Diesel with short trips lately, is it bad for the car and environment?
 

I have a opel combo with the 1.7L turbodiesel engine (y17dtl)

My commute shortened from 30 to 20 kilometers and there's some short trips mainly driving the kids to school in bad weather. School is 3kms from home.

Thing is, i do quite a bit some longer trips (50-350kms)where the diesel car is at its best.

Am i killing my car with short trips and polluting excessively?

.

No...


:turtle:

>

.

Yes depending on how long it takes to reach thermostat opening and peak engine efficiency. If it's up to temp at the start, the low temp enrichments are off. My F250 in the winter has no defrost heat for 4 miles because it's trying to warm 8 gallons of coolant with reduced btu fuel and it barely generates enough heat at idle to dewax the fuel

My antique NA diesel did tons of short trips in -20F without issue through 438,000 miles

My fathers TDI had to have the intake and egr decoked all the time

Short trips on a turbo in cold weather result in new maintenance requirements

You will need to do frequent longer trips or the DPF will clog up eventualy.
The local trick to clean a DPF is very bad for your fuel efficiency as it involves driving over 200 km/h for an extended period of time to get the EGTs up and burn the filter free.

Luckily no DPF.
Every time i get a chance to go longer trips i do some "italian tuneup" - driving to clean stuff up.
In warm weather the car gets up to normal temps during the commute but anything below 10°C and the meter stays down. That's what got me into thinking this can't be good.

Edit:guess it is time to sell this car and go for a petrol car.

.

Curious.

Do you like, or enjoy your current vehicle ?

Does it meet your needs ?


>

.

If your main concern is getting to its optimum temperature, a partial grille block won't hurt. As long as the glowplugs and the thermostat are OK, there won't be too much to worry about cold startings.

Well, yes. Lots of room and smallish consumption. Maybe a little underpowered for trailer towing.

Two words: engine preheat.