How long does it take for a VW golf Diesel engine to warm up?

On a VW golf 1.9 TDi. I wanted to know how long would it take for the diesel engine to warm up and be good to drive. I've heard it could take about 10 mins for the temp level to hit the middle mark.





Some have stated you just wait idle for about a 1 min and then drive off until the temp hits the middle.|||Letting the engine warm up is a waste of fuel; todays engines are designed to be driven right off the start, by doing this engine will come up to temperature faster than letting it idle. Making the engine work will warm up the engine much faster, save fuel and reduce emissions than letting it idle to try and reach normal temperature.





I do agree it will take about 10 minutes or so of driving to bring the engine up to normal temperature or so; for best performance and longest life of the turbo and the motor, its best that other than light acceleration not be done until the engine is near normal temperature. From a cold dead start, it would take nearly 20 minutes or so at idle to come to the normal temp; driving the vehicle will cut the time by at least 50%, so that's how you save fuel and remember that at idle the vehicle is still putting out emissions, but going no where...





So, I recommend just driving off as soon as you started the vehicle. Don't accelerate hard until the engine has at least gotten off the cold mark (if possible) and you'll find this is the best compromise between warm up time, fuel savings, longest life of the turbo and motor, and lower emissions.





Hope this helps, a car nut.|||At idle, it will never warm to operating temperature. The TDI uses very little fuel at idle, and doen't produce enough heat to warm up the engine. They are designed to start and drive like a gasoline engine, just start it and drive away! If you need instant heat to defrost windows, you need to install an engine heater that plugs in to electricity. Go to TDIClub.com, read thru the forums and FAQs, you will get all the answers ya need!