[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by iamitp

I often start the car remotely and let it idle for 5-10 mins to achieve a comfortable ambient temperature and air quality (I live in Delhi).

Am I sacrificing the health of my car with this practice?

I am also a bit confused by what my owner manual says. On one page, it says the following

IMO idling the engine for 5 minutes is not worth it, waste of fuel and IMHO the wear is more when the engine is left at idle to warm up.

The best practice is to start-off after idling for 10-15 seconds and be gradual on the accelerator pedal. The engine will reach operating temperatures faster this way rather than idling. This is what I have been following on all my cars irrespective of fuel type and whether NA or turbocharged.

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by iamitp

I often start the car remotely and let it idle for 5-10 mins in order to achieve a comfortable ambient temperature and air quality (I live in Delhi).

You are wasting 10 mins of fuel + adding 10 mins of pollution to the environment.
Start the car, and drive off. Don;t drive aggressively, and a normal sedate driving for initial few kms is enough.
Similarly, I have never kept the car in idle after returning from a run, on the other hand I drive sedately for the last one odd km and that's it. I don't see any issue so far - 5.5 years and 55k kms.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by iamitp

I am also a bit confused by what my owner manual says. On one page, it says the following

This is correct. Waiting to warm the engine could require about 10 minutes of wait in diesel cars, and idling the cold engine for that long is certainly a bad practice. Even my BMW 320d manual recommends driving off immediately. So in summary, do NOT idle for 10 minutes or so required to warm up! Just drive away moderately and let the engine warm up while doing its work. That is the best practice.

But then on the next page, it seems to suggest the exact opposite.
Am I missing something here?

This is asking you to wait for several "seconds", not minutes! Yes, it is again a natural thing to wait for say 15 seconds for the lubricants to circulate and then drive away. Notice that it is saying wait for a few seconds, and certainly not long enough to warm the engine completely (which may take 10 minutes!).

So in summary, there is nothing contradictory here. Start your engine, wait for 15 to 20 seconds (I anyways do this to set up my navigation or music), and then drive away at moderate RPMs, till your engine warms up naturally.

[iamitp]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

IMO idling the engine for 5 minutes is not worth it, waste of fuel and IMHO the wear is more when the engine is left at idle to warm up.

The best practice is to start-off after idling for 10-15 seconds and be gradual on the accelerator pedal. The engine will reach operating temperatures faster this way rather than idling. This is what I have been following on all my cars irrespective of fuel type and whether NA or turbocharged.

Originally Posted by ptaneja

You are wasting 10 mins of fuel + adding 10 mins of pollution to the environment.
Start the car, and drive off. Don;t drive aggressively, and a normal sedate driving for initial few kms is enough.
Similarly, I have never kept the car in idle after returning from a run, on the other hand I drive sedately for the last one odd km and that's it. I don't see any issue so far - 5.5 years and 55k kms.

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

So in summary, there is nothing contradictory here. Start your engine, wait for 15 to 20 seconds (I anyways do this to set up my navigation or music), and then drive away at moderate RPMs, till your engine warms up naturally.

Fair enough. But then how to condition the car on hot summer days/polluted frigid winter days? What's the point of the remote car control telematics?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by iamitp

Fair enough. But then how to condition the car on hot summer days/polluted frigid winter days? What's the point of the remote car control telematics?

The point of the remote start is to use it on occasion. You can certainly use it a few times without causing any noticeable damage to your engine. It is not like this will cause any instant damage. So yes, this can be a useful feature on occasion and feel free to use it that way.

However, if you use it daily, then you are definitely not following the right practice, and definitely going against the practice recommended in your manual (which correctly says not to idle a cold engine till it warms up). Even this will not have any immediate damage, but this will most likely have some effect in the long run. If you really do not care about what happens say over many years and say 100,000km, then you can still use this daily. But be aware of the fact that this is not ideal.

Another acceptable use of this feature is to fire up the engine when it is already warm enough (for example, if this is not the cold morning start but your second or third run in the day), and let the AC run to cool off the cabin (for example, after parking for an hour in the sun). Idling for a few minutes to cool off the cabin on an already warmed up engine is totally fine!

I would for sure not use this feature daily, and certainly not on the first cold start in the morning. I might use this on occasion when it is really needed.

[Indian2003]

I never follow this rule as I hardly stop on the motorway. I dont even think about the turbo when I stop. If I do stop for fuel I shut off at once.

I think the turbo keeps spinning only on extreme hard driving which most of us dont do.

The car has passed 400,000 km and if the turbo breaks down I have got value for money.

Regarding cold starts I drive at once even in temperatures down to -30. I never do any heavy acceleration in such extreme cold starts.

[wandrer]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

IMO idling the engine for 5 minutes is not worth it, waste of fuel and IMHO the wear is more when the engine is left at idle to warm up.

The best practice is to start-off after idling for 10-15 seconds and be gradual on the accelerator pedal. The engine will reach operating temperatures faster this way rather than idling. This is what I have been following on all my cars irrespective of fuel type and whether NA or turbocharged.

Yes , i agree with your approach completely. I have been following same method with my Dzire VDI. The car has clocked over 210000 kms and there are no issues of Turbo.

[xavierk]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

IMO idling the engine for 5 minutes is not worth it, waste of fuel and IMHO the wear is more when the engine is left at idle to warm up.

The best practice is to start-off after idling for 10-15 seconds and be gradual on the accelerator pedal. The engine will reach operating temperatures faster this way rather than idling. This is what I have been following on all my cars irrespective of fuel type and whether NA or turbocharged.

What happens if your daily parking slot is in basement 2 and the first few 100m of every start is normally the 2 slopes up out of the parking lot?

does it make sense then to idle for a while before making the climb?

[Small Bot]

Not sure if this question has been answered before, but what if your turbo-petrol car has an idling-stop-start mechanism?
Like, in an Altroz iTurbo, you ride a long distance at high speeds and then are forced to stop at a signal for almost 3 minutes, the idling mechanism switches off the engine once you go into neutral and remove your foot from the clutch. Will that still cause the turbocharger to deteriorate?

[ronford]

I follow idling on my turbocharged diesel car. After starting, I setup the navigation, start my dash camera and it takes 15-20 seconds. Then I crawl at 15-20 kmph in my society till the gate without accelerator input (my TDCI climbs inclines of parking basement) and then once at the gate drive sedately till the engine warms up fully. Once back, I make it a point to idle at least 10-15 seconds.

[AnandB]

My Kodiaq keeps the turbo on for a few minutes even after i turn off and go away. Doesn't happen everytime.

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by AnandB

My Kodiaq keeps the turbo on for a few minutes even after i turn off and go away. Doesn't happen everytime.

It shouldn't be the turbo! Must be the electric fan

[AnandB]

Originally Posted by KkVaidya

It shouldn't be the turbo! Must be the electric fan

Probably right. I assumed it was the turbo.

[ArTigor]

My tigor diesel has covered 69500+ kms today, while checking the engine bay saw some oil marks on the left side of engine head-block joint. Also there is soot deposit where the hose from intercooler meets the turbocharger, can this be signs of something bad? is this typical with ageing of diesel engines?
I am concerned about the soot near the turbocharger-intercooler hose joint, the last thing I want at this point is turbocharger gone bad.
I follow all thumb rules of idling the car. I will get my car inspected with the service center, but any insight from fellow members will be helpfull.
Attaching picture.

[Indian2003]

I never practice this idling rule and when I turn off the motorway I do some minutes of slow driving before I get home. I hardly redline the engine.
I can hear the turbo spinning when I pass 1850RPM and the speed then is 80 km/hour.
Even on the German autobahns when I stop for diesel, there is always a short distance to drive at slower speeds before I reach the pump.
421,000 km must be ample evidence that the idling rule need not apply to eveybody.