Switching on the heater on cold start

[MR_Y]

Hi,

Seeing that it is winter, the temptation to switch on the heater when you start the car is pretty strong.

However, what impact does this have on a diesel vehicle that, I assume, needs a bit longer to warm up the motor than a petrol.

Is it best practice to rather switch on the heater after the car has reached optimum operating temperature (heat guage, or oil temp guage, is at midway point)?



Sent from my HUAWEI VNS-L22 using Tapatalk

 

[Dewald Basson]

When bleeding the cooling system of your car, you use the heater to help speed up the process of heating up the system.

So you are heating up the system quicker, which to me is good thing in the winter.

 

[Divio]

haha. I've been wondering this every morning lately...

 

[Nikhil]

from a manufacturer point of view I don't think any stipulate anything about the use of the heater on cold start. however your vehicle will take longer to reach its optimal operational temp. the heater will also not be as effective when the car is cold, another point to note is that most vehicles are heavier on fuel before reaching operating temps so essentially you delaying your car reaching optimal temps should lead to a slight increase in fuel consumption during that period. other than that I can't think of any associated problems at this point.