Quote:
Originally Posted by mrashton
The technician is correct, cars should be started and driven rather than left to idle to warm up. When we drove carburettor engined cars many moons ago they were really inefficient at providing the correct fuel/air ratio to account for the cold and cars could stall once driven off as a result. Allowing the car to idle could counter this. With the advent of electronic fuel injection there are sensors that monitor and the ECU adjusts the fuel/air ration accurately so stalling due to the cold and incorrect mixture is a thing of the past. A car heats up quicker if it is driven straight away causing less wear on an otherwise cold engine.
With your engine, I'd suggest intermediate oil changes in addition to the manufacturer stipulated ones to prolong the life of the timing chain further.
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+1 On both points.
Get the engine working, to warm it up in the most efficient way. Just let it stabilise for a few seconds and it's ready to go. Remember diesels are much slower to warm on idle, due to being more efficient.
There is opinion in the motor trade that the long service intervals are contributing to the timing chain issue. Hard to prove, but as revision of parts hasn't solved the problem, oil change intervals must be considered as a factor.
Plus a driving style using predominantly low revs won't help, as it appears a lot of the issue is stretched chains. Torque pulses (more dominant in the 4-cylinder diesels) could be another contributing factor.