Had a hospital appointment yesterday morning at 9.30am. I headed off from work and after about 20 mins i noticed that the car was only sitting at about 70 degress i.e a quarter of the way round the water temp dial. It never really shifted fro this position for the next 20mins either. It was mainly stop start slow crawl traffic jam type driving although the first 5-10 mins was more 30-40mph stuff.

Every other car ive owned would get up to about 90 degrees in all situations, ok it may take longer sometimes but it would still get to that temp and stay there. This is the first time i have noticed this happeneing but not sure if its actually the only time its ever happened. Oil temp only got to about the high 60's degrees also.

Foe the bulk of the journey the car was more or less idling or crawling along, could this be the reason and is the normal?

The outside air temperature on this journey was about 1 or 2 degrees so quite cold but ive driven at minus 13 before with other cars at full operating temperature.

ANy thoughts.

Ive recently had almost the exact same thing with my (new to me but used) car.

Does it make any difference if you turn your fans/AC on full?

Turned out I needed a new thermostat which then lead to also needing new coolant hoses but i did solve the problem and everything seems to be working as it should.

Id put it down to the joys of owning a TDI this time of year!

Id put it down to the joys of owning a TDI this time of year!

So would I, in slow traffic the diesel engine will most likely end up not warming up at all. My old Superb diesel used to take around 12 miles at 60mph before it got to 90c when the temperature was below 0c. The joys of owning a thermally efficient diesel engine at this time of year. If you left it idling outside it will never get hot, and the temp gauge will just sit at the bottom.

Same for me - took 14 miles before temp gauge reached normal this morning.

But all that cold air going through the intercooler is fun

Yep, perfectly normal for a TDi.

Some other manufacturers direct injection diesel engines even have diesel or electric powered heaters plumbed into the coolant circuit to get them up to temp quicker, but there's nothing like this fitted to Skoda diesels in the UK. Hence the reason they take ages to warm up. In the very cold weather of December 2010 mine wouldn't even get up to normal temp after 25 miles of motorway driving!

At least i know its normal. Thats a relief. Come to think of it the reason i never noticed this happening in my last car, a BMW, is because it didnt have a temp gauge so maybe similar things were happening there also.

It was hot enough to heat me inside the car and car was running fine so was just curious.

Cheers.

Just be happy you have an extra heater for the interior. My old Passat tdi actually cooled down in traffic jams, so it was horrible in the winter. So, I'm really loving the extra heater for the interior on my VRS

Just be happy you have an extra heater for the interior. My old Passat tdi actually cooled down in traffic jams, so it was horrible in the winter. So, I'm really loving the extra heater for the interior on my VRS

Thats the problem, we don't have the extra heater for the interior on UK models!

.....Or perhaps we do now? My 2007 car didn't but I think someone on here mentioned that currect UK diesels do get an auxiliary heater?

Lack of a decent heater is one of my main gripes with the Octavia, I think it's just poor design.

I can't be bothered with the car in cold weather, thinking of buying a friend's old 1.9 td Peugeot 406, rust free, comfortable and economical but with a decent heater,

We really need to know the mileage, as opposed to time, that it took to heat up.

CR engines will heat up faster than an older PD engine, so what some of these guys are saying isn't necessarily true. My 1.6TDI CR, the longest I've seen it take to heat is 8 miles, and that was in -1c weather. Around 6-7c is takes about 5-6 miles and around 10c+ it takes 4-5 miles.

Thats the problem, we don't have the extra heater for the interior on UK models!

Oh, bummer. My CR engine heats up in city traffic (30mph) in about 20kms, so give or take around half an hour of driving. On a highway (55-60mph) it takes a lot less of course. And I'm talking about cold weather, around -10..-15c

We really need to know the mileage, as opposed to time, that it took to heat up.

CR engines will heat up faster than an older PD engine, so what some of these guys are saying isn't necessarily true. My 1.6TDI CR, the longest I've seen it take to heat is 8 miles, and that was in -1c weather. Around 6-7c is takes about 5-6 miles and around 10c+ it takes 4-5 miles.

TBH there's no particular reason why a CR engine would warm up faster than a PD. If anything the PD should warm up very slightly faster as its slightly less fuel efficient than the CR. My 2.0PD for example gets up to temp in pretty much identical distances to your 1.6 CR. The 25 mile motorway trip I referred to when mine wouldn't warm up was in -14 to -16 C !

We really need to know the mileage, as opposed to time, that it took to heat up.

CR engines will heat up faster than an older PD engine, so what some of these guys are saying isn't necessarily true. My 1.6TDI CR, the longest I've seen it take to heat is 8 miles, and that was in -1c weather. Around 6-7c is takes about 5-6 miles and around 10c+ it takes 4-5 miles.

Mainly sitting in traffic jams so had maybe only covered around 8 miles when i noticed it was only 70 degrees on temp gauge. It never shifted from here though for the rest of the journey which was only another few miles. Not a great distance but engine was running for 40 minutes.

Having similar experiences this week with my 105bhp Elegance diesel, takes 8-10 miles of Edinburgh city traffic, all with revs under 2k, to get almost to the mid point of the temp gauge. My old Mk1 tdi was much better at warming up.

Mainly sitting in traffic jams so had maybe only covered around 8 miles when i noticed it was only 70 degrees on temp gauge. It never shifted from here though for the rest of the journey which was only another few miles. Not a great distance but engine was running for 40 minutes.

That'll be why. Diesels really do need to be worked to get warmed up properly. My Tdi Land Rover actually cools down when left at tickover. An old Transit that I had also cooled down to the blue on the temp gauge after it had been left at tickover for a couple of hours once!

I have the same problem, but have found that if you leave the blower off until it gets to a quarter, then it warms up quicker

Edited 13 December, 201213 yr by skippy41

Well its christmas so use the fantastic ESP, XDS, ABCD etc things to try and get going on silly rubber band summer tyres in -5 and not only does your dash look all pretty for xmas but warms up quicker

Mine seems to warm up quite quick in fairness for a derv but it does take a bit of time to get the car hot hot as per comments heere with engine temp levels - you could prob cover half the rad / cover grill in these temps to help but of course the heater matrix is stealing the engines heat with it running at high settings

So you have to do the christmas light option

Does 2011 spec vag cars now even read over 90deg or stay there until silly high temp reached like the older ones?

DG

Any tips for getting the engine temp hotter quicker, I've heard lights and rear demister would help but how about holding revs higher before changing up and keeping it in 5th instead of a low revving 6th gear for the first few miles

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Get in and drive it rather than letting it sit idling. Mine takes forever too. I generally don't use sixth and leave the blowers off completely until the temp gauge is making its way to 90. Takes over 10 mins, but gets there eventually.

Both of our diesel Octavia's cool down when sat with the heating on in colder temperatures.

Warming the interior takes more heat from the engine than it is able to produce at idle / slow moving traffic.

I find leaving the heating turned off for a few miles allows the engine reach operating temeprature quicker.

Turning it on then get's you a nice warm blast of air and the engine is up to temperature.

Had a hospital appointment yesterday morning at 9.30am. I headed off from work and after about 20 mins i noticed that the car was only sitting at about 70 degress i.e a quarter of the way round the water temp dial. It never really shifted fro this position for the next 20mins either. It was mainly stop start slow crawl traffic jam type driving although the first 5-10 mins was more 30-40mph stuff.

Every other car ive owned would get up to about 90 degrees in all situations, ok it may take longer sometimes but it would still get to that temp and stay there. This is the first time i have noticed this happeneing but not sure if its actually the only time its ever happened. Oil temp only got to about the high 60's degrees also.

Foe the bulk of the journey the car was more or less idling or crawling along, could this be the reason and is the normal?

The outside air temperature on this journey was about 1 or 2 degrees so quite cold but ive driven at minus 13 before with other cars at full operating temperature.

ANy thoughts.

I have exactly the same car and the same problem. It is one of two reasons (dpf filter being the other) I shall be buying petrol next time.

I have the same problem with a 2009 Octy 1.9 tdi mk II , it wont heat up. Temp gauge struggles to get to 60c. However still get hot air from heater. I know in the past the gauge would sit happily at the 90c mark. Car runs fine, with no performance or fuel economy problems. I thinking it could be the thermostat which is partially stuck open. The car has done 178,000 miles as my Taxi, and runs well. Any ideas ??

Rather than it stuck open there could be a slight tear.I had a Tip TD from new which took forever to get warm,I changed the diaphragm and the temp gauge visibly went up.Took a mile to reach full water temp