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A comprehensive analysis of combustion behaviour during cold, intermediately cold, warm and hot start stages of a diesel engine are presented. Experiments were conducted at 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm, and the discretisation of engine warm up into stages was facilitated by designing a custom drive cycle. Advanced injection timing, observed during the cold start period, led to longer ignition delay, shorter combustion duration, higher peak pressure and a higher peak apparent heat release rate (AHRR). The peak pressure was ~30% and 20% and the AHRR was ~2 to 5% and ±1% higher at 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm, respectively, during cold start, compared to the intermediate cold start. A retarded injection strategy during the intermediate cold start phase led to shorter ignition delay, longer combustion duration, lower peak pressure and lower peak AHRR. At 2000 rpm, an exceptional combustion behaviour led to a ~27% reduction in the AHRR at 25% load. Longer ignition delays and shorter combustion durations at 25% load were observed during the intermediately cold, warm and hot start segments. The mass fraction burned (MFB) was calculated using a single zone combustion model to analyse combustion parameters such as crank angle (CA) at 50% MFB, AHRR@CA50 and CA duration for 10–90% MFB.