how do you warm up your MB?
 

I'm new to diesels and have just gone back to classic cars with my 85 300d, so was wondering what you guys do for a warm-up on your cars. If its really cold out (for Atlanta, say below 40f) I let the car idle for a minute or two before leaving... any warmer I just fire it up and go. I am very gentle on the accelerator until the temp gauge starts to move, then I keep it to about 1/2 throttle till it hits 80c. BTW this is without a block heater.

If its 35 or below I will start it, wait for maybe 30 seconds to a minute....and then go. I try to be gentle on the throttle until it reaches about 60C or so....then I drive normally.

Wait for ~30 seconds then drive, no matter how low the temperature is.

I wait til the oil pressure comes up and go. If it is really cold I will wait for maybe one minute for the oil to warm a bit.

I will wait to use full throttle until it is fairly warm.

Tom W

I do what the manual says: drive it. Idling is not good for a diesel (or any engine), so driving it easy as it warms up is going to be the best thing. If you have a block heater and electricity available, that of course will be better, many of us plug into a timer to heat it an hour or so before our morning commute.

some barry white, dim lights, wax, wine.

I usually start her up come back in the house for a bit, get the wife going, sometimes she gets me going. then off we go. we have a mile or so of down hill. then 2 1/2 miles to the freeway with 4 stop lights/signs. by the time we hit the freeway we are up to operating temp.
If it`s icy/frosty on the windows, she idles til it melts. summer time maybe a minute.

If ya gota job. start er up an hit it. Ur half way to work and the starter motor is just winding down. afraid to breath too hard or the inside glass fogs up.

All depends, ideal conditions or panic mode.

Charlie

I just wait until it's running smoothly and then drive off gently. If it's cold enough out to need extra warm-up time, at least if it's mine, it starts up sounding fairly rough. When it smooths out a bit, it's ready to go.

In GA you can start and go.

if the sdl is rough at startup, then some glow plugs are out...

I live in No VA. When it is under 50 degrees I let it warm up for a few minutes. Otherwise if I don't the car has hardly any power. It's like it's got build up some steam or something to get going in the cold mornings.

Really?
 

I didn't know that. I usually start pop outside, start er up, lock the doors in case she decides to drive away by herself and then pop back inside for breakfast. After about 10-15 mins, I pop back outside and she's up to about 40 degrees and ready to roll. By the time I hit the highway, she's just about 80 and I (feel) like I can safely rev 'er up to 2000 rpms and above.

I always figured its not a good thing to nail an engine when its all cold. Maybe I don't know enough about the inner workings of an engine, but it seems like if the temp gauge shows its not even 40 degrees yet (I presume Centigrade) one could do some damage by running it hard.

If idling isn't good for an diesel engine why do semis idle for many many hours while the drivers sleep.

As for warming up, if I don't let mine sit at idle for 15 mins or so then it's really slow when I try to move it. No power, cold and slow.
Mine is happier with a nice long warm up idle.

If it's real cold, not very often in Phoenix, I plug it in and let it warm up that way then just start and go. Otherwise I'll just let it idle for a couple of minutes.;)

It may have no power for the first 300 feet, but that warms it up a lot faster than idling, and then the power is there.