Technical Bravo engine temperature in cold weather

[Dr Zoidberg]

Over the last couple of days the temperature has dropped noticably - it's now about 2 degrees when I go to work instead of 7 or 8 last week. Straight away I've seen that it takes a lot longer for the car to get up to it's normal operating temperature - I can do 15 miles before the gauge gets to it's normal straight-up position and if you stop at a junction for more than about 15 seconds you can see it start to drop again. As a side effect, the fuel consumption is also noticably worse - down 10% on the week before for the same journey.

I saw this behaviour last winter, but only really noticed it when we had weeks of sub zero temperatures and it's not that cold yet.

I'm well aware that diesel's can take a while to warm up, but does this happen on anyone else's car or do I have a problem with the thermostat?

 

[neilshep]

Over the last couple of days the temperature has dropped noticably - it's now about 2 degrees when I go to work instead of 7 or 8 last week. Straight away I've seen that it takes a lot longer for the car to get up to it's normal operating temperature - I can do 15 miles before the gauge gets to it's normal straight-up position and if you stop at a junction for more than about 15 seconds you can see it start to drop again. As a side effect, the fuel consumption is also noticably worse - down 10% on the week before for the same journey.

I saw this behaviour last winter, but only really noticed it when we had weeks of sub zero temperatures and it's not that cold yet.

I'm well aware that diesel's can take a while to warm up, but does this happen on anyone else's car or do I have a problem with the thermostat?

Re. Thermostat, I think not. Are you using the heater, or freezing your crustacean tentacles off? The heater in use can be considered to be additional engine cooling.

 

[r16pab]

I can do 12 miles and temp guage still only 1/4.
Diesels are just like that. Most diesels you can leave running at idle and the will never get hot enough for the cooling fan to cut in. Diesel just dont produce a lot of heat.

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

Thanks both.
I know diesels don't generate as much heat as petrol (I've done 190k miles in the last seven years in them ) but my last two cars never took this long to get up to temperature.

I suppose this is just a side effect of a smaller capacity engine.

Last year I blanked off the lower half of the grille and that made a big difference - looks like I'll be doing that again this year.

 

[neilshep]

I suppose this is just a side effect of a smaller capacity engine.

And better efficiency, you're burning less diesel per mile/minute whatever.

 

[Dr Zoidberg]

And better efficiency, you're burning less diesel per mile/minute whatever.

Although it's actually far less efficient when it's not up to temperature.
I might have to drive the first few miles really quickly

 

[neilshep]

Although it's actually far less efficient when it's not up to temperature.
I might have to drive the first few miles really quickly

But the handbook says not to use the full performance till the temperature needle starts to rise. Chicken, Egg or what

 

[JFL]

i noticed that the bravo took a long long time to warm up in cold weather... it was however one of the only cars that seemed to get me to work in the cold snowy weather earlier this year....

new car warms up in like a few minutes and the heated windscreen is a bonus

 

[JonnyBoy]

I don't think your car is at all unusual Dr Z. Mine doesn't get to the normal section of the temp gauge until I've driven 8 or 9 miles. Makes me very glad I ticked the box for the arse-warming seats!

(When I had the mighty 740i, that got up to temp within 5 minutes of ticking over. One of the many advantages of dirty great V8 engines... probably drank more fuel at idle than the Bravo does at 60mph, mind!)

 

[JTD_Liam]

Sounds perfectly normal for a modern Fiat diesel. My Mk2 Punto JTD and Stilo JTD have both taken a long time to get up to normal temperature and the temp gauges on both drop when i pull up at junctions in cold weather. Never had cooling system problems with either so i wouldn't worry at all, as the 1.9 Multijet is basically an evolution of my 1.9 JTD.

 

[craig20102010]

I suppose this is just a side effect of a smaller capacity engine

My 2.0ltr does it was about -1 before and i was stuck in traffic had the heater on level 1 but on the hottest. and the gauge went down to a quater. Found it rather unusual but i dont think its an issue (for once )

 

[Barnesy99]

My wife's R Reg HGT always seems to run cool (usually 2 notches up only) and will only get up to halfway if idling in traffic - Cooling fan will kick in at about 3/4 way up on the gauge.
Clearly at the moment it runs even cooler - any thoughts?

 

[rambyuk]

It's been -2 / -4 round 'ere, but other than the obvious, the heater does get me nice and toasty and stays so after about 5 mins sitting at 60mph. Not too bad to be honest.

It's the 2 litre.

Cheers

 

[wreckmaster]

My Bravo is also like this.... Dont get really warm in these days, as we have -10C. Had the same problem last year, but even worse as we had long periods with temps as low as -20 to -25C. Today I drove for about 20 - 25 minutes before I was satisfied with the inside temp. Takes about 15minutes before temp gauge is on normal running temp! Spoke to the dealer and they said that last winter they had que`s of Fiat customers with diesel cars outside wanting to change theire termostats... I have driven lots and lots of different cars and the Bravo is the worst car I have ever been driving when it comes to heaters

 

[janjam]

Why don't you do it like we did in the old times
Why don't you take some piece of cardboard and put it in front of the radiator. It will reduce the input of cold air to radiator, and the coolant water will faster reach its normal temperature.
Just be careful not to close the whole radiator (if you close it entirely your engine might overheat), but lets say only half... and see if there are any differences.