New to driving diesel in the winter - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

drgreenthumb · #1 11-11-2008, 07:04 PM

I am not new to winter driving but this is the first winter I will be driving a diesel. I have a couple of questions.

Should I let the engine warm up before driving? I could not find anything in the owners manual about this. On the Audi they recommended driving after about 30 seconds, keep revs under 2K, and let engine warm up while driving. I have done that with the Merc and it sounds rough- like I have ball bearings jumping around under the valve cover.

The owners manual states the car has a block heater installed and that a plug needs to be connected. Is it necessary to use this?

What to you use to keep the fuel from gelling? At what temperature do you need to worry about that?

Hatterasguy · #2 11-11-2008, 07:06 PM

Make sure your battery is good, make sure your GP's are fresh and work well, throw some synthetic oil in the sump and your good to go. You don't have to plug it in, but it makes starting easyer and you get heat faster.

I find a timer works good, when I had the SD I set it to kick on 2 hours before I had to go anywhere.

Just like any other car, drive easy until the engine warms up.

LUVMBDiesels · #3 11-11-2008, 07:35 PM

Let the glow plugs heat up for about 45 seconds. They still are heating even after the glow plug light goes out. Use Synthetic 5W40 oil. you can drive as soon as the oil pressure goes up.

I only plugged in my heater if the temperatures were going to be in the teens or down to single digits.

As for gelling, commercial diesel should not be a problem. I did add the recommended amount of Diesel Kleen in the white bottle at each fill up. The white bottle has anti gel agents, the silver bottle does not. I added it mostly for the cetane rating though.

If you are running BioDiesel you should not run blends higher than B5 once it gets cold out (under 45 degrees)

Hatterasguy · #4 11-11-2008, 07:50 PM

606's are pretty good, they are leaps and bounds better than the old stuff. I remember sitting in my friends for some very cold starts and it was fine. He said coldest was -5 on the dash, and the car had been sitting for 3 weeks in an open exposed parking lot. He had Mobil 1 in the sump but 15w50!

He said it cranked right over, skipped for a second than settled to a smooth idle. A lot of fuel injected gas cars won't do that!

I don't know if yours is like the W210, but on the W210 just let the computer start it. When the GP light goes off just hit the key to the start position and let go of it. The computer will crank it until it starts, its strange the first time you do it but it works good.

pawoSD · #5 11-11-2008, 09:59 PM

"old stuff"

The old stuff does just fine!

A lot of clatter could mean your motor is due for a valve adjustment. Mine doesn't clatter much in the morning when its cold....

Hatterasguy · #6 11-11-2008, 10:41 PM

I'm sure his valves have never been adjusted.

drgreenthumb · #7 11-12-2008, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Make sure your battery is good, make sure your GP's are fresh and work well, throw some synthetic oil in the sump and your good to go. You don't have to plug it in, but it makes starting easyer and you get heat faster.

Running M1 5W-40, it turns over quickly and fires on the first time.

The warm up time is about 15 minutes. My commute is only 20. I was consider placing something behind the grill to restrict air flow and warm the car up faster. Any thoughts on this?

compu_85 · #8 11-12-2008, 06:54 PM

Wouldn't be a bad idea. You should consider using the block heater too.

-Jason

Hatterasguy · #9 11-12-2008, 07:05 PM

Just plug in the block heater if you want.

MB designed the cooling system to trap heat in the winter, no modifications are needed.

HughO · #10 11-12-2008, 07:31 PM

I live in one of the coldest places in the US(NW Wyoming. Coldest we have had -64F. Avg coldest winter temps are -30to -40. MY MB 240 when new would not start when it was more than -20.....even with sythetics, power service etc. Plugged in it would fire to -30. My cummins pickups with the same engine treatments have started at -30 with 2 new batteries not plugged in . In our area you MUST, I repeat MUST use Power service. Even with winter fuel it's touch and go even plugged in. Ditto the MB diesels. If it's going to be colder than -15 or -20 and I can't plug it in, I leave the diesels at home and drive my camry or my suburban. They start well into the mid -30's.