VIKING wrote:

............
We were a bit amused here in Norway, knowing this little sequence on TV apparantly made some reactions around the world. It doesn reach that temperature often. I think the records for temperature in Norway are minus 58C and pluss 38C.

Apart from that, starting a car is never concidered to be a problem. Maybe we get the preheaters? I dont know.

Well, with the global warming we probably will not be needing that much longer anyway. And I am a good swimmer.

Yes the light 'glows' briefly at zero degees and stays on longer the lower the temperature. The model is HE but the model is irrelevant - it's in the hanbook. The ideal way to start from cold is to push the start button without the clutch depressed to let the heaters do the work. Then depress the clutch and start button, the noise is considerably less .

Wilbur wrote:

Yes the light 'glows' briefly at zero degees and stays on longer the lower the temperature. The model is HE but the model is irrelevant - it's in the hanbook. The ideal way to start from cold is to push the start button without the clutch depressed to let the heaters do the work. Then depress the clutch and start button, the noise is considerably less .

No. Only on some petrol cars, after unlocking, when you get into the car and you are using the drivers door, the electrical fuel pump starts for 2-3 seconds to presurize the system.

On diesel cars, the shortened time is because of several factors which allow the fuel to burn much easily and the car to start much quicker than older cars.
For example some comparisons between new and old systems:
- much higher injection pressure: up to 1600 bars in the FL2's common rail technology comparing with 3-400 bars on the old rotary mechanical systems.
- different and improved injector nozzle for better atomization of the fuel.
- precise injection time, quantity and duration through electronics, instead of the old quite imprecise variable mechanical injection.
- direct injection into cylinder, instead of indirect injection into a preburning chamber.
- direct injection of the better atomized fuel over the tip of the glow plug.

In fact, the glow plug is an old inherited item from the old indirect injection diesel engines.
On the new direct injected, common rail diesel engines the glow plugs aren't necessary until much lower temperatures.

alex_pescaru wrote:

No. Only on some petrol cars, after unlocking, when you get into the car and you are using the drivers door, the electrical fuel pump starts for 2-3 seconds to presurize the system.

On diesel cars, the shortened time is because of several factors which allow the fuel to burn much easily and the car to start much quicker than older cars.
For example some comparisons between new and old systems:
- much higher injection pressure: up to 1600 bars in the FL2's common rail technology comparing with 3-400 bars on the old rotary mechanical systems.
- different and improved injector nozzle for better atomization of the fuel.
- precise injection time, quantity and duration through electronics, instead of the old quite imprecise variable mechanical injection.
- direct injection into cylinder, instead of indirect injection into a preburning chamber.
- direct injection of the better atomized fuel over the tip of the glow plug.

In fact, the glow plug is an old inherited item from the old indirect injection diesel engines.
On the new direct injected, common rail diesel engines the glow plugs aren't necessary until much lower temperatures.