Car doesn't warm up?

[Lingnoi]

I've noticed that in the cold weather we've had recently, my car takes a very long time for the oil to get up to 77C minimum. I drove back from Heathrow a couple of nights ago at 1am and the ambient temp was 0C to 1C. I noticed after an hour the oil temp was still hovering at 68-70C!

 

It only actually got up to the magic 77C when I got off the motorway (my route was mostly motorway) and was doing 40 then 30mph.

 

Is this normal? I have a 1.4TSi DSG. Obviously the water temp was bang in the middle of the dial at 90C the whole time.

[SuperbTWM]

The fact that it warmed up when you reduced speed points to the thermostat. (less air through the radiator)

 

usually you would see the oil temp cool off at lower engine loads. 

 

Today on a good motorway run i was seeing a toasty 105 @70mph. 10 minutes off the motorway and it was down to 90 (2.0 TDI)

Edited 29 December, 2017 by SuperbTWM

[Ootohere]

It can be perfectly normal with a 1.4TSI with 5w 30 FS LL or even 5w40 FS to show an indicated oil temp under 80*oC on runs at and below freezing Air or Ground Temperatures, 

and there be no Thermostat or water pump issues.

 

What a Turbo Diesel might or might not show has no relevance really.

Edited 29 December, 2017 by AwaoffSki

[banksie]

13 minutes ago, AwaoffSki said:

It can be perfectly normal with a 1.4TSI with 5w 30 FS LL or even 5w40 FS to show an indicated oil temp under 80*oC on runs at and below freezing Air or Ground Temperatures, 

and there be no Thermostat or water pump issues.

 

What a Turbo Diesel might or might not show has no relevance really.

Not convinced on that. All engines are designed to run at a thermally optimal temperature! Irrespective of the outside air temperature either the thermostats stay closed for longer and/or the fuel injection system puts more fuel in for longer (old fashioned choke), all to get the temperature up to normal asap. (Emission regs).

 

The viscosity rating of the oil effects how fast the oil gets to temperature and how “clingy” the oil is at sticking to components while it’s warming up. ie engine protection.

 

My vRS ran in -20C 4 years ago and took longer to warm up, but when it did the oil was at the normal 105C.

[Ootohere]

No need for someone else to convince you, go drive one for a winter or 3.

 

My experience running Skoda Fabia Mk2 vRS Twinchargers and an Audi A1 over 6 past winters before this, 

6,000 miles covered between October and April each winter in various ones and the Oil Temp setting watched, and the fuel efficiency, 

and after 10 miles of starting and the oil near 80*oC giving some of the best economy of the year on nights below freezing on Tesco Momentum 99.

Lovely cold dry windless nights of driving.

Some trips 300 - 450 miles return journey, & on 60-70 mph roads, and lots of Average Speed Camaras A9 M8, & M77 / A77 with one stop and over 45 MPG so not hanging around but oil never getting to an indicated 90*oC.

At -4*oC or so not to 80*oC.  

 

3.6 Liters of Oil, 1,390 cc petrol engine, not a 2.0 TSI.  I drive them as well, and a 2.0TDI, but this thread was not asking about them.

*Normal Indicated temp with 5W 40 FS (VW 502 00) in a 1.4TSI might be 92*oC with it going to 100 + at times, 

maybe not in winter on just a non spirited run..  & as i posted even getting to an 'Indicated 80*oC might not happen.

Plug into the OBDII Port and you might see the actual Oil Temp. not just the Maxidot one.*

 

Efficient oil temp, 90*oC ish.

Coolant & Oil is a coolant as well.   So coolant gets to 90*oC and tries to get oil to 90*oC,  and when it goes above, Coolant & Cooling System brings the temp down. A 1.4TSI can get up to the 100's and to 130*oC maybe and drop quickly as well, efficient cooling, and a Intercooler, coll air makes cooling quick in a 1.4 TSI.

Less oil in engine means Oil temp can go up and down like a pair cami nickers or the value of the pound.

So petrol engines and in olden days in winter you used to block the radiator in cold weather. 

 

Some still do.

 

Have a look at Road Temp and air temp.

Road Temp can be 4 or 5 degrees lower than Air Temp as measured at near 2 meters above the ground.

The cars showing of Ambient temp is taken someplace between Road & Air temp is measured.

http://trafficscotland.org/weatherstations 

Edited 29 December, 2017 by AwaoffSki

[Gromle]

My oiltemp was around 95deg with an outside temp of -10 deg. This was on flat roads. The temp would rise abit in inclines. 

I have a 1.8TSI. 

 

Forgot to check the oiltemp when the outside temp dropped to -30...

[Ootohere]

We still need a driver of a 1.4TSI like the OP's to say what they get and if they have in Long Live VW 504 00 or Fixed Service VW 502 00 oil.

[themanwithnoaim]

10 hours ago, Lingnoi said:

I've noticed that in the cold weather we've had recently, my car takes a very long time for the oil to get up to 77C minimum. I drove back from Heathrow a couple of nights ago at 1am and the ambient temp was 0C to 1C. I noticed after an hour the oil temp was still hovering at 68-70C!

 

It only actually got up to the magic 77C when I got off the motorway (my route was mostly motorway) and was doing 40 then 30mph.

 

Is this normal? I have a 1.4TSi DSG. Obviously the water temp was bang in the middle of the dial at 90C the whole time.

Yeap, I explored every part of my 1.4TSI O3 over 3-1/2 years & I do recall it running cool on cruise control for motorways & dual carriageways, could get the oil up into the 120's if I ragged it long enough.

[swany]

My oil temp read out has stopped since getting a shark remap. Sorry off topic but just noticed since reading this post 

[themanwithnoaim]

1 hour ago, swany said:

My oil temp read out has stopped since getting a shark remap. Sorry off topic but just noticed since reading this post 

A remap shouldn't do that

[CCTaylor]

8 hours ago, swany said:

My oil temp read out has stopped since getting a shark remap. Sorry off topic but just noticed since reading this post 

Have you checked that the oil temperature display is still selected in the info-tainment system? 

[gregoir]

Yes, that is a good point. No idea why it would be an option though. 

[Ootohere]

Just for that reason to give options for those that want the option on what their displays shows.

Some have no interest if viewing everything as they scroll through.

[gregoir]

Route? I'd better look at that. I'm guessing distance and time travelled since starting. I have everything ticked afaik.

 

From several threads, there seems to be a demand for the heater to work faster and also this expectation for the oil temperature to reach 90C.

The heater takes priority in the Tsi cooling circuit and by extracting heat from the engine , along with the low external ambient, will tend to keep the whole engine cooler.

The heater in my car produces air above ambient in less than 30 seconds of driving, although neither the coolant temperature or oil temperature will have noticeably increased in freezing or near freezing conditions. I think that's great.

 

I'm from the age group who fitted winter thermostats to their cars and blanked off the radiator grille in an attempt to achieve a faster warm up and keep the whole engine bay warmer. Additionally I had to block off the passenger side demisting vent (Mk2 Morris Marina) to bias the airflow and keep the drivers side of the windscreen ice free. This was iirc in the early 1980s when we had real winters.

Edited 31 December, 2017 by gregoir

[johnrowley]

9 hours ago, gregoir said:

This was iirc in the early 1980s when we had real winters.

 

9 hours ago, gregoir said:

(Mk2 Morris Marina)

 

and real cars!  (well sort of)

[Lingnoi]

On 29/12/2017 at 16:25, AwaoffSki said:

We still need a driver of a 1.4TSI like the OP's to say what they get and if they have in Long Live VW 504 00 or Fixed Service VW 502 00 oil.

I'm on fixed duration servicing and I had my first service after 8 months and I have to say that I noticed the difference. I think that was due to extra smoothness which I'm guessing was thanks to them replacing the plugs (after only 31K miles). I was surprised they changed the plugs after so few miles, my previous BMW e90 320i went over 60K miles before they were changed. Personally in my opinion I'd rather spend a few extra quid and have the plugs and oil changed more frequently, the BMW sometimes went 25K miles between oil changes and I'm sure that when I sold it at 143K miles I could hear the camchain hissing (a noise I'd heard for about 40K miles).

[gregoir]

I'm on fixed duration annual servicing as my mileage is only around 6000 pa. No idea what oil is used. I rarely am forced to do regular cold runs, being retired, but heading up into the Pennines in a freezing winter has resulted in around 80C for the oil and just a smidge under the 90C for the coolant.

Does not bother me, the heater worked fine.

Edited 31 December, 2017 by gregoir

[Gromle]

The heater in the octavia is really good. Kept the insiden warm and cosy even the coldest of days.

[conn]

@OP - No offense, but this is what you get for driving a car with lawn mower engine :-D

 

My 1.8 TSI 97km/h (Cruise), flat road, 0 to +2C outside gives about 98C oil. I noticed my usual oil temps drop about 1-2 degrees after getting RS front bumper.

In the city warm air starts to blow in matter of minutes / 1 km or so.

 

On the other hand, you are good!

Although it would be interesting to see what the 1.4 TSI does up in the north with -30C and below. One of my colleagues told a cool story about Citrus (Citroen) or was it a Raccoon (Peugeot) with a small engine up in Finland trip where car decided to show outside temp as "--" and turn off air heater :-D

[Lingnoi]

4 hours ago, conn said:

@OP - No offense, but this is what you get for driving a car with lawn mower engine :-D

 

 

None taken. In actual fact as I understand it, small capacity engines with turbos can run hotter, smaller block/engine so less material to dissipate the heat, plus the turbo generates heat too and the fact that there's no exhaust manifold (it's cast into the cylinder head) I thought would mean it would run warmer than it does. It was only the oil temp that was 68-75C, the water temperature was rock solid at a smidge under 90C the whole time and the heater worked fine. I know that the cabin heater circuit runs off the cylinder head/exhaust manifold circuit hence why the cabin heating gets warm so quick (compared to older cars I've had). I believe, though I'm not certain, that the water temperature gauge on the dash displays the water temperature in the cylinder head/exhaust manifold circuit.

 

A friend of mine had a Lada years ago and said the heater in that could melt the plastic on your shoes! :P

 

For what it's worth the lawnmower engine has much more torque everywhere than my old (2006) BMW 2.0 litre petrol. It drives more like a diesel in many ways. It's also faster accelerating despite the larger body. £30 annual UK road fund tax compared to £245 for my Beemer and I just received a 50% discount on my annual car park season ticket saving me £162.50 a year (it's based on emissions and mine's less than 120mg carbon). That plus the massively improved MPG over my Beemer means I'm very happy with my lawn mower engine.

[conn]

As you have explained everything, only one thing can be concluded - you picked that particular car because it has the best bang for buck. I was in that exact position at 2013 while looking around on different models and manufactureres. Luckily we do not have road taxing here (at least for now...), so I decided to go with the "1.8 Elegance +" and loading it with additional extras - thinking back in time... May be I should have picked the RS :-D

 

As far as MPG goes - I am happy with it (some stats can be found in signature).