Quote:
Originally Posted by shadetreeguy
I started it up one day and went in the house to let it warm up.
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Stop doing this, it is bad for your car. A diesel engine makes very little heat at idle, and depends on heat to completely ignite and burn the fuel. When the engine is cold, some of the fuel doesn't burn or doesn't burn completely and so carbon production is way up. Carbon and unburned fuel washes into the engine oil, and will increase engine wear.
Your car almost certainly has an engine block heater (you may need the cord for it) and this is the preferred method for warming up the engine. The block heater only needs about 30 minutes of operation. I set mine on a timer and plug it in before I go to bed, then I have a nice warm engine with instant heat when I start the engine.
In every case (use of block heater or not) you should only let the car idle long enough so that the engine smooths out and full oil pressure has built up, and then drive off gently. Use no more than 1/3 to 1/2 throttle, and try to keep engine RPM below 2000 or 2500 until the engine is fully warmed up. I can tell my engine is fully warmed up with the hot idle oil pressure is around 1.5 bar, which is normal for my car summer or winter.