engine warm up times.

[DavidD]

My son-in-law just bpught a 04. 5 a month ago. He was raised in Alaska and has a habit of letting his trucks and cars idle for a long time (sometimes 20 to 30min. ) before driving. I had read somewhere but cant remember where that extended idle times are bad. Any technical response would be appreciated.



Thanks Dave D

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

The colder it is, the worse it is to attempt to warm up your diesel by idling. Best is to let it run a minute or two then head out, driving gently for the first few miles 'til the temps start to come up.



Habitual long warmups will lead to serious valve stem deposits which will accelerate valve guide wear, or worse yet not allow the valve to close fully in which case the piston will hit it, or at lease cause poor compression. Also you risk rings getting gummed up and sticking, or cylinder washdown from poor fuel combustion.



20-30 minute warmup is a bad idea, and Cummins says no more than 5 minute warmups on a new engine, especially within the first 1000 miles.



Hope you son-in-law enjoys his new ride



Vaughn

 

[Joe G.]

In addition to what Vaughn says. The most wear occurs when the engine is cold. So how do you make it stay cold as long as possible? Idle it, that's how. Start it, get oil pressure up, and leave. Just take it easy until you get some temp.

 

[Truckie]

Like the rest of the people have said in there posts. Long idle time is bad, remember idle time is time in the devils work shop.

Iv been starting mine up and let it run for 2 or 3 minutes and then take off taking it easy till I start to see all the temps come up. And on the coldest of mornings I will idle the most at 10 minutes to defrost the windows and then take off.

Haven't had no problems doing this.





Mike

 

[pwerwagn]

I usually let mine run for about 30 seconds if it was plugged in, about a minute if it wasnt plugged in. It will take forever to warm up idling unless you have an exhaust brake.

 

[JLEONARD]

I fire up and do my seat belt... by that time the oil P needle is starting to move... then I put her in 2nd gear and idle up my 120 ft driveway. I have approx 1 1/2 miles of downhill and level city streets, then it's on to the expressway... I try to keep boost under 10 psi and under 65 mph untill the temp gage starts to move.

That's the normal routine... If I haven't been plugged in I might let it idle 15 seconds more.

Hope this helps.

Jay

 

[DavidD]

Thanks for all the replys, I found a 4. 5 manual and on page 216 it talks about warm up and cool down something that was not in the older manuals. Cool down times are very important also. Its hard to tell your kids what they should be doing seems sometimes they still know everything. Oh Well Thanks again, Dave D

 

[DavidGardner]

Just print out all of these replys and hand it to him. He prolly listens to other people better than he listens to you. :-laf

 

[CatManTom]

Well I have 03 and installed a remote starter installed it . I live in new york my wife love the truck she hits the remote starter at 4:30 am and in 5 minutes the oil is circulating inthe engine and automatic trans. And away she go's

P. S Noting like a chick driving a Big Black Diesel Dodge truck chromed out to a constuction site to run heavy eq.

 

[MMiller]

Ok guys, here is a question then. Say your truck is hooked to a trailer and is weighing 20,000# Its 10* F. Do you do the same thing? Start it and go? I have not tried it but once, I know it is difficult to drive this at all without building much boost. I blew the headgasket in my truck by taking off and trying to drive it easy until it was warm. I have a terrible time putting a significant load on a cold diesel. I also am unconfortable pulling out with a big load, cold engine and proceding slowly were the speed limit is 55 mph, just 1/4 mile from my house.



I don't let my truck warm up that long (20-30 mins), but this time of year 10-15 minutes. I go out and start my service truck, go in and eat a bowl of ceral, then leave for work. This way the windows are warm and thawed, I don't have problems keeping the wipers running and keeping the windows unfogged.



This all being said, my truck is not a git in a run a couple miles to work truck. When it gets started and run it gets run for at least an hour of highway miles.



Michael

 

[CatManTom]

I worked for a John Deere constuction eq dealer ,I had a F-650 with 5. 9 cummin I would let it idle for 10 mins . I couldn't pull out of my drive way when it got down too 20 degrees. Now I work for a Cat dealer no more road service mechanic