From stone cold, roughly how long does it take for significant heat to blow out of the vents? I used my wife's car last night to go to work and found it took an age to start blowing hot air. I reckon I'd driven for 15 mins and five miles before it actually blew hot. This is significantly longer than my wife's previous car, a Toyota Yaris, which was warm within a very rapid period of time and my Volvo S80, which also warms up very quickly. This is our first diesel car and I'm wondering if it is a diesel `thing`? Once it is hot, it is hot, and I need to turn down the temperature from full to avoid melting, it just seems to take a while to become hot.

Thanks.

Usually about 5 mins I think, but then I do have heated seats which are instantly warm Guess it depends what kind of journey you do as using the turbo will help to generate some heat

Chris

Diesels do take longer to warm up.

To answer your original question...depends how hard you drive it - hammering seven bells out of it will warm it up quicker, but destroy the engine/turbo :eek:

A good compromise would be to potter about for the first mile then use a good bit of boost without going mental.

I agree, however my Dad's C270 CDi takes about 1 min to warm up (probably due to the second engine for the heater controls) & my old TDCi took about 3 mins at the most, and I always use to take it easy in the first 15 mins of driving, as you should with every diesel until it's fully warmed up. Modern diesels can't handle as much anymore, because of the sophistication of the electronics & moving parts they need to be taken care of, not like an old TD 115 Land Rover where you could trash it every minute of every day, and it'll start perfect each time with no coughs.

Not off topic, but on a different note - has anyone else found it "difficult" to find an in-between temperature??

For instance, turn the temp dial all the to the left - freezing cold. Turn it up one notch, not quite as cold. Another notch, slightly warmer. Next notch - BOILING! Everything after that's about the same, too.

Incidentally, this is with the AC on. With AC off, the temp's a bit more realistic...

For instance' date=' turn the temp dial all the to the left - freezing cold. Turn it up one notch, not quite as cold. Another notch, slightly warmer. Next notch - BOILING! Everything after that's about the same, too.

Incidentally, this is with the AC on. With AC off, the temp's a bit more realistic...[/quote']

I usually set mine to max heat when I start off then knock it down to "22" when the car warms up and then knock it down to "20" when I'm charging down the motorway. I then usually need to knock it back up to "22" again if I'm stuck in traffic......... Ah, to have proper climate control *sigh*

Chris

Al least you can turn yours down when it gets cold. My car has a mind of it's own and requires the engine to be switched off, temp turned down then switched back on before it has any effect. It's trying to boil me to death I tell oyu!

I have been playing with the heater settings over the last few weeks. The best setting seems to be heater set to 20 ish with air con on and the heater warms up really quickly. I'm sure some one on here said there is a small heater for the cabin, which heats the interior until the engine is up to temp? :confused:

My heater does warm up far quicker than the engine could.

Timed it this morning - warmish air after about 4 minutes of the engine running (1-2 of those at idle while I wiped off the windows) and then really hot air after about 5 minutes when I'm on the motorway......

Chris

I always run with the air con on..........

Chris

I usually set mine to max heat when I start off then knock it down to "22" when the car warms up and then knock it down to "20" when I'm charging down the motorway. I then usually need to knock it back up to "22" again if I'm stuck in traffic......... Ah' date=' to have proper climate control *sigh*

Chris[/quote']

Really? I find the temperature control to be pretty good in mine :confused: I leave it on 18 if it's just me, or 20 if SWMBO is with me (guess she feels the cold more than I do...) I always have the air con on, and I reckon it takes about 3 or 4 minutes for the heat to start coming through the vents. This ties in pretty well with the coolant temperature gauge, which starts to rise at about the same time. Am I right in thinking the heat exchanger for the warm air is on the engine coolant circuit, or is it just coincidence?

Really? I find the temperature control to be pretty good in mine :confused:

The dial just controls the flap which allows hot/cold air into the cabin so, as far as I know, there's no temperature regulation at all. Mine varies depending on if I'm moving along (and the engine is generating a lot of heat) or stationary, but I do tend to leave mine at "20" for the most part, once the car has warmed up....

Chris

The dial just controls the flap which allows hot/cold air into the cabin so' date=' as far as I know, there's no temperature regulation at all. Mine varies depending on if I'm moving along (and the engine is generating a lot of heat) or stationary, but I do tend to leave mine at "20" for the most part, once the car has warmed up....

Chris[/quote']

You'd've thought so, wouldn't you? Once the engine's upto temperature and cruising along, my gauge is just to the left of the centre position. It never goes above this.

However as I said earlier, my heater temperature control has all the variation within the first three notches of the dial! So who knows what's going on? My engine isn't overheating; whatever controls the temperature seems to work alright, since I can get dead cold, or dead hot...it's just the fine tuning of the temp isn't too great! :confused:

The dial just controls the flap which allows hot/cold air into the cabin so' date=' as far as I know, there's no temperature regulation at all. Mine varies depending on if I'm moving along (and the engine is generating a lot of heat) or stationary, but I do tend to leave mine at "20" for the most part, once the car has warmed up....

Chris[/quote']

:confused: Maybe it's my imagination, but I'm sure the air in my Furby comes out warm when the cabin temperature's below 18 (or whatever), and cold if it's above it. Unlike my old Megane which did what you describe. The spec sheet in the brochure does describe 'semi-automatic' air con, unlike the Megane which had 'manual' air con. Is it 'cos mines 2005 MY? Or is it just that I'm delusional?!

The only difference I've been able to fathom between the way the air con operates in my car and in my mum's old Ibiza is that the Ibiza's climate control had a little digital display, and it also controlled the blower so that if the cabin was really hot or cold, you got your air full-blast through the vents...

Anyway, if I'm wrong (which I often am), I'll say that ignorance is bliss :P

Yeah I thought it was semi-automatic too, but I think Ross explained it was basically just a flap to switch the ratio of hot/cold air. Would love to be wrong though

Chris

Yeah I thought it was semi-automatic too' date=' but I think Ross explained it was basically just a flap to switch the ratio of hot/cold air. Would love to be wrong though

Chris[/quote']

I did say that, but I found out I was wrong when I went on the relevant Skoda course

The Fabia has 'Climatic' air con, it isnt as advanced as 'Climatronic' but what it will do is adjust the heater mixture flap back and forth to try and maintain 'around' the temp indicated on the dial. I say 'around' as its not an exact science as it doesnt have all the extra sensors that Climatronic has, just the one in the control unit which is part of the control panel.

And the Fabia a/c is never actually switched fully off, there isnt a clutch on the compressor. Its electronicaly controlled by the ECU.

The Fabia has 'Climatic' air con, it isnt as advanced as 'Climatronic' but what it will do is adjust the heater mixture flap back and forth to try and maintain 'around' the temp indicated on the dial. I say 'around' as its not an exact science as it doesnt have all the extra sensors that Climatronic has, just the one in the control unit which is part of the control panel.

Makes sense

Chris

I remember there being a thread on Freds some time ago which suggested that TDIs actually have 5 glow plugs with the 5th being located in the cooling system. It was suggested that the best procedure for getting the heater up to temperature is to switch on both the air con and recycle, turn the heater control up to full and to drive under 2100 rpm until the temp needle reaches 90 deg C. The recycle means that you're not taking in cold air from outside the car, the air con stops the car misting up while you're doing this and driving under 2100 rpm keeps the 5th glow plug working.

Needless to say, I haven't been able to verify this.

Some cars do have cooling system heaters, not aware of any Skoda's that do. Some Audi A6's did some time ago, quite often used to fail and burn out.

Can I conclude then that 15 mins and five miles of driving is poor to wait for any great heat to appear from the vents?

Can I conclude then that 15 mins and five miles of driving is poor to wait for any great heat to appear from the vents?

Yep! Mine has heat coming through after 5 mins of gentle driving.....

Chris

Hmmm, I suspect a trip to the dealer is looming.

The Fabia has 'Climatic' air con, it isnt as advanced as 'Climatronic' but what it will do is adjust the heater mixture flap back and forth to try and maintain 'around' the temp indicated on the dial.

Hmm. My heater is all over the place. I set it to cool but every 20-30 minutes or so, it goes up to full heat for about 10 secs and then down again. I wouldn't call this 'Climatic'. I would call it 'Climactic.'

Maybe it needs to be re-set.

Takes too long IMO, im at work before any hot air comes from the vents :( My previous car a TDi Megane used to chuck warm air out almost instantly :-D