OMG I keep my Bird in a storage lot and it's in the back corner adjacent to a condominium building on the other side of the storage lot fence. I can't start it in the winter when I think most people are at home because it completely engulfs the area in white smoke for about 10 or 15 minutes.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I normally will let mine idle for about 10 minutes or so in the morning during the winter.

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All gave some, Some gave it all ~ 9-11-2001 Never Forget

People shouldn't fear their Government, The Government should fear its people.

Some heat makes it into the radiator, which in turn heats the transmission fluid, so if left on long enough it all warms up to some extent. I don't need to do any idling anymore because my car now sleeps in a 55-60F garage.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

wow... never had any idea, we've been idling our 240ds thinking that warming them up a few minutes before driving off would help... I guess NOT! thanks for the info, good to know. my impatient GF will be happy to hear this one

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1981 240D ... 265k
1977 240D ... 265k
1977 240D ... 250k

If yours is like mine it has all the pep of a salted slug on cold mornings anyway. I usually idle for a few minutes (3-5) then drive slowly and avoid high rpm until up to temp. Remember that just because the coolant is up to temp doesn't mean the oil is.
FYI, on cold (<20 deg F) days my temp gauge will drop below 80 deg C when idling with the heater on. Seems the heater removes more heat from the system than the idling engine puts into it. Might have a wonky thermostat though.

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1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".

Just curious, but doesn't the owners manual for my 83 240d talk about increasing the idle speed when it's cold out via the idle adjuster knob until the engine hits 60?

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1983 Benz 240D - 263,060 (Current)
1983 Cadillac DeVille - 130,000 (Scrapped - Stupid HT4100)
1992 Dodge B350 - 150,000 (Sold)
1984 Mazda 626 - 299,997 (Scrapped)

personally don't like it as engine very slow to warm up. Prefer a blockheater
with a timer to come one a couple of hours before I have to leave. Less strain on all components. The W201 ones and the W14 came all with factory installed blockheaters.

That said.

I have no hesitation letting one of my diesels idle for days in temperatures of -20° F or lower.

There is NOTHING wrong with letting your engine warm up for 15-30 minutes.

SAFETY reasons for letting your engine warm up for 15-30 minutes.

* Thoroughly defrost all windows.
* Eliminate cold lack of power.
* Allow you to focus on driving, not chattering teeth.

Italian Tune-up links thread
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=145498

Keep it a secret, and don`t tell her.


Sometimes I let them idle to get enough heat to defrost the windows in the morning.

Iam 3 + miles from the freeway. 1/2 is down hill, the rest on the flats. so when I hit the on ramp, things are up to operating temp.

We have been on trips during the winter time, and pulled into rest stops to snooze. I definately let the engine idle to stay warm. of course we leave both back windows down for the flow through ventilation with the fresh air vents open.
Then after an hr or 2 we hit the road and hammer down again. never seemed to have any problems.

Then today I was coming back from PNP in my trusty old Datsun Diesel. Its about 5:30 pm and every idiot in the Bay Area is on the Highway. NB 880 is stopped, and SB is at a crawl, 5mph, stop, 5mph, stop etc.... the engine is idling more that reving, Iam stressing out over the eng idling, it`s carboning up, screwing up the GP`s, glazing the cylinderwalls, eng is at a lower operating temp, and the soot load in the oil is rising. let along the wear and tear on the Clutch, and my fuel economy just went down the tube .

I finally get home and had to take a Vallium and down a pot of Coffee. then get on the Forum and see this Thread.

what to do, what to do.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I think these old engines are really stout and less sensitive to "wet stacking" than the big three (Powerstroke, Duramax, Cummins) diesel engines. I know the older 7.3's and 5.9's have a cold high idle to help prevent wet stacking, but I still think the guys on those forums over state the disastrous effects of this phenomena. Lots of owerns who idle their engines regularly install chips and programmers to keep the idle around 2k so all the fuel entering the cylinders burns completely.

As far as idling my Benz; I usually just fire it up and scrape ice and call that a warm up, then proceed to drive slowly downhill to the freeway and go on my way. I used to idle it for about 5-10 minutes but don't really see the benefit for my application, YMMV.

I just idle for 20 to 30 seconds to circulate the oil.
I've heard it said that diesel engine cylinders "glaze" if run too much without significant load. I don't know what that means or how much of a load etc, or if it is just an old mechanic's tale or what?
But supposedly this glazing ruins the engine performance (and maybe causes oil bypass?) and can't be reversed.

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1983 300SD with bad undercarriage rust, with old greasecar 2-tank conversion. About 200K miles, just an adolescent but with premature bone disease.

If the T-stat is working then it should be able to get warm enough t defrost the windows and have normal power levels in 5-6 mins or so.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Not at -25° F and lower = 7-10 minutes to hit 40° C if everything is perfect.

Several forum members are in Alaska (arctic circle) and see -80° F and lower = you must use a block heater even in a garage (add a battery heater outside) + partially block the radiator to reduce air flow cooling + 15-30 minutes to hit 40° C if everything is perfect..
A Webasto diesel heater, fuel line insulation, tank heater, fuel filter heater, and battery heater are smart options for a diesel in Alaska.

Cantwell is at -40 °F now.

Dutch Harbor has a heat wave of 32 °F today.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/AK/

http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/wx/current.html

I like the idle control on the older models...wish they had kept it on the new ones. If I have to idle my car for a long time for whatever reason (not often), I just turn up the manual fast idle. I once warmed my car up completely from cold that way, and it came up to full operating temperature in under 5 minutes.

Normally, I only give it 30 seconds before driving as my car is garage-kept, but if it's sat outside in the cold, I let it run while I scrape the frosty windows. It's probably not really good for me to be breathing the exhaust, but it does drive smoother if it's warmed up for a bit.

I don't think it'd be hard at all to retrofit one of these manual fast idle cables to a newer W123 or even a later model, aside from drilling a hole in the dashboard.

I remember when I was growing up, a neighbor had a 300TD and even after a 5-minute warm-up in the driveway, it wouldn't go over 10 mph until it had been driven for a few minutes. I think it was the automatic transmission. My uncles W116 300SD was like that too, even when relatively new, but not AS bad.

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1976 240D "Katja"

Idling the main engine of a tug for long will prompt a visit to the wheel house by the engineer to politely request the RPMs be kicked up now an then to 'blow the carbon out'. Cats will blow out quite a black cloud after a few minutes at idle.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"