[Adelante]

From a cold start, my car seems to take a long time to come up to normal temperature. I set off from home, am on the dual carriageway within 1 mile and then after a further mile and a half it resorts to single carriageway A road with an average speed of around 50 mph. So, travelling along the A road my car only comes up to temperature once I have driven about 10 miles. My previous A4 TDi used to be up to temp within 3 miles. For point of note, I do take it easy on the loud pedal until the car is warm so, it does seem excessive. What do other 340's behave like ?

[Rich9600]

On the F30 it's oil temperature. So, takes longer to show as warm than the water temperature on other cars. My 330d takes about 12 miles to get to 100

[dangerous_al]

On my 330i I start to feel warm air from the heater after a mile or so and hot within a couple of miles which shows how quick the water temp is coming up. The oil temp will be a lot slower to reach temperature which shows how long it takes before the car is ready to be thrashed. Unfortunately as most other cars don't have an oil temp gauge, you will never have known this before

[Minty]

Originally Posted by Rich9600

On the F30 it's oil temperature. So, takes longer to show as warm than the water temperature on other cars. My 330d takes about 12 miles to get to 100

^ this.

Annoyingly my oil gauge doesn't neatly go to 1/2 way when up to temperature but sits just below the 1/2 way mark

[robwils]

In terms of mpg do you reckon the petrol will suffer less if used on shorter commutes where the oil temp only just gets to temp e.g. 10-12 miles?

[ukbeemerboy]

Originally Posted by Adelante

From a cold start, my car seems to take a long time to come up to normal temperature. I set off from home, am on the dual carriageway within 1 mile and then after a further mile and a half it resorts to single carriageway A road with an average speed of around 50 mph. So, travelling along the A road my car only comes up to temperature once I have driven about 10 miles. My previous A4 TDi used to be up to temp within 3 miles. For point of note, I do take it easy on the loud pedal until the car is warm so, it does seem excessive. What do other 340's behave like ?

Your Audi A4 temp gauge was the coolant temp and would sit at 90 all day long. The BMW measure the oil temp which is arguably more important and should sit around 100 or there abouts. On cold days it can take miles to get up to temperature.

[Rob 1267]

Originally Posted by dangerous_al

On my 330i I start to feel warm air from the heater after a mile or so and hot within a couple of miles which shows how quick the water temp is coming up. The oil temp will be a lot slower to reach temperature which shows how long it takes before the car is ready to be thrashed.

+1

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by robwils

In terms of mpg do you reckon the petrol will suffer less if used on shorter commutes where the oil temp only just gets to temp e.g. 10-12 miles?

I've found in comparing my E91 330d (M57 engine) to the current F11, (N55) the petrol does not suffer the same percentage of drop off in cold weather running. I make a lot of 11 - 12 mile trips from cold, repeated over and over similar speed/mpg averages. There is about half the fuel penalty for winter running. Say the average in the diesel is ~10%, the petrol is less than 5%.

What has surprised me with the N55 engine (imagine it will be similar with the B58), oil temperature climbs surprisingly close to the ECT. Lags about 4-degrees behind ECT and closes the gap as I approach ~100C.

This is partly to do with how the underside of the pistons are cooled with added oil jets, helps faster heating of the oil in cold conditions.

[ukbeemerboy]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

I've found in comparing my E91 330d (M57 engine) to the current F11, (N55) the petrol does not suffer the same percentage of drop off in cold weather running. I make a lot of 11 - 12 mile trips from cold, repeated over and over similar speed/mpg averages. There is about half the fuel penalty for winter running. Say the average in the diesel is ~10%, the petrol is less than 5%.

What has surprised me with the N55 engine (imagine it will be similar with the B58), oil temperature climbs surprisingly close to the ECT. Lags about 4-degrees behind ECT and closes the gap as I approach ~100C.

This is partly to do with how the underside of the pistons are cooled with added oil jets, helps faster heating of the oil in cold conditions.

Do any of these engines run electric heaters to warm the coolant quicker? I thought the diesels did?

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by ukbeemerboy

Do any of these engines run electric heaters to warm the coolant quicker? I thought the diesels did?

Diesels have the HVAC air heating element (PTC type) so does have faster cabin heating. It is independent of the cooling plumbing, so no direct effect on ECT. In a way it does support a faster coolant temperature climb, (and a small mpg penalty) as extra load is on the engine to generate the power for the heating element, (maximum power demand is over a kilowatt).

The petrol engines don't have this heating element, if heating is called for during a cold warm up, that slows the ECT rise, due to taking heat for the cabin.

[robwils]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

I've found in comparing my E91 330d (M57 engine) to the current F11, (N55) the petrol does not suffer the same percentage of drop off in cold weather running. I make a lot of 11 - 12 mile trips from cold, repeated over and over similar speed/mpg averages. There is about half the fuel penalty for winter running. Say the average in the diesel is ~10%, the petrol is less than 5%.

What has surprised me with the N55 engine (imagine it will be similar with the B58), oil temperature climbs surprisingly close to the ECT. Lags about 4-degrees behind ECT and closes the gap as I approach ~100C.

This is partly to do with how the underside of the pistons are cooled with added oil jets, helps faster heating of the oil in cold conditions.

So not that much then? - few mpg really.

[RobUK]

Likewise, I can be on a dual carriageway within a mile and a half of home, then seven or eight miles at 60-70mph and temp is around normal. My 328i would take about 15 miles.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by HighlandPete

Diesels have the HVAC air heating element (PTC type) so does have faster cabin heating. It is independent of the cooling plumbing, so no direct effect on ECT. In a way it does support a faster coolant temperature climb, (and a small mpg penalty) as extra load is on the engine to generate the power for the heating element, (maximum power demand is over a kilowatt).

The petrol engines don't have this heating element, if heating is called for during a cold warm up, that slows the ECT rise, due to taking heat for the cabin.

FWIW I've noticed my 340i chucks heat out of the vents quicker than the 330D did on the same run in similar conditions. Which was surprising as I always thought the 30D was quick to warm up. On a freezing cold day, the 30D would take a mile and a half before any warm air would come out of the vents, the 40i does it in 0.88 miles (according to google maps).