Warm up time

[Soundguy]

remember.. diesels are straight pipes.

they are a fuel driven air pump especailly a NA one..

[creekbend]

a question on that article? why depress the 'gas pedal' to max.

should the rack not be calling for fuel anyway?

I have a L4400 and in really cold weather,I set the rpm's around 1200 and then I turn the key to the left for 5-10 seconds in regards to the glow plug. It has always started right up and then I adjust the rpm's to idling speed. I have never depressed the pedal to Max. Most of the time I use the hand throttle. Perhaps some of the other Kubota models are different?

[David_Kb7uns]

OK, change emergency generator to Fire Engine. Rarely are they pre-heated and 5 times a day to instant full power might be minimal for some.

Most fire equipment is plugged in all the time, they even have power plugs that eject the power plug upon engine start. They are equipped with battery chargers, brake system air compressors and chargers for all the battery powered equipment, with all this stuff on board you think they are going to leave out an engine heater??

David Kb7uns

[roman]

The Ford doesn''t have a engine heater. In winter it starts right up. However, I follow the same format once the temp goes below 50F. I take the thottle just past idle, activate the glo-plugs and twist her over. The oil pressre light glows for a moment, goes out then always comes back on for a few seconds. I leave the throttle at high idle (700 rpm) while performing a once over. Then she warms at about 1000 rpm's for a few minutes in the summer and up to 15 in winter.
Gotta Love Roy!

[orezok]

Most fire equipment is plugged in all the time, they even have power plugs that eject the power plug upon engine start. They are equipped with battery chargers, brake system air compressors and chargers for all the battery powered equipment, with all this stuff on board you think they are going to leave out an engine heater??

David Kb7uns

So you're assuming that the only place they start the engine is in the station house?

I'm not suggesting that no warm up is a good practice, but there are many situation where a cold start occurs with no noticeable degradation of engine performance.

[countrybumpkin]

We have never plugged any of our trucks up to heaters in our main house. We do keep the temps around 65 or so in the winter. We have a 99 ford F450 7.3 that we us for a lite duty rescue unit, oldest truck in that house and have had zero trouble with it as well as the other larger trucks. These trucks have zero warm up time., if we get a call it's out the door as soon as they start and flat on the floor. Now my stuff I always like to start and warm up several minutes or longer even in summer time, was just brought up on the farm that that's what you always did.

[CompactTractorFan]

So you're assuming that the only place they start the engine is in the station house?

In below freezing temps the trucks have to keep running so they can circulate the water in the tank.

[JoeL4330]

as pointed out by several, diesels idling in bitter cold don't really warm up. Big rigs (and some diesel cars and light trucks have provision for blocking air flow to the radiator. Ideally, there are better ways to warm it up than letting it idle: block heaters, heated lower radiator hose or "percolator" heater in the cooling circuit (which can be propane fired if electricity is unavailable.) I would avoid dipstick heaters which tend to burn the oil; magnetic/stickons are a little better if you must heat the oil pan rather than the coolant. Whichever way you warm it up, heavy loads are not a good idea until it is close to normal operating temps.

I have a lot of different diesels: F350, MB 300D and 280D, Isuzu I-mark, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Jetta TDI...and happened to notice that the TDI has glow plugs in the water jacket as well as in combustion chambers!

[Soundguy]

some diesels idle up as well.

[WilliamBos]

some diesels idle up as well.

Yupp, add the high idle switch when ordering.