How to drive a tdi? Warming and cooling...

[RLyons]

Hi,

I've just bought an 05 tdi 150. It's in mint condition and has done 50k. My question is regarding how to warm it up and cool it down.

I've never had a turbo car before but have always been gentle on my cars when the engine is cold and never ragged it and instantly switched it off. How much driving do I need to do until the car has warmed up fully and how gentle do I need to be before then?

I know the water is only one part of the engine and I normally wait for quite a while after the water has reached 90 before giving it any beans, but it takes ages for the water to heat up (10minutes at least in this weather), so does this mean nothing else heats up for ages either? Can you drive on boost when cold or baby it under 2000rpm?


Just any advice on how long to warm up and cool down would be appreciated.

 

[great_kahn]

At least 10 miles or 15 mins of proper driving before i would consider putting my foot down a bit. Probably longer if i was going to give it a thrashing.

As for turning off, if you have just been driving normally i give it 30 secs or so before turning off. If its been thrashed i give it a few mins before turning off.

 

[andycupra]

if you take the last few miles easy and donr rag it till you park up then you can switch off pretty much straight away.

 

[MATTCR]

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU GOD DAMN STOLE IT!!!

 

[Scotty2hotty]

With all tdi's regardless of make or model, I would not baby them too much, too much of that over a extensive period can lead to soot build up, sticking vanes, etc etc. Not too much of a risk saying that, just always better to allow the turbo to boost before changing gears, do this gently and smoothly though when cold

 

[RLyons]

Ok, cheers for the advice! I do a 35mile commute morning and night so it does get warmed up and I guess the soot clears then.

Another thing - everytime I start the car cold a puff of white/grey smoke comes out of the exhaust. I have read a few threads but nothing definitive as to whether it is normal or a reason for it??

 

[ManOnTheMoor]

Colour of smoke on start up can Vary, reasons - Expulsion of the condensation build up as exhaust system cooled, how effective glows plugs are, whether you have started immediately or waited a moment for glow plugs to fully heat if really cold. Residual fuel/oil being pumped out/ burnt off while engine / sensors calibrate etc. Nothing to worry about if is only there momentarily after start up, would be more worried if remained constant as this would indicate potentially more serious problem. Hope that makes sense just finished very long dbl shift

 

[RLyons]

That makes perfect sense! Thanks! There don't seem to be any other problems and its just like a bug smokey fart then its all clear. Just bad when I leave it in the garage and blast smoke when I start it in the morning - oh well - hah!

Thanks for the help anyway guys!

 

[leontdi130]

Don't worry about the smoke thats fine, its just condensation. In really cold weather she'll smoke like a petrol first thing. As soon as the temp gauge is up to temp then your engine is because the engine oil is cooled by the water system, so they work as a heat exchanger in either direction. You can see the oil cooler right at the front of the engine with a water feed to and from it. As for switching it off just give it 10-30 seconds for the turbo to stop spinning basicaly thats all its for.
Its good to see somone looking after thier car and not just driving it like they've stolen it from cold. Its good to drive it hard though frequently to avoid clogged EGR valves and sticky turbo vaines and enjoy the 150 bhp you've got!

 

[MarkWales]

some great advice in here - whats going on lol

 

[sssstew]

yep all been covered which is good to see.

Just to confirm, generally for TDIs its best to start up, idle for 15-30 secs then drive straight off, dont leave to stand, once driving just drive normally, ie between 2-3.5k rpm to get the temp up as quick as possible without trashing it, then once warm drive as you wish. No cool down is needed with TDIs as their turbos dont run red hot like petrol turbos, but a general best practice is if you have been thrashing to drive the last couple of mins a bit easier.

 

[RLyons]

I've been driving nice and gently until warmed up, then driving with medium boost for accelerating on the motorway.

Last night i drove about 25 miles on the motorway (80ish) then did a bit of gentle town driving. I then got to a dual carriage way and booted it in 3rd upto about 3.5k upto 70ish (must have changed to 4th). I noticed it didn't feel as though it was giving 100% but once i reached about 70 it went into limp mode until i restarted the car. I then gave it a good italian tune up another 15 miles home and seemed fine.

Does it sound like I need to start driving it a bit harder to stop it sooting up? I don't go flat out everywhere and do do a bit of flat down upto 3500rpm most days. I drive 70 miles a day mainly on motorways - could it be clogging up at normal motorway speeds?

 

[MarkWales]

yes your driving style sounds tlike that of a girlie - lol

give my Leon TDI150 and other halfs Sharan 130 a good booting up a long incline every so often

 

[RLyons]

how long is ever so often?

I guess what I'm asking is - how long does it take to "soot" everything up driving normally/slowly mainly on motorways?

 

[MarkWales]

weekly for mine lots of motorway milage

monthly for other halfs

do you know for a long climb near you?

 

[MarkWales]

I have a 2 mile climb near me which I use - needs to be a climb to make sure engine is under load

 

[jonjay]

This thread reminds me I need to give the car a good thrashing as I havent driven the car spirited at all to clear the system for a good month now.

 

[Scotty2hotty]

I give my Leon a good thrashing once a week. Once every 3 or 4 weeks I drive it like it was stolen

But if you follow the advice in this thread you can't go wrong. If the limp mode persists I believe you may have clogged up variable vanes. You may need to have the turbo cleaned out at an independant or stealers.

 

[Copey]

I let the engine warm and then hit the redline a few times to blow the crap out, more if its a longer journey, plus i run it on v-power as that is supoosed to help turbo cars a fair bit.

 

[Scotty2hotty]

Yeah, I used to run v-power every 3 or so fills, now I just use V-power everytime, car runs smoother and just feels better somehow, (maybe its the peace of mind), but anywhooo.

I recommend http://www.petrolprices.com/ for finding cheapest fuel in yoiur area, sign up for free and its class, saved me alot over the months.