Idle or shut down?

[Blagadan]

Yup, 5 mins here too unless i have a lot of stop/starts to do. Not too sure how many stop/starts my battery would cope with in a short period of time. esp with a 15-30sec pre heat before each whirl...
Also, I prefer to shut down the engine and leave the tractor in gear to act as a secondary failsafe just incase the parking brake let go or were pushed by accident...

Besides.... wouldn't you prefer to smell pine trees instead of diesel exhaust fumes...?

 

[jmfox]

I think there are two rules, one for those who are paying for the diesel and another for those who are paid to operate them.

jmf

 

[Baby Grand]

Once the engine starts and is running and the oil pressure is up to operating range, the journals ride on a nice, thick layer of oil; thicker than any surface asperities. Journal bearings don稚 like starting & stopping and under these conditions are subject to a thinned down lubrication condition where asperities can make contact, weld, oxidize and tear apart. That痴 one of the primary ways they ear. That痴 why people who run diesels 24/7 let them idle for extended periods.

 

[Baby Grand]

Please excuse my madd punctuation skilz. What am I doing wrong?
Why does my the text editor do that?

 

[Texashayman]

On my big turbo tractors, I will let idle no longer than fifteen to twenty minutes, my D6 Cat pretty much the same way..Has worked well for me..one of my tractors has 8600 hours and doesnt use a drop of oil..The amount of diesel my equipment burns at idle is insignificant compared to batterys,starters,cold starts ect..

 

[Soundguy]

I have to wonder about this, Trucks are often left idle overnight, construction equipment often is idle for hours. I worked at the airport when I was young, the diesel equipment was never turned off in the winter, (left idle all night, every night).

Remember.. some trucks have idle up solenoids, as well as idle variance built in. also.. trucks with reefers have a seperate engine in the back for the compressor that kicks on automatically to maintain temp. At a distance.. a reefer running might sound like a truck idleing..

soundguy

 

[john_bud]

Once the engine starts and is running and the oil pressure is up to operating range, the journals ride on a nice, thick layer of oil; thicker than any surface asperities. Journal bearings don稚 like starting & stopping and under these conditions are subject to a thinned down lubrication condition where asperities can make contact, weld, oxidize and tear apart. That痴 one of the primary ways they ear. That痴 why people who run diesels 24/7 let them idle for extended periods.

You wrote in Word and pasted in format characters that goof up the works.


On idling, if it's so good, why do transport companies monitor idle time and reward the driver with the least amount? 'cuz it ain't so good to let them idle.

I'd bet you dollars to donuts that if you go to a truck stop tonight you won't hear the independents running their engines - they are paying for that burbling sound at $4.25 a gal! It didn't used to matter when fuel was $0.35 a gal, but now....

jb

 

[Egon]

Then there are those who say the most engine wear occurs at start up?

Me, In don't know?

The construction company I used to work for left the equipment running 24/7. The only time it was shut off was for mechanical or specific service work which was scheduled by engine hours. This was on a jobsite that had two ten hour shifts. The company had lots of data and also had good communication with the Caterpillar company!

Me; I don't know. I'm not in access mode to proper data at the moment!

Of course very cold weather operation could be a different animal. Shut the stuff off and it may not start! This is also where Rad shutters and idle speed control come into play.

 

[Red55]

I let it go for 10 to 15 minutes. . and don't drop idle below 1100 have not noticed a drop in engine running temp while idleing. On the other end of the county where the commuter train depot is the town/s are always warring with the Metro on the very expensive locomotives idling all nite long Seems the neighbors don't like the noise or smell. -Ed

 

[dieselgeek]

As diesels got more efficient, they got worse at idling for prolonged periods. Cummins has a TSB about prolonged idling on their later Direct Injected engines causing stuck valves, increased wear on ringlands and increased fuel contamination of the oil.

Why? because the more efficient the combustion process, the less waste heat is given off. At low RPM and loads, EGTs will get below 300 degrees, this means some fuel goes unburnt, and that works its way around the rings and into the oil. That's Cummins' interpretation anyways.


(I worked a contract developing standalone engine management systems, and got to spend time working with a gov't contractor on a scratch-built Diesel engine management system based on common rail injection - you should see what happens when buggy software sticks open an injector with 26,000psi fuel pressure in the rail! you have to empty out the whole room!)