Diesel Warm-Up -- How Long -- Why?

[Willl]

During the cold months, my Dodge never makes it to thermostat full open temp (195) during its 25 min back road cruse to work.

And that's after a 10 min warm up and being on the crankcase heater for 4 hrs.

 

[Don87]

Maybe Roy figures that since there is smoke in the Deere's pipes, there ought to be smoke in his pipes.:laughing: Actually smoking is harmful to ones health. I smoked a cigarette in the 7th grade and never grew up over 5'4". (they say it'll stunt your growth):laughing: Seriously, the FEL and 3-pt just doesn't want to move until things get warmed up at little, even in the summer. But moving out to the work site in idle shouldn't hurt anything...I hope.

That is your parent's fault, I got this from a dermatologist, but it fits here.:laughing::laughing:

 

[Don87]

That "No Idling" thing is getting pretty common now...not sure if it's a good idea or just some of the EPA's idiocy.


Personally, if I'm going to be off the tractor for more then 5 minutes or so, I shut it down. Can't say I have a good reason to do this, but that's what I do.
BTW, I never idle the engine at less then 1500 RPM. Low speed idling isn't good for a diesel.

Yeppers

 

[Egon]

even with an idle up solenoid working?/QUOTE


Come to Cold Country and have the experience. :thumbsup:

-20 C and waiting in a line up for 1/2 an hour. Could not even keep the windshield defrosted.

Some folks that work outa their trucks have a really fast idle option installed as well as covered radiator.

 

[JoelD]

A habit I developed has been to get into a "granny" gear and idle out of the tractor port. I guess it just makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere as the engine warms up. I would never have guessed that the idle, where it's set from the factory, could be detrimental. I spend hours at idle when I'm running my splitter. I don't need a 41 HP splitter. Now I wonder how many hours I'm taking off my engine's life. Is idling at 800 to 1000 RsPM that terrible with essentially no load?

And thanks to everyone for the interest in this question.

My thought exactly, how could factory idle be harmful?

Joel

 

[SPYDERLK]

Equally important is a 5 minute cool-down on turbo diesels particularly direct injected (DI) turbo diesels for a 2 reasons.
First & most obvious is to cool the turbo to prevent the residual oil from sitting in the center section (bearing housing) and burning thus turning to thick tar that can block lubrication passages and build up as varnish on bearing surfaces.
Second direct injected diesels have the injectors injecting fuel (fire) directly onto or into the piston bowl. These engines typically have piston cooling nozzles cooling the underside of the piston removing excessive heat as long as the engine is running.
Shutting a DI diesel down immediately (which no-one here would intentionally do) after a prolonged hi power run can cause severe piston scoring for the following reason.
Immediately upon what we called a hot shutdown (engine stall) the internal engine temperatures start to rise causing piston to cylinder clearance to diminish because the coolant & oil flow no longer can remove the heat resulting in excessive and uneven heat buildup causing (aluminum) pistons to grow becoming tight in the cylinder. This situation will create a piston/cylinder score if the engine is turned over before the temperature stabilizes and engine cools.
If the engine can be promptly re-started within seconds (great) otherwise a 30 minute cool-down should be observed to prevent damage.These first hand observations were with Cummins VTA-903 V8 engines rated at 500&600hp installed in test cells for testing of transmissions installed in the US Armies Bradley Fighting Vehicle System.
We had several failures until we implemented this procedure.
Tim

Good post. ... Note the key wording here. In normal circumstances we would return to the barn - or the edge of the field, and cooldown would accrue there, drastically shortening thumb twiddling. Our main danger, I believe, is stalling the tractor at hi power and not restarting immediately.
larry

 

[boggen]

regardless of tractor or truck or car, or diesel or gas.

warming up.

when it is cold out. (a insulated jacket, or like on) everything gets at min a 1 minute warm up.

when it is could out. and i start putting on gloves, wearing second pair of pants or overalls, etc.... then everything gets at min 5 minute warm up.

when it is in the single digits F degrees. or below. min 15 minute warm up.

everything just runs better, once things are at operating temps. the problem with the 555c TLB is 21 gallons of hyd oil. while engine does warm up. i then have about 10 to 30 minute warm up after that, warming up the hyd fluid. without the by pass light coming on in the cab. and that means operating the loader, the out riggers and backhoe. and slowly moving them. and may mean just setting there and not moving. but doing a baby crawl of lifting and lowering things. to cycle oil through the valves and hoses. and if cylinders hold a good amount of oil when fully contracted or extended. then warming them up some.

the difference of not letting things warm up. vs taking time to let things warm up. is power, response times, and less likely to damage something.

i say things in minutes. but i should be referring to things as "temp gauges" or when i notice a certain response time to front loader lifting up, or when transmission has had time to warm up and i can feel / notice the slight difference in travel speed and response time of the transmission.

====================
on tractors, i generally use a block heater that plugs into 110v outlet. to keep the engine block warm. for easier starting.

though this winter the ford / new holland 555c TLB (tractor loader backhoe) will be getting a small "battery warmer blanket" as well. lifting that what seems like 100lbs battery in dead zero temps. to bring it in the house to keep it warm. or to put it back into the tractor is a bear and problem some.

the colder the temp the less power a battery has. *frowns*

my goal, is for "easy starting" while thermostart, and like are nice. a warmer engine / oils / etc... makes things easier to start. and more likely chance things will start on first turn of the key.

===================

as far as cool down. any time i have been running an engine at high idle. it gets approx 5 minute cool down setting at idle. this allows the engine to cool down and let the fan and radiator temp gauge to go down any were between a couple degrees to 50 degrees. pending on how hard and long i worked the tractor. if you have a hyd oil cooler on tractor. it also allows the hyd oil to cool down as well.

example: i have had radiators boil over within a couple minutes of shutting down an engine, due to, shutting engine down way to fast, after heavy loading. and not letting the heat dissipate.

==================
your oils "engine oil" to hyd oil. all have certain temperatures they work better at. and running them outside there "operating temperature" can and does take a toll on things.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I'm not sure how this may apply to the small diesels, but Cummins says not to idle the 5.9 (as in the Dodge Ram) for more than 10 minutes max. That's from the horse's mouth at 1-800-DIESELS (Cummins). It has to do with decreased upper cylinder lubrication at idle RPM. The engineer I spoke with said 11-1200 and up idle is OK, hence the "fast idle kit" Jerry K mentions above.

I let the tractor - JD 4510 - warm up for about 5 minutes and cool down about the same. No loads until the gauge comes up. Pretty much what Roy said... except for the cigarette part. Quit 2 years ago (after 50 yrs) and would still really like to go out back and have a smoke RIGHT NOW. But I won't.

My uncle has worked for cummins since he came back from Vietnam. He says that short idle time is for fuel savings that the government makes cummins adhere to, not necessarily what is best for the engine. Remember, if your engine wears out prematurely and you need another one, then that is good for the economy.....When somebody tells you what is best, it is usually what is best for them, so pay attention to where the information is coming from.

 

[JD 4520]

Warm her up...applies to everything. Ask your wife, does she liked to be warmed up first? The answer is yes. A little foreplay will go a long way so does your tractor. I bet you won't forget now.

Good luck

 

[CurlyDave]

even with an idle up solenoid working?

soundguy

Talk to some railroad people. It is fairly common for the radiator on a diesel locomotive to freeze in very cold weather, even though the engine is idling.