PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Does your diesel run colder when it is close to 0?

lrg · #4 01-19-2005, 01:29 PM

Diesels use a lot less fuel than gassers at idle so there is less excess heat. You really need to get them under a decent amount of load to get the fuel consumption (and waste heat) up to get any real warming. The next time you see a big truck driving around town in the cold you'll probably notice a zip up cover over the front of the radiator grill. That's to help those stay warm when they aren't under a lot of load. By the way, part of the reason you're getting lower temps is that the oil cooler gets really efficent at those low temps too, so without much of a load the engine can have trouble maintaining temp even if the thermostat is good.