TDCi Focus not getting up to temperature

[CrookedSheep]

The other halfs 1.6 tdci focus takes forever / never gets up to running temperature.

I did a test yesterday;

After 2.5 miles you can start to feel warm air being blown into the cabin but the water gauge hasn't shifted.
At 7.1 miles the heater seems to work as intended on full heat, but the water gauge only reads 1/8 at this point.
At 14.2 miles the water gauge is reading about 1/4 and my journey has ended.

Does that sound wrong to you? Its my belief that the water temp gauge should read just under half after 14 miles. Despite this during these 14 miles town miles it averaged 43mpg which is good (its an automatic too), but I wouldnt expect that unless the engine was up to temperature.

any advice or comments would be appreciated. its not the recent cold snap as its been like this since we've owned it. only has 30k on the clock and we've done 10k in it. (still does 60mpg on the motorway despite apparently running cold).

[anonymous-user]

Thermostat stuck open maybe? On the other hand could just be the engine, older Dervs used to take an age to get warm, maybe the new ones aren't too different.

[DannyVTS]

Could just be a dodgy gauge?

Try leaving it idleing for a few minutes and see if the fan kicks in

My Astra used to run at around a 1/4 on the gauge but if left idleing or in traffic it would rarely creep up to "optimal"temp

[saleen836]

At a guess i would say most vehoicles are running colder at the moment due to the outside temperature!
(my diesel van has also been running cooler lately)

[Jonboy_t]

If you're stuck in traffic, does it begin to overheat/go above temperature? If so, almost certainly the thermostat, if not, could be the fan switch kicking in too early perhaps? That would cool it more than necessary and not read as getting up to temperature.

[5lab]

thermostat stuck open would be my bet too. My mondeo diesel (older tddi engine) takes 3 miles to move the needle from a 2C start. I always have the heater on cold until this point to aid the engine warming up quickly and reduce engine wear

[CrookedSheep]

but how would I go about testing if it is the gauge or if the coolant is actually quite cold? I'm confident its not the outside temperature.

I just dont know where to start when diagnosing it. the opinion of other diesel focus drivers wouldnt go a miss.

[porcupineprince]

5lab said:

thermostat stuck open would be my bet too. My mondeo diesel (older tddi engine) takes 3 miles to move the needle from a 2C start. I always have the heater on cold until this point to aid the engine warming up quickly and reduce engine wear

Are you gonna teach me something new here? Having the blowers on warm before the car has warmed up increases wear on the engine?

[Fish981]

porcupineprince said:

5lab said:

thermostat stuck open would be my bet too. My mondeo diesel (older tddi engine) takes 3 miles to move the needle from a 2C start. I always have the heater on cold until this point to aid the engine warming up quickly and reduce engine wear

Are you gonna teach me something new here? Having the blowers on warm before the car has warmed up increases wear on the engine?

Slightly. The quicker the engine warms up the better, taking some of the heat away to heat you slows that process down. I wouldn't like to say what the difference is in engine longevity though.

[coley20]

I say Stat fault

[Mr GrimNasty]

If you are used to a petrol, diesels do seem very slow to warm up, in fact some diesel engines are so efficient they won't 'ever' heat up at idle. They may well take 6/8 miles and 20/30 minutes to warm up properly in urban traffic in cold weather. Obviously if you get straight onto a freeflowing motorway etc. it will be much quicker.

[CrookedSheep]

Mr GrimNasty said:

If you are used to a petrol, diesels do seem very slow to warm up, in fact some diesel engines are so efficient they won't 'ever' heat up at idle. They may well take 6/8 miles and 20/30 minutes to warm up properly in urban traffic in cold weather. Obviously if you get straight onto a freeflowing motorway etc. it will be much quicker.

Exactly my point, I did 14 miles of congestion free town driving and it only touched 1/4 on the dial.

[ooo000ooo]

Our Alhambra Tdi takes ages to heat up. I read somewhere that it's because the engine is so thermally efficient. On the odd occasion that the temp gauge has worked recently it's taken over an hour of driving to get even close to full operating temp. They also come with an auxiliary diesel powered heater to provide hot air to the cabin in the winter, while you're waiting for the engine to get up to heat, of course it doesn't actually produce anything except more smoke out the exhaust.

[tomwoodis]

Try covering half of your front radiator area off with a piece of cardboard so that you have effectively reduced the size of the radiators useful area by about a half.

Having done that, see what difference that makes to the readings on your guage and how quickly the car warms up.

It may prove to do nothing but it might just help the car to warm up a bit faster. It is bloody cold at the moment it could simply be strugling to get up to temperature at the moment what with it being a diesel and all.

P.S - It's pretty common to see diesel land rovers doing this over the winter months, they even sell proper radiator blanket / covers for this exact purpose.

Give it a go, it can't hurt, not like it's going to overheat at the moment is it!!

Edited by tomwoodis on Tuesday 21st December 13:00

[Trevelyan]

My Insignia diesel actually seems to cool down at idle at the moment. It got up to temperature fairly quickly yesterday on the run into town, but when I joined the end of the traffic queue moving at about 10mph the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. It was -13 outside though.