Hi all!

I am sure that this has been covered and please don't flame me too hard for asking a previously beaten to death question. I have never owned a diesel before and just yesterday received the owners manual that I had to order as the truck didn't come with one.

The manual leads me to believe that the diesel engine requires a couple of minutes to warm up on cold starts and that it is a good practice to let the motor idle for up to 3 minutes before shutting it down. Is this really necessary? I always let the beast warm up for a minute or two. However, I had only planned on a cool down after a long hard pull or a significant high speed hwy run.

What are the general thoughts and rules about this? Again, I am truly sorry if y'all are tired of answering this question - I am at work - no time to research!

Cheers!

Mike

 

I personally do it like you are thinking of, haven't killed anything yet.

If you want to be sure, put an EGT on to monitor, get it below 300 before you shut her down.

 

I usually shut mine down when the egt is 400..I also run synthetic..higher resistance to oil coking in the bearings..otherwise I would go with 300.

-dkenny

 

I wait till my EGT gauge reads 300 before shutting down also. It helps if you are able to coast in gear before stopping.

For warm up, I idle for about 30 to 60 seconds after I get oil pressure and then drive gently (EGT below 600 and less than 6 psi boost). It takes me about 3 - 4 minutes of driving like that to get out to the main road, and then I don't worry about it.

Mike

 

I have an Juice with Attitude from Edge, it has a built in cool down function. Set it and forget it. My truck will self idle for cool down from zero seconds up to about 1 minute and the shutdown is set for 320.

As for warm up, once it is started I drive it. I don't dog it but I sure am not going to waste time sitting around. Idle by itself does very little to warm up the engine. If you want to set it to fast idle to have the truck defrosted or warmed up so you do not have to wear gloves to drive then I guess that would be a reason but you don't have to.

 

This is mentioned quite a bit, but it doesn't take into account that "warming up" is relative. If the engine is at 50 deg. F and being started for the first time in the morning, idling it will bring it up relatively quickly to, say, 100 degrees. You're not going to see the temp gauge move, nor will you feel warm air coming out of the vents, but it's easier on the engine to put a load on it after it's idled for at least 30 seconds.

Basically what I'm trying to do is make my engine warm to the touch before I put a load on it. This may be more important for those of us in cold climates than those of you in places like Nevada or Texas.

Mike

 

The starting instructions on the visor say to let it idle 30 seconds on a cold start, longer in colder climates. I used to let it idle while I scraped the frost off the windshield, then get in and go. Thats no longer an issue, I don't think I've scraped my windshield in 3 years or so.

 

One of the benefits of my move to the south. Also none of the hassle of Chicago & those damned yankees.

But to answer the question, just don't drive it hard then cut the key. Mine cools down pretty quickly - say by the time I exit the interstate & get to the fuel pump. If cool off was super important, many more turbos would break.

 

The cool down is for the turbo. The Juice with Attitude is awesome for the turbo timer. Mine is at 320. It's fun getting "looks" when you get out of your truck and walk away while it is still running only to shut down automatically....