Do you idle your tractor ?

[Ma$e]

Its safe to idle them before switching off. I'm guilty of not doing it though:flyfun:

 

[Darkstarx3]

I just take it easy on the accelerator for the last bit of the trip.

that me as well.

 

[S1NGH 001]

Its safe to idle them before switching off. I'm guilty of not doing it though:flyfun:

:fishwack:

 

[Charles 330D]

Just curious to know, how many of you guys idle your tractors before switching them off after a drive ?

Good idea to let your tractor idle after a hot run under boost pressures,
The shaft bushes will not have sufficient lubrication after the motor is switched off.
Expensive part to replace when it fails, I have seen many a HME owner loose big sums of cash due to failed turbos and destroyed engines.:yuck:

 

[Pfw28]

Always a good idea to allow the engine to settle and stabilise after hard work, I think, but to sit and listen to my fuel going up in smoke grinds me. Gently for the last 2 km, then idling while parking, reversing etc. is all I can manage. There are several systems available for turbo protection on trucks, from shut-down timers to oil reservoirs that fill under pressure then feed the oil to the turbo on shut-down. Do they work? Yes. Are they worth it? Not really, in this application, IMHO. :fencelook:

 

[Clownshoe]

Some very good comments and I agree with it all. I have an old school Jeep diesel donkey and from new it has been religiously idled up (until oil pressure gauge comes up) and taken easy until the water temp has come up. Idling down I just get ready to exit (seatbelt, wallet, phone, etc) before shutting off. This engine "touch wood" has not given an ounce of trouble, when other similar engines are the bane of their owners existence with blown turbos, warped heats (there are 4 of them).

I recently did a cedarberg trip with fully loaded car and 4x4trailer. Now I can imaging the damage I would have done if I came off the highway into a service station after 3 hours at full boost stood on the brakes into the pumps and switched off the engine immediately to go have a piss. That is where damage occurs. Turbos spin in oil that is busy cooking. Then a thin residue of burnt oil on the bearing.

But too much of a good thing is also bad. The most engine wear occurs under idling, correct me if I am wrong. So idling a car up to full temp is a bad thing in diesel and petrols.

 

[S1NGH 001]

Some very good comments and I agree with it all. I have an old school Jeep diesel donkey and from new it has been religiously idled up (until oil pressure gauge comes up) and taken easy until the water temp has come up. Idling down I just get ready to exit (seatbelt, wallet, phone, etc) before shutting off. This engine "touch wood" has not given an ounce of trouble, when other similar engines are the bane of their owners existence with blown turbos, warped heats (there are 4 of them).

I recently did a cedarberg trip with fully loaded car and 4x4trailer. Now I can imaging the damage I would have done if I came off the highway into a service station after 3 hours at full boost stood on the brakes into the pumps and switched off the engine immediately to go have a piss. That is where damage occurs. Turbos spin in oil that is busy cooking. Then a thin residue of burnt oil on the bearing.

But too much of a good thing is also bad. The most engine wear occurs under idling, correct me if I am wrong. So idling a car up to full temp is a bad thing in diesel and petrols.

I don't idle the car till till operating temp on start up, normally idle it for a minute or two before I take off in the mornings :thumbs:

 

[Clownshoe]

As I understand it as long as the oil pressure is up, and this occurs quite quickly on a modern car, you are good to go. As long as you don't labour or stress the engine until operating temp.

The Jeep after start you can clearly hear the engine tone change that coincides with the oil pressure gauge coming up. But then it sounds like a bag of pennies are rattling around in each cylinder when it starts up. Not sure you would even hear that on a BMW. The BMW 3.0d X5 has no perceivable change.

The X5 is the mothership and I idle her up and down but god alone knows what happens when I am away.

 

[S1NGH 001]

Agreed buddy :thumbs: the new vehicles warm up really quick

 

[ryan330dwp]

Hi gents , idling your tractor is beneficial to prolonging your turbo's life as cool oil gets sprayed onto your shaft lubricating your seals.So when your turbo's spinning at 20000 revolutions and you just cut off that lubrication leaving the seals to run dry your basicaly looking for trouble . just thought it might help.:=):

 

[Andy1GP]

With any turbo engine I would allow it to idle a bit before shutting off, but most important is to do a "cool off" run as you are nearing your destination - nothing better than off throttle running under compression or just light throttle. The turbo is then working far less and is able to cool off far easier than even idling - reason being, when the car is now sitting idling there is then no airflow through the engine bay and the electric fan only comes on for the sake of coolant and engine temperature - so no point idling the engine if you have just been giving it horns!

Well said phillip, as much as most of us like to "jaag" the last stretch driving home this is where you can prolong the turbo life. The cool down run period is more critical than the idling.

Same goes for hammering your brakes. Don't just stop and switch off, the brakes will cook crack and fail. Running the car without load really helps make things last longer. Some Turbo's go in excess of 100,000rpm that's ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND RPM, nevermind 20k. And once you open one and see how little oil film actually gets to the core for lubrication and cooling you appreciate how delicate they are.

They are not all watercooled like the engine. The little bit of oil that touches the bush/bearing is it's only lifeline.

 

[Peejay]

With any turbo engine I would allow it to idle a bit before shutting off, but most important is to do a "cool off" run as you are nearing your destination - nothing better than off throttle running under compression or just light throttle. The turbo is then working far less and is able to cool off far easier than even idling - reason being, when the car is now sitting idling there is then no airflow through the engine bay and the electric fan only comes on for the sake of coolant and engine temperature - so no point idling the engine if you have just been giving it horns!

Well said phillip, as much as most of us like to "jaag" the last stretch driving home this is where you can prolong the turbo life. The cool down run period is more critical than the idling.

Same goes for hammering your brakes. Don't just stop and switch off, the brakes will cook crack and fail. Running the car without load really helps make things last longer. Some Turbo's go in excess of 100,000rpm that's ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND RPM, nevermind 20k. And once you open one and see how little oil film actually gets to the core for lubrication and cooling you appreciate how delicate they are.

They are not all watercooled like the engine. The little bit of oil that touches the bush/bearing is it's only lifeline.

They also say that it's good to idle after a driving because it circulates the oil.

 

[S1NGH 001]

If you want to protect your Turbo read this thread :rollsmile:

 

[MikeR]

:fencelook: never - not one of them

 

[m0lt3n]

My opinion is that idling for minutes on end does more bad than good

Care to enlighten us buddy :rollsmile:
[/quote]

When you are parked and idling the normal amount of air is not pushed into the engine therefore you are running rich which isnt to good. Thats my deduction for the car mag once saying in tech section not to idle excessively as the car is running rich then. And then also BMW says dont idle your car up to temp but rather drive your car carefully till it is at operating temp.

Then also...why stress your cooling system, I think in most cases you are making the engine warmer than it was (till the fan kicks in) with idling for minutes on end than what the engine temp was when you stopped.

Also....:fencelook::fencelook: throw water on a pan or whatever coolant on any warm object (after welding anything...) it doesnt take minutes to cool down its near instantly cooler than damaging temp's. 30secs of idling is more than enough to have your whole engine (turbo included) at steady state when looking at temperatures.

Lang 2 sent daar, maar hoop my swak engels is verstaanbaar :rollsmile:

 

[Moto_GP]

Man the amount of Polo TDI's I see boosting hard before screeching to a sudden halt is quite funny :biglol:

 

[S1NGH 001]

My opinion is that idling for minutes on end does more bad than good

Care to enlighten us buddy :rollsmile:

When you are parked and idling the normal amount of air is not pushed into the engine therefore you are running rich which isnt to good. Thats my deduction for the car mag once saying in tech section not to idle excessively as the car is running rich then. And then also BMW says dont idle your car up to temp but rather drive your car carefully till it is at operating temp.

Then also...why stress your cooling system, I think in most cases you are making the engine warmer than it was (till the fan kicks in) with idling for minutes on end than what the engine temp was when you stopped.

Also....:fencelook::fencelook: throw water on a pan or whatever coolant on any warm object (after welding anything...) it doesnt take minutes to cool down its near instantly cooler than damaging temp's. 30secs of idling is more than enough to have your whole engine (turbo included) at steady state when looking at temperatures.

Lang 2 sent daar, maar hoop my swak engels is verstaanbaar :rollsmile:
[/quote]

Interesting :idea::rollsmile

 

[P1000]

We're a bunch of clued up fanatics :rollsmile:

---

I thought that all newer model turbo cars has has turbo protectors so no need to idle or am I wrong.......

It's always advisable to let the Turbo cool down for a bit, especially when driving hard, remember the turbo is running at approx 19000 - 22000 rpm

---

You're out by a digit or so there 125 000-200 000 rpm - these are "turbines" after all.

 

[P1000]

My opinion is that idling for minutes on end does more bad than good

Care to enlighten us buddy :rollsmile:

When you are parked and idling the normal amount of air is not pushed into the engine therefore you are running rich which isnt to good. Thats my deduction for the car mag once saying in tech section not to idle excessively as the car is running rich then. And then also BMW says dont idle your car up to temp but rather drive your car carefully till it is at operating temp.

Then also...why stress your cooling system, I think in most cases you are making the engine warmer than it was (till the fan kicks in) with idling for minutes on end than what the engine temp was when you stopped.

Also....:fencelook::fencelook: throw water on a pan or whatever coolant on any warm object (after welding anything...) it doesnt take minutes to cool down its near instantly cooler than damaging temp's. 30secs of idling is more than enough to have your whole engine (turbo included) at steady state when looking at temperatures.

Lang 2 sent daar, maar hoop my swak engels is verstaanbaar :rollsmile:

The technical bits are a bit off the mark, but you are correct overall.

Idling is bad mkay?

The biggest problem is the fact that the car is running rich - it has nothing to do with pushing air, as the ECU can control the air/fuel ratio very tightly, it is because EU standard says idling a/f ratio should be 13.1:1 by mass. (can be MUCH lower than that for a cold engine, because of warm-up enrichment, probably closer to 8:1) Since stoichiometric for petrol is 14.7:1, it means that there will always be uncombusted fuel left over. A big portion of this unburnt fuel will easily pass the piston rings and end up in your oil. That is where it does the damage by breaking down the oil additives, and shortening its life and also by changing the characteristics of the oil just by being there - imagine adding some petrol to your oil - not a good idea, eh?

Other than that - simply idling your car doesn't do a very good job at warming the engine, nor does it reduce engine wear in comparison to driving off slowly and not straining your engine before it is warm. Driving off slowly will warm the engine a lot faster since the mechanical and combustion losses are more in total.

 

[Speedy]

I have about 2km or speedbump littered road leading up to my home, so just take it super smooth for this duration and stay off boost, when I pull into the driveway about 30 seconds of idle and that`s me.

Hopefully its beneficial otherwise at least if my turbo goes I wont feel guilty!:rollsmile: