Idle or shut off?

[Jim Timber]

If it takes more than a couple minutes, just shut it down. Wet-stacking is a risk, but moreso: why waste the fuel and metal banging away at idle when you're going to be a bit? I don't think its the worst thing you could do, but what do you gain for leaving it running?

If you're not driving it long enough to recharge the battery from the starting cycle, it could be a problem.

I'll leave mine idle, but I also have the hand throttle set at 1200rpm most of the time (per JD's spec for fast idle). If I was going to be a bit, I might shut it down or might leave it run - really depends on what I'm doing and how many times I'd started it vs how long it's run. I don't shut it down if the aux lights are on; gotta keep the alternator spinning.

Fuel consumption at idle is pretty low when there's no load. Even full power barely breaks 3 gallons an hour.

 

[RoyJackson]

It's always a judgement call, but I normally leaving mine idling around 1200-1500 RPM.

 

[npalen]

We had a 1936 RD6 Caterpillar on the Kansas farm when I was a kid back in the 50's. It was a three cylinder 45 HP which was somewhat unique among the tractors of the day but the pistons were huge. I doubt that it ran 1000 RPM at full throttle but it had tons of torque. The figure that sticks in my mind for fuel consumption was also three gallons per hour pulling 5 to 7 bottoms of 16" plow. It was slow for sure, nothing like the tractors of today.
I'm told that the tractor, when in its prime, was started at midnight Sunday evening and ran non-stop plowing day and night thru the week until Saturday midnight. The fuel was hauled in 5-gallon cans. I did get to run this tractor some as a teenager and it was awesome but getting a bit tired. It originally pulled a 5-16 plow with a 2-16 behind it on a special hitch.

https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=C211US679D20140213&p=caterpillar+RD6

 

[daugen]

this is very timely for me as I have two teenagers coming over in a few hours and they will be raking and picking up sticks for hours, filling up the cart behind my diesel JD X750. And I was thinking what to tell them about turning off the unit. My thought was "if you're here more than a few minutes, turn it off". And turn off the engine, just don't get out of the seat and let the kill switch do it. Besides, I only like to turn off engines at idle speed.

As long as the engine gets warm the first time out, the preheat function isn't needed, but starting and stopping a cold engine might not be best.
Sadly today with idiot lights and "green-red" gauges, I don't know the temp of the engine. But once the needle moves up to at least one quarter, should be good to go.

I got distracted two weeks ago and let my Gravely idle for over an hour. When I shut off the tractor and realized the Gravely was still idling away, I went over to shut it off and it was spitting and popping. All crudded up, backfiring, took about five minutes of full power to burn the crud off the plugs and then it ran fine.
Diesels don't seem to mind...

my understanding with wet stacking is unburned diesel washes the oil off the cylinder walls adding to wear. Caused by too low temps.
when price of diesel jumped in boating, many big boats slowed down too much, reports of wet stacking up and down the Intracoastal on big yachts running at low rpm
to save fuel. I was told minimum 160 degrees. Your results will surely vary.

Of course, if I leave the engine running, will I dawdle less?