Diesel generators are often idled or very lowly loaded until the oil gets up to temp. I'm not a fan of idling to warm up, but rather taking it as slow and easy for as long as possible. In that you do not have a turbo, I think you are in better shape when it comes to getting on it earlier, but I'm still not a fan and it is bad for the engine. Given your situation, I'd fast idle the car for 30 sec first, then take as circuitous a route to this onramp as is practical. Get the juices flowing.

IMO you're a good candidate for a block heater... Which will help a bit.

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

I asked my favorite machinist about this subject. He said he starts it up (his diesel) and waits til the oil pressure stabilizes and drives it normally. They won't heat up til they are loaded anyway.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

It depends on what you mean by "drive it normally". For most people that doesn't mean a wide-open throttle acceleration to highway speed.

To me it means proceed to slowly amber onto the road as if you were rich and didn't need to be anywhere particularly fast - like the original owner of the car.



Ken300D

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1982 300D at 351K miles
1984 300SD at 217K miles
1987 300D at 370K miles

Standby generators are usually fully loaded almost immediately, others like the ones in my coaches have about a 30second delay.

I'll agree that waiting until the internal temperatures are normal is always best, via driving with moderate loads and RPMs, but I don't feel that you're going to induce anything more than increased wear on the engine and with the years and miles on the car it's not like it's "swiss-watch" precision tolerances anymore, it'll probably still out-last the transmission and body.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Throttle doesn't matter, RPM does. Floor it but don't revv its nuts off until temperature is at least up to the first mark (60).