Warm Up/Cool Down
 

Please excuse my diesel ignorance, I'm still learning.

How does short travel effect the engine? ie. Start, travel a few miles and then stop/shutdown.

Is this bad for the vehicle? My truck is my daily driver and I often make short trips to the store, errands, ect. where it is just not safe or possible to leave the truck running.

I guess I just need someone to ease my mind and tell me it's ok, Unless of course it's not. [duhhh]



-----------

without fully warming up the engine, the moisture will not be driven out of the oil, and acids will form after some time.
diesels fire on the heat of compression, if you only drive it when it is cold(motor temp) it will carbon up in short time. the first symptom is rough running due to the injectors clogging, after a time, the rings will begin to stick, and you will loose compression.
a diesel engine was designed to run at 80% load at normal operating temp.
you will occasionally need to hook up something heavy and go for a good hot drive.

DZ04 is right. You need to work that engine.

That said, you don't have to pamper it either. If your drive means short quick commutes.....just do them and don't worry about it. But at least once a week or so (more if you can)..........go run it hard and get it up to full operating temp.

I used to live about 4 miles from work. My truck had no problems with that short commute. Now I have a 30 mile commute and it ran fine either way. But I do work my truck regularly.....some light playing and occasional heavy towing.

It is always a good idea to let the engine idle a few seconds to build up oil pressure and get things lubricated good before pulling off. Then take it easy for a few miles. When you get where you are going it is a good idea to let the engine idle for a few seconds to let the Exhaust Gas Temps cool some. The reason for that is that you will have HOT oil in the turbo and it is better for the turbo to get some cooler oil in it before shutting down the engine. The engine doesn't care that you shut it down...but the turbo does as it is dependant on the engine to supply it with oil for the bearings etc.

Been driving 3 miles one way for for over 4 years now with this truck. No issues to report. But I do go for longer drives on the weekends and get the engine up to normal temperatures.
Allow the engine to warm up some before getting to hard on it.

MikeyB