Petrol engine taking long, long time to warm up

[oragex]

Hello everybody.

The title is actually not a question.

For some reason, the petrol (in my case non turbo) engines take very long time to warm up in cold weather.

There are certain factors for this: cold weather and very gently driving. Today, we had -10C and snow with slippery road. For this reason, I did drive 30 minutes through the city in very slow traffic with very low rpm as I had to move the car very slowly from a stop.

After 30 min driving, the needle still wasn't at 12h, rather at 11h. The coolant temperature was confirmed with Torque app. The thermostat is original Volvo 3 years old.

It is just my experience, but if the engine rpm stays under 2rpm, this engine takes very long to fully warm up. Anyone else has noticed this?

[gramsey438]

I think I would be looking at the distinct possibility of a thermostat stuck in the open position.

[Brendan W]

At a guess the heater was running flat out in the cabin. It's quite an effective heat dump.
I recall an incident with our D5, notoriously slow at the best of times, but after 10-15 minutes of in-town driving the needle was barely at ten o'clock and didn't look like it had any intention of going further and it was more like -5C outside.
Otoh it could be the stat

[reggit]

I'd also be considering a failed stat - it's only 2 or 3 torx head screws if I remember right on a n/a petrol to get it out and check it.

[oragex]

The cabin blower running at 2nd or 3rd setting. I'm relating this with very slow traffic and no real acceleration, seems like this engine doesn't put out much heat when it runs under 2000 rpm or so.

The thermostat is working properly, the gauge starts climbing very soon after the start up in less than 1 minute. The upper radiator hose stays cold meaning the thermostat is not stuck open or wrongly installed. The engine does warm up normally when the car is driven with accelerations up to 3000rpm, the warming up take long time when the car is not accelerate past 2000rpm.

[BarryCambs]

I think they just take a long time to warm up in the cold - it sounds the sort of behaviour I get from mine and I know the thermostat's ok. It warms up in a few hundred yards in the summer, but struggles in the sort of weather we are having now.

My feeling is it's the heater that causes this slowdown. Below freezing it probably sucks out pretty much all the heat the engine's generating at slow speeds!

[Clan]

Originally Posted by oragex

Hello everybody.

The title is actually not a question.

For some reason, the petrol (in my case non turbo) engines take very long time to warm up in cold weather.

There are certain factors for this: cold weather and very gently driving. Today, we had -10C and snow with slippery road. For this reason, I did drive 30 minutes through the city in very slow traffic with very low rpm as I had to move the car very slowly from a stop.

After 30 min driving, the needle still wasn't at 12h, rather at 11h. The coolant temperature was confirmed with Torque app. The thermostat is original Volvo 3 years old.

It is just my experience, but if the engine rpm stays under 2rpm, this engine takes very long to fully warm up. Anyone else has noticed this?

This isn't normal at all , Should be up to N and stick there after a few minutes driving , Petrol engines heat up a lot quicker than older diesels .
get a volvo 92 C thermostat you will transform the heater .

[oragex]

Originally Posted by BarryCambs

I think they just take a long time to warm up in the cold - it sounds the sort of behaviour I get from mine and I know the thermostat's ok. It warms up in a few hundred yards in the summer, but struggles in the sort of weather we are having now.

My feeling is it's the heater that causes this slowdown. Below freezing it probably sucks out pretty much all the heat the engine's generating at slow speeds!

That makes sense. It's a pretty efficient heater with lots of fins after all. A second radiator but without a thermostat!

[BarryCambs]

The heater is fine and works well - that gets nice and warm in a couple of minutes, it's just the engine catching up. I did check when I filled with petrol after a couple of miles and the top hose was stone cold, so it's all good.

I did have a thermostat go a few years ago on it and it struggled to get up to temperature in the summer then!

[GreenBrick]

Mine warms up quickly, even with the blower on, once I replaced the 'stat.
Until then it was very slow and would cool down again on open roads, now the temp gauge does not move once at the middle.