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It sounds like you are already doing some of the things that you should: such as waiting for the glow plug light to go out before starting. After pulling up, you should also wait for the idle speed to return to normal before switching off the engine. You dont need to change up at 1500rpm, the turbo wont get going until at least 1800rpm. Keep going on the throttle and you will notice when the turbo kicks in, you will get a nice burst of power! I own a Mondeo mk3 with the 2.0TDCi engine, I take mine occasionally up to 3000rpm, but never above that figure. They do take a little bit of getting used to especially after driving petrol engines for years But if you want to get moving in a hurry, you need to 'open her up a bit'.
You wont particularly damage the engine by changing gear at 1500rpm, but you wont get very good performance from it that way, it wont hurt to blow the cobwebs out of it a little!
Edited by fordman1 on 16/12/2010 at 21:37
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In the VAG diesels I had I gave them a little more beans in ordinary running, say 2500rpm. But daily diet included at least two full throttle, 5000 rpm excursions when fully warm. Ran like a dream, with very little oil usage, Over 100,000 total on both vehicles, which were used when I got them. Don't be too gentle - they are meant to be used. Firm acceleration as the police driving handbook used to say.
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isnt red lining the engine bad for it putting the revvs upto 5000 rpm like u said?
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Thanks, Yeah i always give it 10-15 seconds when ive stopped to allow the car to settle before turning it off too. would not using the turbo or opening it up damage ir block anything inside the engine?
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In what way would it be bad? If 5000 were bad the cut-out would be lower. It wasn't run at those rpm for long, mind. Not a believer in abusing the engine. However, engines are meant to be given a bit of work, and the EGR valve closes at full throttle, so its linkage gets a work-out. More problems with coking-up if driven gently all the time, IMHO.
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Persistent light loading of diesels is a sure way to shorten their life and increase maintenance requirements.
The engine needs to get up to working temperature and at a decent load to prevent problems such as glazing (an unwanted super smoothness to the internal surfaces of the cylinders) and coking up (deposits of oily, carbonaceous material in the top part of the motor).
As was said earlier, if 5000 rpm was bad, the makers wouldn't let you do it on purpose. Let it get up to temperature and occassionally give it a good heat run, leave it in 4th and go for a legal spin up the motorway (preferably with a few mates in the car) for ten miles or so and back.
Achieving good fuel economy at the expense of engine longevity is an economically invalid, short term, saving.
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As the previous poster said, let it warm up fully before giving it any full revs treatment, but then give it some stick! Look in the mirror, do you really want all that crud you've just blown out?
On the way to each MOT, I'd hold it on the limiter for up to a minute.
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Don't turn the engine off immediately after revving , let it run for 30 seconds or so to so that the turbo isn't left spinning very fast as its oil supply dwindles. That's probably true for any turbocharged engine, diesel or petrol.
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Get in switch on, drive off, light accelrator when cold, then drive gently in town (waste of time otherwise) and rev it hard on entrances to dual carriageways/motorwys. Get it running warm asap.
Never use over 3500 rpm - that's over 80mph in 5th.
Italian tune up once a week to clear carbon and catalyst.
Simmer turbo when stopping after long hot runs.. Waste of time if short journeys round town.
Edited by madf on 17/12/2010 at 15:42
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As the previous poster said, let it warm up fully before giving it any full revs treatment, but then give it some stick! Look in the mirror, do you really want all that crud you've just blown out?
On the way to each MOT, I'd hold it on the limiter for up to a minute.
revving to the redline fine, but holding it on the limiter? Why would you want to do that? Inducing crank whip as the limiter does it's job won't do the engine any good.
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Instead of calling it a limiter, think of it as a governor, as in a constant speed running engine, eg a generator. I think crankshaft whip will be well outside of the speeds we are looking at. I would expect the engine designers to have thought of that.
Another way of looking at it is: if holding at the red line is bad, what revs are actually acceptable to stay at?
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A diesel limiter/governor doesn't work in the same way as petrol.
A diesel will just rise to its limit and sit there, at maximum fuelling the engine will be reaching its maximum heat. Just what you want for an MOT emissions test. It's also useful for 'full throttle up-changes' - it can give you a few fractions of a second benefit when accelerating.
A petrol limiter is usually an ignition cut-out, in my experience, and can feel violent. I doubt if it would do the crank any good to hold a petrol at maximum throttle as it would vary between full throttle and no throttle (effectively). Although race machinery seems to get away with it. Listen to a WRC car at the start of a stage.
I've an old, bog standard, Mazda 'B' series, carburettor, engined motor that has no limiter - valve bounce restricts it to around 7300RPM, 1000RPM beyond the red line. It's survived several years of that treatment (so far).
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Bad idea, reving the engine that high in the 1st place, but holding it there? Why?
That will almost certanly carry the risk of damaging the engine.
There is no reason to take the revs that high, especially on a turbo diesel, you lose power when the revs get too high + the turbo no longer does anything beyond a certain point.
Edited by fordman1 on 17/12/2010 at 19:58
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There seems to be an assumption that the engine limiter is set at the point where the engine is unreasonably stressed. Any designer worth his or her salt would build in a tolerance, ie allow the red line to be within the safe operating parameters, not on the brink of destruction.
The same sort of philosophy goes for much engineering design, you wouldn't expect a 50 tonne shackle to fall to pieces just by lifting 51 tonnes or a shaft designed to carry 500 KNM of torque to shear at 501 KNM.
"That will almost certanly carry the risk of damaging the engine. " Why?
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The red lines are printed on the rev counter for a reason. You are not really supposed to repeatedly go into the red, or worse hold it at that point. If it was acceptable to hold the engine at that level, the manufacturer would place the red lines higher, the red lines are a warning, thats the way I look at it anyway.
The engine may well be able to cope with this level of stress, but only briefly, not in a continuous manner, that is where damage could occur.
Edited by fordman1 on 17/12/2010 at 20:23
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"You are not really supposed to repeatedly go into the red, or worse hold it at that point."
Will the engine willingly go into the red? I would have to do a block downshift from high revs to get mine to do that.
"the red lines are a warning, "
and the governor stops you doing any damage.
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The engines in my diesel cars were German. If ever you drove in Germany you would know that their engine designers are fully aware of the need to take account of driving habits at home. Not just on the Autobahn, but everywhere. One goes as fast as possible, no mercy is shown until the speed limit is reached. Possibly.
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