Tractor idling

[Roger66]

What about on a DPF tractor? Every start of a diesel lets off a nice puff of black smoke that the DPF must catch. It would seem to me that leaving it running keeping the engine up to temp would be better for the Tractor. Personally I don't burn enough fuel for fuel cost to be a consideration at all. I'm only concerned about what's best for the longevity of the tractor. Personally I bought a 26 hp tractor to avoid the DPF as my use case is always short runs, I never mow, till or plow fields with it. Mine is basically a fork lift. Think the old planet fitness commercial "I lift things up, I put them down". My tractor is horribly underpowered with that little motor in it, but no DPF to worry about. It does everything I need, but slowly. If I were to make a rule to not idle the tractor and shut it down every time I get off, I'd be starting my tractor 20+ times in a couple hours.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

My rule of thumb with small diesels varies by season. Warm weather operation, shut it down if you'll be off for more than a couple minutes. Colder weather, only shut down if I'll be off for more than 5 minutes or so.
I'm not painful about those times, just a general guideline.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

It's not just about the amount of fuel/soot being made, ita about how hot the DPF gets, to naturally keep itself clean

 

[Roger66]

So wouldn't it be better to idle and keep the DPF hot, than shut down?

 

[CoyPatton]

For me it depends, if I am off doing something before I get back in the tractor that I think will only take a minute, but ends ip taking 5 I leave it running/idling. If I think it is going to take a bit before I am back on the tractor or I need to talk to someone about the project (even if for only a couple of minutes) I shut it down.
There to me is no I always do this regardless—thus it depends. So do what works for you.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

So wouldn't it be better to idle and keep the DPF hot, than shut down?

Many times idling doesn't keep it hot enough.

 

[ericm979]

So wouldn't it be better to idle and keep the DPF hot, than shut down?

Idling doesn't keep the DPF hot, that's the problem. Diesels are always flowing all the air- there is no throttle plate to cut it off. At idle the exhaust is much cooler than with a gas engine.

 

[masscity]

Diesels cool down when they idle, If I idle for more than a couple of minutes I set the RPMs around 1200 or so.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Also as you idle and the engine cools you start to lose efficiency in combustion. So you plug stuff up faster. Common rail was designed for emission reasons. Atomizes fuel better resulting in better burning and less particulate matter.

 

[ssuser]

Starting any engine accelerates wear (no oil pressure for a short time). Idling for a short period will result in less wear than starting and stopping it.