high idle mechanism

[jaynes]

It's me again!



It's gotten fairly chilly here the past week or so in mid-mo, and I have no way of warming up my truck, except to idle it up. I usually sit a heavy bag on the diesel pedal for this. Works, but not ideal. SO, I'm thinking about making one out of a PTO cable. The cable with the lock, and the little handle will run me about fifty bucks. Does that sound reasonable, or can I get one cheaper somewhere? By the way, if anyone could foresee a problem arising out of this setup, please let me know. And if anyone has done this, do you have any advice? THanks!



jaynes

 

[cerberusiam]

Put on your gloves and drive it or plug it in would be my suggestion. The recommended idle time is nor more than 5 to 7 minutes, after that you run the risk of washing the cylinder walls down with fuel and fueling the oil. Even on high idle with no load the engine won't warm enough to make a large difference and kicking up the idle with a cold engine is just going accelerate oil contamination and cylinder washing. Using the engine block heater for 2 hours before starting and then just drive it seems to be the best solutuion.



My . 02

 

[Greenleaf]

My . 02



In the real world, where reality prevails... ... ...



I have 19 regular buses on daily routs. They idle tons. We are talking 40 to 45 min in early am to warm,,,,,then idle 20/25 min waiting to unload. Then another 15/25 min to warm in PM... ... . then 15/25 min to load students. this is in cold temp of course. Not this much in summer. I'd say about half that. Still,,,,tons of idle time.



I oil sample all engines. No fuel contamination. Period. Nota. Zippo. None.



I'm sure however that it does wear the engine out sooner than if it was not idled so dang much. But what ya gonna do???? Got to have a warm bus for one thing... ... ..... and another, people are not going to start/stop/start/stop a bus engine like them UPS delivery dudes do.



Take it for what it's worth. My . 02



Greenleaf

 

[jaynes]

Well, I've heard of alot of other people doing this. I even went to school with a guy who had a set up for high idle, not like the one I was tlaking about, but he said it helped. I also notice a slighty quicker warm up when the engine is cold ( I did a little experiment with a heavy bag). Sooo, I was just wondering.



jaynes

 

[tugboatphil]

Jaynes,



Before you shell out big bucks, look for a manual choke cable, like we used to have back in the prehistoric ages. Shouldn't run much over $10.

 

[Philip]

Check at your local parts store. They will most likely have a universal choke cable setup that has lock on it.



Check out NAPA # 731-1103. 5ft locking universal cable. I went out and got the numbers off of the one hanging on the garage wall.



The big PTO cables are overkill and high priced.

 

[JLEONARD]

Jaynes,

My $. 02 is plug it in for a couple of hours before you start up in the am like cerberusiam had said. I use a timer that has mine on for about 2 1/2 hours prior to my normal departure time... . engine is already at about 70 degrees even on a zero day... . grid heaters never come on. I get heat pretty quickly.



I know "the book" says not to idle for more than 5 minutes... . but like Scott said, lots of Cummins out there with a ton of idle time on them... . real world you're probably talking the difference in longevity of a few thousand miles on a 1/2 million mile engine. Plus if you're at a high idle... does that really count as idle as "the book" assumes ?

Sorry... maybe that's $ . 03 worth.

 

[Dieselman359]

Local Dodge Dealer

Heck, I've gotta worry about getting mine started first, my one year old battery, yes you read that right, one year old battery wouldn't turn my truck over this afternoon, and that's after its been in the heated basement garage all day!!!!!



I know that it may be a long shot, but once upon a time Dodge made a throttle for the eariler trucks, 89-early 91's, I think. I'm surprised that no one else had remembered it yet. When I first got my truck I wanted to get one, but like you jaynes, I used to wedge something on the pedal. Now I just turn on the exhaust brake, much faster.



Dads new '03 has a pretty neat feature, it has an automatic high idle, but he's also got the Jacobs brake so you can turn it on while the motor is high idling, maybe the new computer controled trucks aren't sooo bad,... naww, I'll keep my old one!



Do a search about the throttle, I though that a few members had it on their trucks.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

There is a fellow in Alberta who has made a very nice high idle device. It is in cab mounted and has a variable controller.

If you are interested I'll be glad to send you his screen name and you can contact him...

Just shoot me a PM and I'll respond as soon as possible. .

I've seen this thing and it works really well.



Bob.

 

[jaynes]

This is all good info. I can't plug my truck in, no means to, and the block heater doesn't work anyway. I'll check out the locking choke cable..... whats a choke?



Thanks!



jaynes

 

[Greenleaf]

whats a choke

An American history book... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... placed over the compressor inlet.



Greenleaf

 

[bgilbert]

Ok here's my throttle lock on my 89. It's labeled Throttle and then on the lock it says fast idle. No tach but I'd say it can raise a few hundred RPM. Used same type on older big trucks and straight trucks. Pull the thing out and then turn it so it locks. I'm not sure how it works, but u can see the go pedal move and under the hood u can see the throttle cable move. Here's the pic. It took me 35 digital camera pics to get this close to being focused. Bill

 

[bgilbert]

another pic

another

 

[JLEONARD]

Yes, my son has that locking cable set-up in the 89 he just got... . truck had a welding rig on it hence the need for the high idle.

Jay

 

[jaynes]

Awesome. THanks for the info guys. Bill, great quality picture. Thats exactly how I was thinking about mounting it anyway. Where did you get that throttle lock anyway? Greenleaf, LMAO. THanks!



jaynes

 

[Wayno]

If I remember right you could special order a high idle cable on the 89 and 90 trucks . You also could buy the parts from Dodge at one time and put it on the 91 through 93 trucks but the parts are no longer available .

 

[bgilbert]

Jaynes, the throttle lock was on there when I bought the truck in 2001. It looks factory. My early 91 doesnt have one. Bill