So on a cold (32 F, 0 C) morning how long do you want to let a diesel warm up for if its had no external heat source??? Do you want to let it fully warm up or load it once it starts to get warm??? What point on the temp gauge do you want to start driving? The new 2H is now residing in San Francisco, just wondering what the perfect warm up time for it is.
Ideal Idle Time For Warm Up??????
- Thread starter phatwheels
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At that temp a couple of minutes is all you need.
I used to let my 2LT-II warm for 5 minutes at -30.
I used to let my 2LT-II warm for 5 minutes at -30.
it isn't good to let a diesel warm up a long time at idle, you need the EGT's to get temps up. Once oil pressure is good wait a min or two and go nice and easy until the water temp starts to rise..
Diesels can idle for years - literally, just change the oil on a regular basis. I used to own a BJ60, it ran just about steady for the first 8 years of its life in the arctic, it still runs great today with 400plus K on it. The hardest thing to do is to actually keep it warm - they tend to run quite cool in cold environments.
My uncle has rebuilt diesels all his life, and does so for a living, he says idling will not hurt a diesel engine.
My uncle has rebuilt diesels all his life, and does so for a living, he says idling will not hurt a diesel engine.
When I worked in the arctic we had to idle every vehicle 24 hours a day - obviously we would drive the vehicles for short periods of time. The gassers would need complete tune ups on a regular basis - the diesels we just change the oil and filter.
Am I suggesting that he idle his vehicle for 24 hours a day? Not unless he is in the arctic. At 750 rpm? I can't remember what rpm we had them at - i think we would fast idle them somewhat - it was back in 1989 when I was up there. I think the only way to keep them warm was to idle them up and put something in front of the rad.
When I used to work at the airport around here there was no garage and no exterior plug in - I'd let the bj60 idle for 14 hours while i did the snow removal with no ill effects.
Am I suggesting that he idle his vehicle for 24 hours a day? Not unless he is in the arctic. At 750 rpm? I can't remember what rpm we had them at - i think we would fast idle them somewhat - it was back in 1989 when I was up there. I think the only way to keep them warm was to idle them up and put something in front of the rad.
When I used to work at the airport around here there was no garage and no exterior plug in - I'd let the bj60 idle for 14 hours while i did the snow removal with no ill effects.
IF you are going to idle for long periods of time turn the idle up to at least 1000 if not 1200 rpm, this will bring the oil pressure up. allow the engine to reach operating temp easier.
NEVER idle at low rpms for more than a minute or two since the diesel will wash the walls due to incomplete burning and low oil pressure will score the walls and or wear on the bearings.
did you tear down the engine on the BJ60 to see what was happening inside?
a side note, if turbo'd then excessive idling will allow oil to bypass the seals in the turbo even at 1200 rpm...buy yourself a wabasto or espar and install it. this is great peace of mind...
NEVER idle at low rpms for more than a minute or two since the diesel will wash the walls due to incomplete burning and low oil pressure will score the walls and or wear on the bearings.
did you tear down the engine on the BJ60 to see what was happening inside?
a side note, if turbo'd then excessive idling will allow oil to bypass the seals in the turbo even at 1200 rpm...buy yourself a wabasto or espar and install it. this is great peace of mind...
No, never tore the 3b down, no need to - still runs great according to skinny.
I'm working with a guy at the firehall here today - he used to work at the polaris mine up north. They had a D9 dozer up there that ran 24/7 for 15,000 hours(regular maint of course). It blew a rod one day because they forgot to go clean the snow out of the air filter - clogged the filter.
Pretty amazing hen you think about it.
I'm working with a guy at the firehall here today - he used to work at the polaris mine up north. They had a D9 dozer up there that ran 24/7 for 15,000 hours(regular maint of course). It blew a rod one day because they forgot to go clean the snow out of the air filter - clogged the filter.
Pretty amazing hen you think about it.
I just let it run long enough for smooth idle. (what ever your warm idle feels like).
The head needs to warm up to allow proper detonation. I find 30 seconds gets it this way.
No need to idle too long. It warms up as you drive. But drive gentle for the first few minutes. You can hear the engine when it isn't detonating properly.
The arctic stuff mentioned above is to be able to get it started.To avoid having to have to start it. If it always starts up why would you continue running it long periods of time?
If you look at the exhaust of a diesel that spends a lot of time idling you will see the excessive soot build up. It can really damage the engine. The soot builds up around the valves and in the exhaust.
Idle at 1000 or so until the oil pressure gets up then off you go. Left mine to idle for 30 mins once and the temp guage cold. Remember that getting the engine up to temp idling does nothing to warm up the transmission ...
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I know about the tranny from experience. It gets a lots colder where I'm from in Michigan. At zero F (which I don't know the metric conversion in my head) i would let the tranny warm up by putting the trasfercase in neutral and letting my 22RE warm up and the tranny would shift really nice after a warm up. I just wanted to figure out a good warm up time, never owned a diesel before this summer.
I wanna make a diesel motorcycle, and be done with gas. There's a company in Italy making one with 100 hp and over 100 mile per gallon.
I only feel when you drive your engine too cold .. it's tight ? I'm not sure how to describe it, but I drive it gentle, under 2K rpm ( in my 1HD-T and 2H ) until reach operative temp ..
when you drive a cold diesel, you will feel a ping or bad detonating. This is when you drive gentle. I like to wait till the rough bad detonation is over before I drive. Generally under 30 seconds.
Just waiting till oil pressure is there, is not enough IMOP.
Just waiting till oil pressure is there, is not enough IMOP.
Lower Rad Hose Heater - Start-up and idle for a minute and drive low rpm for the first few km's .. I've had the impression that cold start and long idle periods isn't a benefit with a diesel -egt's ect.. but low rpm driving is ok till the oil temp creeps up...
I compleatly agree!!!
Louis, I disagree that idling for a long time has no ill effect on a diesel. I've seen two automotive dieseld that had been used as generators running at only 1,200 RPM and on both (one a Mistsubishi (IIRC) from a Diesel Chevette and the other a Renault from a Diesel Jeep Cherokee) and at the end of their lifetime 6 years or so later at about 2-4 hours a day in both cases it was found upon teardown that the cams had completely worn down. Agreed, those engines had lived a long life in an automobile before.
I would say that if motors have to run at idle for an extensive amount of time, the oil pump should be modified so as to deliver more oil flow and pressure earlier especially to the camshaft.
It may be different with big rig diesels, but our engines don't deliver much oil at idle.
Chris