Thank you everyone for the great comments and advice! It's great to have such a good base to come to for a boost in confidence.
I apologize in advance. I'm terrible with forum posts, I tend to ramble and wander with my thoughts. It can take forever to get to my actual point and to actually write a post, I get distracted easily.
I was nervous about such a large investment, but it is necessary. Own a few diesel vehicles, but my little BX is nothing compared to this new tractor, and a whole different animal to my Super Duty and Jetta. The whole "documentation is lacking" part of things is what gets me most. I wouldn't consider myself a master mechanic by any means, but things definitely get done.
I'll contact the dealer today to see if they can work with me on the block heater. I saw the thread about adding it yourself, and couldn't believe that the"OEM" cost was 4x the price I could get it for myself. I understand if the installer price is higher than just the part, since there is coolant draining involved and labor. I'll definitely remind them to flash the computer to the latest revision.
A note on the dealer, they've been absolutely fantastic. There are 2 in my area. I hate to bash anyone, starting a small business myself so I understand what a reputation can do for one, BUT the first Mahindra dealer I went to was TERRIBLE. I asked a ton of questions and the answers were subpar in my opinion. They didn't contradict any of the knowledge I already had, but definitely didn't answer them thoroughly, and I just didn't get a good feeling about them. The second dealer is about 25 miles farther away, but I was in contact with their sales and service departments via email, and it was like having a full conversation before I even met them. They have been selling Mahindra for quite a while, and I had a very comfortable experience with them. They were very upfront about some of the issues they and their customers experienced with certain models, and it felt like talking to a family member, rather than someone looking to just get sales. Just the way I like to conduct business.
First thing I'll do when I take delivery is go over it like a fine tooth comb, running the hydraulics, and testing everything. I'll check for leaks at all the fittings, seals, etc. I can get to, especially the wheel lugs. I haven't seen an owner's manual in detail yet, so can anyone answer if torque specs are provided in there?
I've read up about the engine running cool. From my 6.0 Powerstroke I know all about EGR systems (LOL!) and how it affects cylinder pressures, temperatures, emissions, etc. I'm not surprised about the lack of heat in winter. As the EGR recycles exhaust gasses, the exhaust gasses take the place of unused fresh air, lowering the combustion temperatures (and effective efficiency if not tuned properly). While I was in college I dabbled in combustion engineering, and since have written my own tunes for my truck, motorcycles, etc. From what I've seen in person about the EGR system the mCRD uses, it looks like it can recycle a large portion of the exhaust, reducing the emissions by reburning some of the bad stuff. If it operates with a high EGR cycle, the cylinder temperatures will drop, heat (and power) generated drops, coolant temperatures drop, heat to the cab drops.
Disclaimer: I neither confirm nor deny the presence of unauthorized emissions equipment, nor do I condone the use of such devices or techniques.
I love the environment, don't get me wrong. But one of the first things I did on my truck was with the EGR system. The emissions from the motor have been reduce by almost a factor (10x), so it seems good tuning definitely plays a larger role in emissions than the equipment that we are mandated to use. This is a purely situation thing however, because what happens in one case may not be true for all. A fix I see for the cool temps, would be to change to a higher temp opening thermostat, and if that doesn't solve the problem, to then reduce airflow to the radiators. Unfortunately, most of the time blocking a portion of air to the radiator will also reduce the flow through the other coolers, which can lead to adverse performance and undesired side effects (i.e. higher intake temperatures/EGTs, higher hydraulic temps, less efficient A/C performance).
Does anyone know if these tractors have temperature sensors for the hydraulics? I know they have a coolant temp sensor, from my reading it seems like they may be mis-spec'd or a very low t-stat is used. I have a few diag tools at my disposal, so it wouldn't be too difficult for me to monitor by OBD2 if they are available, and report back. I don't remember where it was, I think it was the manual for the TYM 454/554, about the operating temperature being spec'd below 110 deg F. That is insanely low to me, every diesel I've ever worked on has wanted temperatures between 185-195 deg F. Much lower and efficiency was reduced, and higher caused part failures, localized cavitation, and again recuded efficiency. Not claiming to know more than the engineers that are paid big bucks to design these systems, especially since I don't do it for a living, just for fun, but something seems off about it.
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