out.
Am I doing any damage?
The car fires up immediately without complaint.
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I really doubt it, if it fires up straight away.
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Since getting my first diesel car I now have the routine of: get in car, turn on ignition, put on seat belt and then give the key its final turn.
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Since getting my first diesel car I now have the routine of: get in car, turn on ignition, put on seat belt and then give the key its final turn.
I use this routine anyway, and I've never owned a diesel. Can't hurt to give yourself that time to check all the dash lights are as they should be.
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Are you sure the glowplugs need any time to warm up anyway? On modern diesels (direct injection, common rail?)you rarely even see the glowplug light come on, unless for a fraction of a second and then only when very cold (below freezing?). Just to make sure, get in, switch on ignition, put seatbelt on, start engine!
Phil
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I was wondering about that.
The light comes on for about 7 seconds when the car is cold but after having been run previously scarcely lights up for a nanosecond when restarted.
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The glowplugs are there to aid starting. If it starts straight away, then there's no reason to wait for the light to go out.
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Only on the very coldest days will the glow plugs need time. On the Renault system, once you push the start button, it decides for itself when to start.
I used to appreciate the glow plug delay, it gave me time to light up a cigarette. But now that I have given that up, I stare aimlessly out of the window wondering whether it's all been worth it.
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In a word no. All the newer diesels basicaly decide if they need or how much heat they need
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You should try my Series III Landy. Turn key, light comes on and you wait.
Ponder meaning of life, propose solution to ongoing problem of West Bank, call up S Hawking to check out your latest thoughts on string theory, write a number one smash hit and still have time for vols. 1-4 of Killer Sudoko before you chance it.
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I know Nsar!
My Mother in law has a diesel AX and it takes about 3 weeks for the light to go out and until it does it will not start at all.
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You should try my Series III Landy. Turn key, light comes on and you wait. Ponder meaning of life, propose solution to ongoing problem of West Bank, call up S Hawking to check out your latest thoughts on string theory, write a number one smash hit and still have time for vols. 1-4 of Killer Sudoko before you chance it.
>>Oh the joys of series 3 diesels, my wife gave up waiting by the front door to wave me off, as the time it took to start & when it eventualy atarted she would disapeer in a cloud of smoke
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I dont think you are doing any damage. If it is really cold and you do this all that will happen is the engine will 'churn' a little while longer and may give a bit of initially white smoke.
No real harm done in either of these things except for slightly more wear and tear on the starter motor, but in our climate even this is marginal.
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Not sure about starting up but it is advisable with a turbo-diesel when SWITCHING OFF off the engine to allow it to idle for a few seconds. If you switch off from high revs the turbo can be starved of oil while still spinning very fast.
Cheers, SS
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Not doing the above can lead to premature bearing failure in the turbocharger.
Cheers, SS
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high revs
Oh yes I love them.
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Not doing the above can lead to premature bearing failure in the turbocharger. Cheers, SS
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Surely, in the real world, none of us live close enough to a motorway or fast A road, to pull straight into our parking place and switch off.
Realistically, the turbo thingy has run at low/lower revs for a few minutes before parking and therefore has had time to cool down.
I put it to you, m'lud, that with very few exceptions, this is a non-problem.
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Often wondered about this - even going down motorway most diesels will not be doing much more than 3000 revs (30mph per 1000revs, 90 mph is only 3000 revs) By the time you have gone down the slip road, into car park , found a space , pulled in and switched off, surely there is little chance of cooking the bearings even when going into services??? Or do they take a long time to cool? (ie, more than the "few seconds " idling advised??)
Phil
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I think the damage is done not to the still spinning shaft and bearings, but to the small amount of oil left in there. If the exhaust housing of the turbo is really hot, there is quite an amount of thermal energy there, which could cause the oil in the bearing housings to overheat when the engine is switched off.
During normal running, the high flow rate of oil through the bearing housing meas that the oil only picks up a small temperature rise.
Then, the next time the car is run, the oil can't get through to the running surfaces because of the deposits left where the oil burnt off.
Number_Cruncher
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Not so. I often grimace after I've driven to a friend who lives at the top of a long, steep "1st gear only" concrete track. It takes a real thrashing to get to the top, especially when it's icy and you need good run ups for the steep bits (I don't know which is worse - hearing the front of the car scrape on the ground the gradient change is that sharp, or getting stuck on the ice and slithering back down...).
Then, at the top, it's still a sharp slope across the yard, so there's lots of enthusiastic revving and clutch slipping just to get parked. Most times the temperature gauge is nudging the red at the end and I sit and wait for a few minutes while the fan blasts away. It's the only time the fan actually runs.
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