2.1TD Warmup Time

Post by **CitroJim** » 27 Oct 2008, 08:00

I thought it last year and I'm thinking it again this year. My 2.1TD seems to take an age to warm up on chilly mornings.

My journey to work is six miles along rural roads so not fast or particularly racy. In fact, I'm a very gentle driver. This morning it took four miles before it reached 80 degrees. It was a good mile and a half before the needle moved off the end-stop. For this time there is a real lack of heat in the cabin

I know the 'stat is working by doing the hose test and by the fact that it comes up to temperature after 4 miles and stays there resolutely. If there was a real problem with the 'stat I'd expect it to run cool at other times. Once up to temperature, the heater works a treat.

My Activa warms up almost instantaneously and I never recall my 1.9TD taking such a time to get warm. Maybe I'm not comparing apples with apples here.

Given the 2.1TD thermostat is such a task to get to and replace, I don't want to swap it if this is normal 2.1TD behaviour.

Grateful for the views of other 2.1TD owners please

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 27 Oct 2008, 09:35

One of the many advantages our 1.9TD has over its predecessors (2.0D Montegos) is the (relatively) fast warm up on chilly mornings. I drive lots of different vans, particularly Transits, which also mostly take an age to warm up.
These are completely different vehicles and engines, but I'm simply suggesting that, for a diesel, the 1.9 is notably quick to warm up. Perhaps the 2.1 is towards the other end of the scale?
Of course, having the heater fan on only makes matters worse; you can't win

On frosty mornings, I used to take a (stout) fizzy bottle of very hot water out to the Montego and put it on the dash above the driver's demist vents while I scraped the windows, then moved it to the passenger side for the first couple of miles.

Guy

Post by **CitroJim** » 27 Oct 2008, 09:45

Old-Guy wrote: On frosty mornings, I used to take a (stout) fizzy bottle of very hot water out to the Montego and put it on the dash above the driver's demist vents while I scraped the windows, then moved it to the passenger side for the first couple of miles.

What an excellent idea Guy

I'll give that a try next time it's really cold!

KP · Post by KP » 27 Oct 2008, 10:51

Id invest in a used Kenlowe hotstart system or cobble one together yourself Jim and use some 12v batteries and solar panels to charge it up while at home with some kind of digi timer in the circuit to come on at your desired times. If you then wanted to it wouldnt be too hard to put say 2-4 diesel batteries in the boot of some deep cycle batteries to run it off when way from home to charge it?
That way it could come a little before your ready to leave the house getting the engine all warm, and then the same before you leave the office at night

The advantage with a full kenlowe hotstart would be if you could connect it upto the mains at the office and use their electric to keep you warm

MikeT · Post by **MikeT** » 27 Oct 2008, 10:53

Maplins sell a cheap and cheerful electric fan heater that plugs into the cigarette lighter if you want instant heat?

KP · Post by KP » 27 Oct 2008, 12:02

Best time to buy used ones are start to mid summer but now all gone from ebay unless you try land rover breakers who most commonly use them?
http://www.kenlowe.co.uk/pre-heaters/cars/whatwill.html

Post by **RichardW** » 27 Oct 2008, 12:07

3kW fan heater in car for 10 minutes before you go out

No frost, no scraping, no misting up, no shivering waiting for it to heat up. Job's a good 'un

It takes nearly 8 miles on country roads to get the HDi to warm up this weather!

KP · Post by KP » 27 Oct 2008, 12:20

Richard is yours not one of the ones fitted with a webasto style device in the passenger side wing that burns off some diesel to heat the cabin up???

deian · Post by **deian** » 27 Oct 2008, 13:27

Hi Jim,

I assume you know diesel engines do take longer to warm up because they run cooler than petrol engines.

Also I don't think yours is out of the ordinary taking a few miles to warm up. I remember mine being like that too. So I wouldn't panic over it.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to change the thermostat anyway, think of it as preventative maintenance.

I know it's getting colder these days and a car that is slow to warm up isn't the ideal situation.

My recommendation is to block of part of the radiator? It won't do any harm as long as you keep your eye on the temp gauge, the car should warm up quicker then. It would be cleaner and cheaper and less effort than the other suggestions? Of course the car won't be warm as soon as you step in as some other suggestions, but it should help.

KP · Post by KP » 27 Oct 2008, 13:36

Just realised this but you dont run your AC during this phase of warmup do you Jim?
Also what oil are you using?

deian · Post by **deian** » 27 Oct 2008, 13:44

Good points there KP.

Something else to try too is to during the warm up phase, keep the heating to cold, and the fan off, and recirculate the cabin air.

Keeping the temp to low to allows the water to travel just around the engine, and not through the matrix too, in going through the matrix the water will travel longer, and pass the vents that allow air into the cabin.

Obviously. They are just my own theories. Do they make sense?

KP · Post by KP » 27 Oct 2008, 14:04

I would leave the fan power to Off and leave the Temp to cold with A/C off and wear a jacket. Today it was 3'c outside and i wore a shirt to work with no jacket, top button undone and was happy most of the time, was warmer up within 2 miles taking it easy on the throttle to make the Veg last of course

Like Deian says a bit of cardboard over 1/2 the rad would help a lot as its not just water flowing thru that if the thermostat is iffy but airflow over the engine itself that keeps it cool and we know the 2.1td burns the fuel more efficiently than the 1.9td does..

Old-Guy · Post by **Old-Guy** » 27 Oct 2008, 17:51

On frosty mornings, I used to take a (stout) fizzy bottle of very hot water out to the Montego and put it on the dash above the driver's demist vents while I scraped the windows, then moved it to the passenger side for the first couple of miles.

I'll give that a try next time it's really cold!

That'll be in the morning then Jim!

KP · Post by KP » 28 Oct 2008, 08:54

Well last night the Verso took 3.1 miles to warm up with a bit of gusto applied at one point but most of the time tootling at 40-50ish along A road.

jgra1 · Post by **jgra1** » 28 Oct 2008, 11:02

I started mine up this am and then went for a shower

Keeping the temp to low to allows the water to travel just around the engine, and not through the matrix too

Deian I have a feeling xants etc are always feeding the matrix, the temp control just diverts air (via a flap) through the matrix or not..

Saying that, air not going through the matrix will help warming-up anyway, so your right

John