warming up in the garage and fumes question

[oosik]

I finally read all the posts. Jstpssng, post #15, hit upon yet another good answer. Put a block heater on the tractor. Put a timer on the block heater. Let it run for a couple hours before you start it. The engine oil and hydraulic oil will be warm. Start and immediately drive out for complete warm up.

 

[Diggin It]

Finally, my knees are begging me for a one level home. I don't want to have to walk up and down to the garage.

That's a whole different ball-o-wax that no amount of wall sealing or insulation will resolve.

My dream house that will never be built includes a semi-attached garage that is at a split level, about half way between the house and basement. There would be a ramp from the garage floor level up to the house and another from the garage down to the basement. That ramp would also have access to the outside from both the top of it and the garage. Both ramps would be wide enough to use a powered cart of some kind like a pallet jack. There would also be an elevator from the basement to the house main floor.

Hey, we all have dreams, right?

 

[deezler]

Mechanical engineer who tests engines for a living here. Don't run vehicles in your garage to warm up, ever. Start it up, and pull it outside right away.

You will have full oil pressure in the entire engine within 2 to 3 seconds after cranking. There are residual oil films on every internal component already anyway. The pistons, rings, rods, crankshaft, cams, hydraulic pumps, valves, etc - none of them will mind being gently prodded with enough power to limp the tractor out the barn/garage door. Zero damage is done. Warming up outdoors for a couple minutes before beginning any heavy work is wise, but again, you could pretty much start driving right away if you want to also. Gentle driving around is a great way to safely accelerate engine warming - and a warm engine is the goal here. As many others have said, you don't even warm up that much by cold idling. Just get to work, always gently at first.

Cold engine exhaust emissions are the most toxic and carcinogenic. You really shouldn't let those fumes collect and contaminate your indoor air and surfaces any more than is necessary. A modern tier4 with DPF is way better, but if you have an old school machine like mine, get it outdoors asap.

 

[Beaver Cove Deere]

I壇 back the tractor outside. Driving it 20 feet isn稚 going to hurt it.

Yup. Get it outside ASAP at idle or just a tad higher. It prevents the heater from sucking in the diesel fumes into the cab where I'm going to be for a few hours.

 

[DanMc77]

Mechanical engineer who tests engines for a living here.

You're just the guy I want to hear from! This is in context of a warmed-up engine: My question is this: With my diesel tractors, is it better for the engine to run at reduced throttle for light work that doesn't need the RPM's? I'm not talking about dogging the engine at near-idle, but for light work that doesn't require the RPM, is it better to run the engine at say 1,500-2,000 RPM vs the full throttle 3,000 RPM?

I know some people who just run the engine at full throttle all the time, regardless of what they're doing.

 

[Peter 315]

You're just the guy I want to hear from! This is in context of a warmed-up engine: My question is this: With my diesel tractors, is it better for the engine to run at reduced throttle for light work that doesn't need the RPM's? I'm not talking about dogging the engine at near-idle, but for light work that doesn't require the RPM, is it better to run the engine at say 1,500-2,000 RPM vs the full throttle 3,000 RPM?

I know some people who just run the engine at full throttle all the time, regardless of what they're doing.

I run my l3800 around 1,800 for loader work and just driving around the yard..

 

[oosik]

I only get my M6040 much over 2000 if I'm doing HEAVY grading, in the summer, on the driveway. Otherwise - it's 1600 to 2000 for "around the property" chores. I don't need more power to get the job done. It's the overall tractor weight and traction the will get the job completed. As always, there are exceptions - using the Wallenstein chipper. 2160 engine rpm = 540 pto rpm.

 

[John0829]

With 50 years of working on engines I can tell you that a running a diesel at less than WOT (wide open throttle) will not hurt them. I run mine at whatever rpm is sufficient to get the work done without lugging the engine and most times it is way less than full throttle. Does it hurt to run a diesel at WOT, no, they are quite happy running there and will do it all day everyday but why waste the fuel? The only diesel that absolutely MUST be run at WOT is a 2 cycle Detroit, if it is not running against the governor it has no torque and will slobber from unburned fuel. They are a good engine for stationary use like pumps or gensets, etc..

 

[metalbender]

Running at almost full rpm will keep the soot level in check. Running slow will give more regen cycles. I take my Massey for a drive to the highway and back to burn off the accumulation after a lot of fork/ loader work.

 

[kf4uda]

With 50 years of working on engines I can tell you that a running a diesel at less than WOT (wide open throttle) will not hurt them. I run mine at whatever rpm is sufficient to get the work done without lugging the engine and most times it is way less than full throttle. Does it hurt to run a diesel at WOT, no, they are quite happy running there and will do it all day everyday but why waste the fuel? The only diesel that absolutely MUST be run at WOT is a 2 cycle Detroit, if it is not running against the governor it has no torque and will slobber from unburned fuel. They are a good engine for stationary use like pumps or gensets, etc..

The only time that I have ever run my tractor WOT was to see what its top road speed was just out of curiosity (18mph). Other than that my highest RPM is usually PTO speed (2200). I don't lug it around but as you stated "sufficient to get the work done".