Diesel engine warm-up?
- Thread starter MichaelB1969
- Start date
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Good grief.....no offense.....but someone's going to be offend.....so sorry in advance. If I didn't know better you'd think the internal combustion engine was in its infancy.
Start the thing up and go, when you get back to the dock turn it off, rinse and repeat LOL.
Don't forget to unplug the coffee pot!!
Start the thing up and go, when you get back to the dock turn it off, rinse and repeat LOL.
Don't forget to unplug the coffee pot!!
Cottontop
Senior Member
Most states nowadays have "anti-idling" ordinances for commercial trucks and buses. In some states the limit is 3 minutes, in many 5 minutes, and in a few, 10 or 15 minutes.
So I suppose if lots of idling to warm up or cool down was really required for the health of the engine, there would be lots of squawking about these laws.
So I suppose if lots of idling to warm up or cool down was really required for the health of the engine, there would be lots of squawking about these laws.
Nomad Willy
Guru
Good point Cottontop,
Forums are a clearing house for opinions. Many seem to think otherwise. Like it's an endless waterfall of facts verified by experience .. that's not verified.
Re idling of diesel engines it's often pointed out that truckers idle big trucks for long periods of time. Frequently even all night long to keep warm. Been doing it for many decades.
I have been a semi-truck driver for quite a few years of my life and being a curious sort of person I wondered about that and many other things. In the begining days of my big truck driving experience I ate breakfast with several guys in a rather commercial cafe. One of my friends there owned a trucking company and had trucks all over the country all the time. And of course I asked him about the idling. It was stupid in his opinion but what can he do when the driver is way off in the middle of Nebraska? Well he did tell his drivers to shut the engine down five minutes or so after parking and start up several minutes before going out on the road. But no more idling for long periods of time.
Nowdays there's milloins of guys driving PU trucks everywhere and the've mostly all been to truck stops or at least driving by and seeing a lot of big trucks idling. And they assume the drivers know what the're doing. After all that's all they do is drive truck all day .. and night for many. So now one sees countless PU trucks idling away just parked. Stink'in up the area and forcing countless other people to listen to the obnoxious noise of an idling diesel engine. It's a sad fact that many to most people think idling is good for a diesel engine. Then they buy a boat and get on this forum and think the guys here know what the're talking about and most say start up, untie the lines and go. Quite the opposite of the guys at the truck stop.
What to do?
Do what YOU think is right. Through most of the cold part of the year I start my cars up and let them idle for about 5 minutes before driving off. Did'nt read to do that in a car manual or on a forum. The elements of why I should or should not do that is scattered throughout my life. You can do it because a mechanic told you it was best .. or that some smart guys on a forum said so .. or your dad said so. But it's your engine and your decision and probably you will suffer if you do it wrong.
In this case there's not going to be much suffering as it's obvious that lots and lots of people are doing it in very different ways and all seem to be doing quite well. And many things are unknown or unobserved. Most that observe idling engines at truck stops don't realize those guys do'nt own the truck and do'nt really care if it's good for the truck or not.
The easy way out is to just pick an expert from the many sources and follow his habbits or/and advice. The hard way is to think about it and do what YOU think is right. And know that because you read about it in a magazine or an owners manual or heard it from a mechanic it may not be true or the best practice. But if you really do'nt want to think about it following the owners manual is usually the safest information to follow.
Forums are a clearing house for opinions. Many seem to think otherwise. Like it's an endless waterfall of facts verified by experience .. that's not verified.
Re idling of diesel engines it's often pointed out that truckers idle big trucks for long periods of time. Frequently even all night long to keep warm. Been doing it for many decades.
I have been a semi-truck driver for quite a few years of my life and being a curious sort of person I wondered about that and many other things. In the begining days of my big truck driving experience I ate breakfast with several guys in a rather commercial cafe. One of my friends there owned a trucking company and had trucks all over the country all the time. And of course I asked him about the idling. It was stupid in his opinion but what can he do when the driver is way off in the middle of Nebraska? Well he did tell his drivers to shut the engine down five minutes or so after parking and start up several minutes before going out on the road. But no more idling for long periods of time.
Nowdays there's milloins of guys driving PU trucks everywhere and the've mostly all been to truck stops or at least driving by and seeing a lot of big trucks idling. And they assume the drivers know what the're doing. After all that's all they do is drive truck all day .. and night for many. So now one sees countless PU trucks idling away just parked. Stink'in up the area and forcing countless other people to listen to the obnoxious noise of an idling diesel engine. It's a sad fact that many to most people think idling is good for a diesel engine. Then they buy a boat and get on this forum and think the guys here know what the're talking about and most say start up, untie the lines and go. Quite the opposite of the guys at the truck stop.
What to do?
Do what YOU think is right. Through most of the cold part of the year I start my cars up and let them idle for about 5 minutes before driving off. Did'nt read to do that in a car manual or on a forum. The elements of why I should or should not do that is scattered throughout my life. You can do it because a mechanic told you it was best .. or that some smart guys on a forum said so .. or your dad said so. But it's your engine and your decision and probably you will suffer if you do it wrong.
In this case there's not going to be much suffering as it's obvious that lots and lots of people are doing it in very different ways and all seem to be doing quite well. And many things are unknown or unobserved. Most that observe idling engines at truck stops don't realize those guys do'nt own the truck and do'nt really care if it's good for the truck or not.
The easy way out is to just pick an expert from the many sources and follow his habbits or/and advice. The hard way is to think about it and do what YOU think is right. And know that because you read about it in a magazine or an owners manual or heard it from a mechanic it may not be true or the best practice. But if you really do'nt want to think about it following the owners manual is usually the safest information to follow.
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Which is what we do on most everything unless there is a truly imperative reason not to.
Benthic2
Guru
...I want to dock like this guy:
Nomad Willy
Guru
Agreed BandB,
But at times there are marketing reasons that benefit the company a bit more than the customers. Or like on engine warmup recommendations they are afraid that if they tell you to warm up for 5 minutes you'll forget whether it's 5 min or 15 min so they do'nt give you the best information for fear it will get misinterpreted. To pull away from the float immediately is easy to remember. Or they won't tell you to use synthetic oil because it is too complicated to comunicate the right kind of synthetic oil. There is big differences from type to type of synthetic depending on the base stock used. So they just tell you to use dino oil. Or they may tell you to to use 15W-40 oil because giving you all the warmup recomendations for various climates gets too complicated for straight 30W oil. Ect ect .......
So in some cases you may not have the best information you may be more likely to use the information they put out and it's usually almost as good.
Sometimes I just do it because I think it's better. I think 40W oil is too viscous even for summer in the PNW. I use 30W for the other three seasons but for mid summer I mix 30W and 40W together for 35W. Exact same oil except for the viscosity.
FF
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2007
- Messages
- 22,552
"But if you really do'nt want to think about it following the owners manual is usually the safest information to follow."
Safest perhaps for the engine builder to not have warantee expenses
but for many full displacement boats the concept that the engine should be propped to get full RPM is a disservice in terms of efficiency.
True that at 2-3 GPH a 25% improvement is not a big cost saver but extending the engine life might be.
Safest perhaps for the engine builder to not have warantee expenses
but for many full displacement boats the concept that the engine should be propped to get full RPM is a disservice in terms of efficiency.
True that at 2-3 GPH a 25% improvement is not a big cost saver but extending the engine life might be.
