Idle or shut down?

[rutwad]

Let's ask the same question about your gas car. Would you shut it down or leave it running? Many say they are concerned with mechanical wear and tear of shutting down, yet do you treat your car the same?

[Baby Grand]

Interesting question. My car has a gas engine with about a 9:1 compression ratio. Gas engines don't seem to like extended idling and the amount of wear per start cycle is considerably less than on a diesel that has a compression ration that's probably twice the car's. So no, I don't treat the car the same. I shut it down if I know I'm not moving for anything longer than a few minutes.

jim

[PAB_OH]

Nope, I don't treat my car the same either, Then again it doens't have a diesel engine in it. Gas engines are a completely different animal. Diesel's are designed for the most part to operate at load for for extended periods. Gas engines are designed to operate at peak load for intermittent periods.

Usually when I get out of my car I'm going to do something that will likely be longer than 20-30 minutes at a time. Another thing to consider is the operating environment of tractors vs. passenger vehicles. If I leave my car running for 20-30 minutes unattended it will likely be in an environment that will get me into trouble. If it's stolen my insurance company likely won't cover it. If it is stolen and then wrecked and causes injury I will probably be found partially liable by some quack judge. A running vehicle left in public would be considered a huge safety issue by many. I tractor left running in a field on my property poses no real risk other than to myself.

[RalphVa]

At long lights where I know the light cycle or can see the light that'll change to yellow & red before mine turns green, I turn off my gas engines. I let the diesel run at lights. All 3 cars have their original starters, one at 206kmiles and 25 years, one at 100k miles and 11 years and the 3rd at 149k miles and 12 years.

When I start my cars in the morning, they're immediately out of the garage and then driven fairly gently until their temperatures come up to normal (usually about a mile to mile and a half). Still don't drive them at full throttle. Of course, the diesel has been driven at full throttle (4,300 rpm) in 1st and 2nd gears most of its 25 year life after warmup, because it's only 65 hp. Still has its original starter and doesn't use any oil for about the first 2,000 miles on its synthetic oil.

Ralph

[Volfandt]

My tractor shutdown varies w/the circumstances and it seems to also follow the 5 minute rule so many others use.

Even before the fuel prices got out of hand I also got into the habit of shutting down my gas engine powered vehicles also instead of extended idle'ing them. I don't at red lights but do at railroad crossings and while awaiting in a store parking lot etc.

It does bare re-mentioning that the hybrids of today shutdown their gasoline engines constantly and have been for the few yrs they've been on the roads. The jury is still out on what this does to the starters, main bearings etc but I suspect that since the manufacturers warrant these components for up to 100K miles that they must think the wear and tear must not be a factor.....