Warming up a diesel

[maximo]

I am old school diesel habits. Now driving a 2015 F250 and still like to start the truck and let warm up before driving. Even hold speed down for a few miles. Notice the transmission heat gauge takes a real long time to heat up. What do you do?

[Capt Kidd]

I start mine up when the light goes off on the dash and then just go. I have been told that it is not only bad for the environment but bad for the newer vehicles to warm them up as they are designed to be driven right away.

[Arizonacouple]

I'm with Capt Kidd - let all the dashboard lights go off then start. I'm in a senior community so I have to keep my speed down to 30 for a couple of miles. I think in the manual that you can turn on your exhaust brake for a short time but you have to keep your speed down to under 5mph.

[bigskyjimmy]

I turn my key on and wait for the Glow Plug light to turn off then I'm gone down the road ,as a former truck driver we were warned NOT to start the truck up till the Glow plug light went off (per Freightliner Tech's)and THEN you are O.K. to head out on the road no need to warm it up much

[jcurtis934]

My 2012 gets moving down the road right after starting and any warm up is while I am leaving the rv park or leaving a parking lot. I do, however, let it idle for a short bit at the end of a drive, unless that ending has a bit of low speed travel, in order to make sure the turbo bearing are at a lower temp before shutoff. This may or may not be needed with the newer engines...but can't hurt. John

[1retired06]

No warmup for us, although we would if in really cold weather.

[TAKPAK]

I too am from the "old school" of truck driving, but now days it is recommended to start, let idle for no longer than a minute to let the fluids get circulating, then drive easily until temps are in operating range. Mainly, the "old school" was simply because the old parts were not as tight fitting as the new technology, and in the case of large trucks, you had to wait for the air pressure to build up as well. Unlike a gas engine, a diesel engine, if left at idle, will never really warm up to operating temps. With the new age of computer controls, it's best to just "ease on down the road" as the old song goes. As also mentioned, if you've had a hard or fast run, yes, you do need to let the engine idle a bit, for temps to equalize, especially for the turbo bearings, otherwise the oil in them will "cook" and you will lose the bearings eventually.

[Tom S.]

I'm old school. When temps head south of 40 degrees, I do a warm up, on both gas and diesel vehicles. The colder it is, the longer the warm up. Engine and transmissions operate more efficiently when they are at their designed temps. In addition, metal expands as it heats up, which means it's running undersized in areas with bearing surfaces. Oil helps make up for this difference, but putting the metal under stress (as in driving away before it's warm - especially if you have to gun it to merge in traffic) can and will cause wear. I believe people who state warm ups are not necessary are tree huggers looking to reduce petroleum use. Sorry in advance if that offends anyone!!!!

[jlb27537]

My Ram/Cummins owners manual says temp 0F-66F start engine after wait to start light goes off, verify oil pressure, let idle for about 3 minutes for the manifold heaters to complete post heat cycle.

(Ram/Cummins do not have glow plugs)

Above 66F, start after wait to start light goes off, verify oil pressure, drive as normal.

Since my truck sits for months sometimes between cold starts, I always let it idle for a few minutes to just get oil flow and allow the torque converter to re-fill.

I'm with Tom on this one.

Jim

[Irlpguy]

I bought my first diesel truck in 1984, always warmed it up before driving away and when the temperatures were below freezing I also plugged in the block heater. 300,000 miles on that one. My '01 Dodge the same thing, plugging it in for a couple of hours prior to starting was easy using a timer and the engine warmed up much faster as did the inside, 350,000 miles on that baby.
When temperatures are at or below freezing my 2012 block heater comes on at 5:00 am and off at 9:00am that way if I don't go out I am not running the heater all day.

Having lived in places where the temperatures reached -40 at times there simply was no question about "warming" up your engine. Using a block heater costs little and just makes it so much easier on the engine in colder weather. I do understand that not all trucks come equipped with a block heater and certainly are not needed in Cal, or such warmer climes.

Like Tom I am old school and will continue to warm up and hope to get 300,000 or better on the 2012.

[rohrmann]

This is copied from the Duramax Diesel manual for the LML/LGH engines:

When the engine is cold, let it run
for a few minutes before you move
the vehicle. This lets oil pressure
build up. The engine will sound
louder when it's cold.

[bigskyjimmy]

No offense taken Tom, I get what you are saying makes sense and I do not think it is a bad thing to warm it up for a few ,but driving these Newer diesels for a living for many years with a fleet of 35 rigs none of us had a problem with just taking off pretty quick and getting our runs done and we drove these Freightliner F60's with the CAT motors HARD and beat the piss out of them and they held up very well And NO I am not a "Tree Hugger" that's for dang sure

[mlh]

I'm new school. I fire it up put it in gear and gone. Where I live I have about a half mile of gravel road where speeds don't exceed about 10 MPH.
Lynwood

[Willy Bee]

I have had diesel trucks since I have been driving. You never want to drive a diesel when it cold (Engine) you need to give it at least 5 minutes to warm up then drive it until you hit normal operating temp. Also You never want to shut down your diesel when your coming off a run. Let it idle down to a temp of 180 deg. If you shut down you will cook the engine. This is talking with a Dodge ram 2000 with over 759,000 mile on it and its on the same engine that I bought it with have not even done a in frame build off.

[GregN]

Old School, New School to each his own

Cold engine start : Idle for a couple of minutes : The oil pressure needs to build up and get to the important parts. Give it a listen, stand outside and listen to the engine just after a cold start, you will hear the difference once the oil gets around.

Hot start; giddy up and go.

Hot shut down: Let engine idle to cool down the turbo, shutting off after a hot run will just cook the oil in the turbo and fry the bearing after awhile.

Idling: No on idle for long period of time. Idling for long period of time will cause wet stacking, as it is not running a higher rpm to burn off all the fuel. The big trucker have an idle control so they could set the rpm up to prevent the wet stacking when sitting idle.

I am not a diesel mech. This is just things I have learned from getting my first diesel truck. Everyone one has his own views. My views are to get the most mileage out of my engine. At 270,000 on my last truck and still running strong when I sold it. I will change the oil a little more often and let it warm up on a cold start and let it cool down after a hot run. (original turbo in old 1997 truck.)

[CORattler]

quote:Originally posted by Capt Kidd

I start mine up when the light goes off on the dash and then just go. I have been told that it is not only bad for the environment but bad for the newer vehicles to warm them up as they are designed to be driven right away.

X2
I just don't push the truck hard right after startup. Cold is hard on a vehicle no matter which one you have.

[CORattler]

quote:Originally posted by bigskyjimmy

I turn my key on and wait for the Glow Plug light to turn off then I'm gone down the road ,as a former truck driver we were warned NOT to start the truck up till the Glow plug light went off (per Freightliner Tech's)and THEN you are O.K. to head out on the road no need to warm it up much

Newer diesels don't have glow plugs. They have a heater grid that sits above the intake to warm the air that is being drawn into the engine. Watch the ammeter when you start a cold engine... it will draw down periodically... that's the heater grid heating up.

[TAKPAK]

Can't say on the Ford or Ram diesels, but GM still uses glow plugs. Our new 2015 GMC has the "glows" in it. I have heard that Ram uses an "air heater" but don't know about Ford. The older ones (7.3's) did have glow plugs.

[BB_TX]

Ford still had the glow plugs as late as 2012 in the 6.7. I would assume they still do. From the 2012 Ford diesel supplement manual:

Fast start glow plug system
The diesel engine glow system consists of:
• eight glow plugs (one per cylinder)
• the glow plug control module (GPCM)
• engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor
• barometric pressure (BARO) sensor
• environmental temperature sensor

(Edit: Same info in the on line 2015 manual.)

[Willy Bee]

quote:Originally posted by TAKPAK

Can't say on the Ford or Ram diesels, but GM still uses glow plugs. Our new 2015 GMC has the "glows" in it. I have heard that Ram uses an "air heater" but don't know about Ford. The older ones (7.3's) did have glow plugs.

As far as I was told by my truck I have glow plugs in my 6.7 cummings. Because I have to wait until the little "glow light" goes off to start my engine.