Oil & Fuel Warming up Diesels with minimum fuel usage in mind

[candersen10]

I have a JD CT332, a JD 5325, a JD 3720, a TN75, a Kubota GL4630, a Kubota BX2200, and a Ford 1710HC. Any thoughts on warming up these machines in light of current fuel prices? I have been told that the turbocharged engines should be warmed up for longer as well as equipment with hydrostatic transmission. I generally warm up any piece of equipment for about 5 minutes if the temperature is below 40 degrees. Should I be spending less time? What would be the negative effects of running some of my equipment when it is not fully warmed up?

 

[dixie306]

If this helps any, I ck my oil and water levels, fire the tractor up, get off, bump the tires, ck underneath for any leaks, ck the attachments and make sure every things secure and then mount up and go. By then, the temp gauge is beginning to move

 

[john_bud]

At 50F+, I just turn the key and when the glow light goes out I crank. Then back out and drive to where I am going and do what needs to be done.

Under 50F, I do the same -> but may temper it if there are sounds of complaint from the cold fluid.

Under 10F, I let it idle until the warmed up some, then drive and do. As it gets colder the idle time is longer. Also the minimum operation time is longer too. You HAVE to run a diesel for a hard hour to burn out the water and fuel that may have gotten into the oil. For that reason, I minimize winter operations.

 

[patrick_g]

Long periods idling to warm up the engine is not usually the best technique. Once the engine is started and running pretty smooth (considering cold weather) go ahead and drive it, just don't work it hard till thoroughly warm. With a hydrostat in cold weather it is good to warm it up before working it hard.

This is not unlike the best practice with a car which is to avoid long warm up periods just sitting at idle. Start off slowly and gently letting it warm up before asking it to accelerate hard or go fast.

In general it is not good practice to start an ICE and shut it down before it warms up enough to "dry out" all the moisture formed when the engine first starts up from sitting cold. Diesels with considerable sulfur in the fuel are especially needy in this respect to avoid the sulfur compounds and the condensation getting together forming acids like sulfurous and sulfuric which do not promote engine health. Getting a diesel up to full operating temp and keeping it there long enough to drive off the initial condensation is good operating practice.

Pat

 

[SLOBuds]

Along the lines of what Pat says (and mind you, I live in California where really cold doesn't hardly ever find light of day) I think it is safe to let the tractor move slowly as it warms up. Why not use that energy to get from point A to point B? You need to get there anyway.

If the tractor is right on top of the place where it needs to work, then I would wait for it to warm up. But there are probably other low-impact things you with it while temperatures are coming up.

With autos there are a lot of folks who turn on the engine and then feel free to slam the pedal. I'm kind of a middle-of-the-road guy. I don't leave it idle for 15 minutes before going anywhere. I start going and touch the pedal very gently for several minutes while it eases into the day.

Same concept as what I do on the farm.

If I lived north I'm pretty sure that I'd use block warmer devices one way or another. But even there, I do know that oil quality has improved dramatically since when I was a kid. I seem to recall that there are even devices you can buy to pre-circulate the oil before it it started, if you want.

On another thread there was very interesting talk about when an engine should be turned off. Meaning, when does it make sense to turn off an engine such that you are saving more fuel compared to the wear that happens with each engine-start procedure. One guy posted an amazing metric saying something like you should turn off the machine if it is idle any more than 14 seconds (look at the hybrid cars as an example about how frequently the engine is shut down, like every stop). So this is another thing you can do to cut down on fuel use.

There are plenty of ways to find fuel saving behaviors. Behaviors we put out of mind when fuels seem to be affordable. And much talk here about those opportunities.

 

[RoyJackson]

I don't put the tractor under any load until the temp gage has gone into the green (about 3-5 minutes). This might be a bit longer in the colder weather.
However, under load means (to me) running the engine at PTO speed (about 2600 RPM on my 790). Moving the machine or other lighter duty can be done immediately after a minute or two. That is, warm up doesn't mean stationary.
So, if you are plowing or mowing a field, you could drive to the field or any other work area during warm up.

 

[sandman2234]

Another thing to consider when discussing the best way, and why it is done certain ways (such as the hybrid cycle time mentioned) is who is recommending what, and what are their gains in the matter? If shutting down a vehicle is recommended after 14 seconds, and it improves the fuel milage that everyone is "looking at", who cares if it takes out some mechanical part that costs more than the fuel savings for the year?
I am not suggesting anything about hybrids or shut down times, just thought we ought to know who is suggesting what, and what do they have to gain by their suggestions?
David from jax

I run my turbo charged 2555 for a few extra minutes at idle to cool down the oil going to the tubo. As far as warming it up, I never let it sit at idle, just go to work, but I never work it hard till it is warm, if at all.
David from jax

 

[LoneCowboy]

diesels don't warm up idling. They certainly get the oil moving, but diesels lose heat idling. You can idle your tractor all winter long, it won't get to operating temperature. It needs a load. certainly you should put that load on it gently at first as it's cold out and then start moving harder at more RPM as it warms up.

Getting the oil circulating, etc is a 15/30 second job, everywhere has oil by 30 seconds in.

However as someone mentioned above, you should always let a diesel (esp a turbo) idle down after you finish. The oil loses heat and keeps the bearings cool as it circulates and the motor cools down. I typically let it idle as it fill it with fuel at the end of the day, by then good to go.

Heat kills many more motors (diesel & gas) than cold.

 

[RalphVa]

I fire up my tractor and almost immediately, set it at about 1500 rpm (have to when cold), raise the 3ph and FEL, drive out. I'm almost always going downhill; so, it stays at 1500 rpm down a little path or over to my mulch pile on the other side of the yard. By the time I get over to the mulch pile or starting down the hill, I rev it up to full PTO speed. NEVER let it just sit and idle.

Do the same for all my vehicles. Start, pull out of garage and treat them gently for a while. It's about 2 miles to the main road here, but I've been doing this all my life. NEVER just let an engine sit and idle to warm up. Even starting my old diesel at -22 F did I do this (but it had been prewarmed by a heater in the heater hose). Have NEVER had an engine failure.

Main thing with HST is to always use the lower vis fluid. Think you'd only use the higher vis stuff if you lived way south.

Ralph

 

[Eagleview]

I would suggest you make a cover for the radiator out of say cloth backed Vinyl and use it to stop the air circulating through the radiator . This will warm the coolant quickly , mechanical versions of these are called "shutterstats" . Use the tractor as soon as you can but keep in mind the oils are going to be thick and flow slowly and can damage filters etc .