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

[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.

but my question is , does this still apply with an idle up solenoid. I know my f450 if it's cold out and you start it and walk away.. in pretty short order it idles itself up untill you tap the brake pedal or soemthing..e tc.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

Unless the Radiator has reduced air flow the warm up does not happen. The fast idle will help a little but if you are sitting in the cab waiting to get warm it ain't gonna happen.

On some the transmission may not be turning if it is in neutral. [auto or manuual]

On manuals it may be difficult to move the shift lever when it becomes real cold out.

The clutch may also sound like it has fallen apart.

 

[JerryK]

but my question is , does this still apply with an idle up solenoid. I know my f450 if it's cold out and you start it and walk away.. in pretty short order it idles itself up untill you tap the brake pedal or soemthing..e tc.

soundguy

Sounds like your truck manufacturer has addressed the extended idle problem already, and you are good to go. Dodge Cummins owners installed an idle solenoid kit, used their aftermarket engine control units fast idle feature, or enabled a built in 3 cylinder idle feature to help heat it up. The main problem is diesels tend to have big coolant system, large mass of iron in their motor, and are so efficient that they do not create enough 'heat' at a low idle to keep all that stuff warm in cold climates. Especially if you are taking heat out of the system to run a cab heater.

 

[Soundguy]

I don't know if my 350 and 250 do that. but I know for sure my 450 does it. that 450 was setup as a toy hauler by it's prev owner. 5th wheel gn and all.. tool boxes.. etc.. he added alot of bells and whistles to it. nice scoop aux DOT approved fuel transfer tank ( 50 extra gallons ).. and an extra gauge kit with trans temp and pyrometer ( he put me in a good sound system too.. ).

That idle up may be something aftermarket.. I just don't know. truck started life as cab / chassie then had a custom hauler fiberglass bed put on witht he 5th wheel hich rails and tool boxes and all..e tc.

so it may not be stock.

soundguy

 

[boggen]

radiator freezing.

there be reason on older tractors you can close a grill or like that sits just in front of the radiator. to block how much wind comes through the radiator, during winter.

i still see farmers taking a piece of cardboard or like. and bungee it in front of radiators as well.

every now and then in the cold temps i see folks with something in front of radiators on trucks as well.

though all above normally this is 20F and below temps. and nearing the times when zero digits or below. start showing up.

=================
low idle, may not heat engine up enough in order for the "thermostat" to open up and let water / antifreeze. flow between engine and radiator.

on the old allis chalmers CA. i can see a drop in the temp gauge. when the thermostat first opens up. same goes for the ford 555c TLB.

thermostat, that is starting to stick / go bad. can cause boil overs, but also risk more chance of radiator freezing, when tractor is in use. due to thermostate not opening up and allowing hot water/antifreeze into radiator.

 

[JerryK]

Here is a picture of a piece of sign plastic I used to make a restrictor for my old Dodge. [ almost 10 years old and still looking/running great] You can use cardboard, but they don't hold up. The sign plastic is soft enough that it won't damage your radiator or intercooler, which is where you slide it in when you need it. It has a 1' hole in it centered on the fan clutch. Only used it in the dead of winter when running empty, and pulled it if working the truck. You can tyrap a fiberglass screen in front of your condenser/intercooler/radiator, too.

 

[Jerry/MT]

but my question is , does this still apply with an idle up solenoid. I know my f450 if it's cold out and you start it and walk away.. in pretty short order it idles itself up untill you tap the brake pedal or soemthing..e tc.

soundguy

My '99 Powerstroke has an enrichment feature for cold weather that helps it warm up even at lower rpm. Remember diesels run with a wider range of fuel/air ratios then spark ignition engines so the peak gas temperatures in the cylinders has a wider range of variation. Increasing the fuel to air ratio will increase the peak gas temperature.

 

[Soundguy]

there be reason on older tractors you can close a grill or like that sits just in front of the radiator. to block how much wind comes through the radiator, during winter.
.

At least 2 of my (old) tractors have (working) radiator louvers that you can operate via lever from the op platform.

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

My '99 Powerstroke has an enrichment feature for cold weather that helps it warm up even at lower rpm. Remember diesels run with a wider range of fuel/air ratios then spark ignition engines so the peak gas temperatures in the cylinders has a wider range of variation. Increasing the fuel to air ratio will increase the peak gas temperature.

just so happens my 450 is a 99 as well.

soundguy

 

[von-mil]

Please help me on this one.

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.

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

I, too, am curious about the possibility of harming my engine by letting it run at its lowest idle speed. My B3030 operator's manual recommends running at 50% of rated rpm when warming up the engine following a cold start. 50% rpm for a certain number of minutes, that is, based on outside temperatures. Nowhere does it say that once the engine has warmed, you should not let it run at the factory set low idle position.

Do I need to change my tractoring habits? I always thought that one of the positives of a diesel tractor was that you could let it sit and idle all day if you wanted to - not that I would do that of course.