let her idle or shut her down

[cp1969]

There sure is a lot of opinion here that idling is really harmful to a diesel.

Well, if it is, I should have seen some harmful effects by now but I haven't. Many times we have let trucks idle (at idle--not a fast idle) in the winter because they would not start in the morning if shut off. I once left a Diamond T idling in a Kansas hayfield for 36 hours because the ground had thawed to the point that the truck would not move and that's how long it took before the ground froze hard enough to get it out.

Hauling grain, sometimes you would get in 4-6 hour long lines to unload and every 5 minutes you'd have to pull forward one truck length. Nobody shut their truck off. Starters on those things are very expensive; one of them buys lots of fuel.

I'm not advocating idling on these little tractors, I am just pointing out that there are probably not nearly the adverse consequences as many would have you believe.

Maybe I've been lucky. Does anyone else have personal experience with problems caused by idling?

 

[HGM]

There sure is a lot of opinion here that idling is really harmful to a diesel.

Does anyone else have personal experience with problems caused by idling?

Well, being that I spend alot of time working on PowerStroke diesels(maybe not a tractor, over the road or off road), I can tell you from personal experiecne that with todays EGR system equiped diesels, the coking problems are much more evident than ever before.. No, it didnt start with them, just becomes magnified because of the cooling effect of the exhaust gas.. If you were to pull codes on 90%(again personal experience, with idling customers, leading to an educated guess) of the 7.3L's on the road today, you would get a code for the EBP sensor... This sensor reads the exhaust backpressure to tell the PCM if the exhaust backpressure valve is working, to provide a quicker warm up on a cold engine.. The reason for the code is that the tubes will clogg with carbon/soot and not alow the sensor to read the pressure... This is because of the cold combustion temps and incomplete combustion of an idling engine.. Some have reasons to idle excessively, most do not... My recomendation from personal experience, is not to idle excessively(>5min) if you dont need to.. If you decide to, I dont have a problem with that either... JMO...

 

[ccsial]

My BIL is a big rig diesel mechanic and says the same thing as HGM.

 

[RobJ]

Well, being that I spend alot of time working on PowerStroke diesels(maybe not a tractor, over the road or off road), I can tell you from personal experiecne that with todays EGR system equiped diesels, the coking problems are much more evident than ever before.. No, it didnt start with them, just becomes magnified because of the cooling effect of the exhaust gas.. If you were to pull codes on 90%(again personal experience, with idling customers, leading to an educated guess) of the 7.3L's on the road today, you would get a code for the EBP sensor... This sensor reads the exhaust backpressure to tell the PCM if the exhaust backpressure valve is working, to provide a quicker warm up on a cold engine.. The reason for the code is that the tubes will clogg with carbon/soot and not alow the sensor to read the pressure... This is because of the cold combustion temps and incomplete combustion of an idling engine.. Some have reasons to idle excessively, most do not... My recomendation from personal experience, is not to idle excessively(>5min) if you dont need to.. If you decide to, I dont have a problem with that either... JMO...

But I haven't seen any EGR crap on my personal L2500. Besides, just gun it an blow it out!! But my personal expierence is I shut it down if to long. Especially if someone is with me, I'm hard of hearing so I don't like the noise.

That's my personal story.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Well, being that I spend alot of time working on PowerStroke diesels(maybe not a tractor, over the road or off road), I can tell you from personal experiecne that with todays EGR system equiped diesels, the coking problems are much more evident than ever before.. No, it didnt start with them, just becomes magnified because of the cooling effect of the exhaust gas.. If you were to pull codes on 90%(again personal experience, with idling customers, leading to an educated guess) of the 7.3L's on the road today, you would get a code for the EBP sensor... This sensor reads the exhaust backpressure to tell the PCM if the exhaust backpressure valve is working, to provide a quicker warm up on a cold engine.. The reason for the code is that the tubes will clogg with carbon/soot and not alow the sensor to read the pressure... This is because of the cold combustion temps and incomplete combustion of an idling engine.. Some have reasons to idle excessively, most do not... My recomendation from personal experience, is not to idle excessively(>5min) if you dont need to.. If you decide to, I dont have a problem with that either... JMO...

I'm one of those people salesmen hate. I buy something and expect it to last for MY lifetime (NOT the lifetime of what I bought) I've still got 2 tractors I bought back in 1971 and 1979. I got all bent out of shape when the other one I bought, in 1974, wore out last year and needed to be replaced. Anyway, I've adopted several "rules" on caring for my tractors that have, IMHO, led to them being around and still in remarkable condition for their ages.

1.) Don't leave 'em out in the rain
2.) Don't expect size X to do the job of size Y.
3.) clean fuel
4.) clean filters
5.) wear out grease guns frequently
6.) use good oil, change often.
7.) Don't let ANYONE else get their paws on them
8.) Don't run 'em as hard as they'll go. Moderation.
9.) NEVER let them sit and idle for more than a few minutes.

Now the first 8 may have made #9 irrelevent, but no one will convince me otherwise. These 2 tractors account for a little over 7500 engine hours. The one I sold last year, and 3 others I've owned along the way account for almost 15,000 hours in 35-1/2 years. I may not be "an expert" but all that "time on tractor" should validate my opinion to some extent.

 

[monkeymonk]

Both my cousins Work the pipeline in Alaska The'll tell ya "I put it in and he makes sure it stays there" They told me round winter The diesel Rigs are running 24/7 and get turned off just to have the oil changed! Now thats alot of idle! No It's not good but it is what it is.....

Sure wouldn't whant to buy one of those Rig's

 

[Doc_Bob]

But my personal expierence is I shut it down if to long. Especially if someone is with me, I'm hard of hearing so I don't like the noise.

I try to shut down if I want to talk with someone. My hearing is getting worse. I can't hear very well with a tractor running in the background.
Bob

 

[flusher]

in the course of a project if ya'll need to get off and do some grunt work do you shut the tractor off and restart or let it idle ?
Some times what looks like a 2 minute task off the tractor to pick up limbs or rocks, etc, it turns into 5 - 10 minutes or longer.
those minutes add up over the life of the tractor.
What are ya'lls thoughts.
rack up the time or wear out the starter ?

I have a 21-hp Kubota B7510HST and an MF-135. My worry about long periods at idle is wet stacking. I understand it's a problem for stationary diesel engines and assume it can happen to diesel tractors too.

 

[Doc_Bob]

My worry about long periods at idle is wet stacking.

What is "wet stacking"?
Bob

 

[club car man]

I do both. If I'm hookin up to a boat, I let it idle just incase I have to back up or move forward some more. I don't like shuttin if off for a second then startin it the next. But if I'm going to be off for a little while, I generally shut it off.