Will a 10 mile commute kill a diesel?
Looking at a 2014 Ram 2500 diesel but will my 10 mile round trip daily commute damage the engine? Should I just get the Hemi?
Forum Discussion
Getting an engine "just" up to operating temperature does little if anything beyond driving it a city block! Might even be worst than the one block drive due condensation that is created during warm up.
The whole thing about operating at temperature is that to cook off condensation it must be operated at temperature for a bit of an extended time. Thus the weekend drive of 20 or 40 miles or more is good for the engine.
I see little difference between the diesel and gas motor in this regard. As I said before, in cold weather plug the diesel block heater in on a timer to turn it on a few hours before you leave for work. Heat right away!!!!
My wife has a Buick Rainier with an Aluminum V8 5.3 engine. I have never seen a vehicle that come up to temp as fast as it does. Like 4-6 city blocks, well actually 1-2 Miles!! Most diesels will not warm up idling unless they have an exhaust brake that comes on to aid warm up. My old Dodge with Banks exhaust brake has that and fast idle below around 28 degrees of long cold soak via ECM programming. It comes up to 1200 RPM on its own. With the exhaust brake on and 1200 RPM it heats up pretty fast.
Now if it has cold soaked below 15 degrees it will after increasing RPM to 1200 and then go into 3 cylinder idle! Yep, it randomly shuts off 3 cylinders at a time and sounds like it is going to throw a rod. Three cylinders are working and three are opposing as compressors.
If you get the diesel drive it like you stole it. They want and need to be worked. Do the 500-600 mile drive train break in and then go tow hard with it. The harder you work it the sooner the engine will be broken in. Figure 10k-20K miles to do this!
Chris
The whole thing about operating at temperature is that to cook off condensation it must be operated at temperature for a bit of an extended time. Thus the weekend drive of 20 or 40 miles or more is good for the engine.
I see little difference between the diesel and gas motor in this regard. As I said before, in cold weather plug the diesel block heater in on a timer to turn it on a few hours before you leave for work. Heat right away!!!!
My wife has a Buick Rainier with an Aluminum V8 5.3 engine. I have never seen a vehicle that come up to temp as fast as it does. Like 4-6 city blocks, well actually 1-2 Miles!! Most diesels will not warm up idling unless they have an exhaust brake that comes on to aid warm up. My old Dodge with Banks exhaust brake has that and fast idle below around 28 degrees of long cold soak via ECM programming. It comes up to 1200 RPM on its own. With the exhaust brake on and 1200 RPM it heats up pretty fast.
Now if it has cold soaked below 15 degrees it will after increasing RPM to 1200 and then go into 3 cylinder idle! Yep, it randomly shuts off 3 cylinders at a time and sounds like it is going to throw a rod. Three cylinders are working and three are opposing as compressors.
If you get the diesel drive it like you stole it. They want and need to be worked. Do the 500-600 mile drive train break in and then go tow hard with it. The harder you work it the sooner the engine will be broken in. Figure 10k-20K miles to do this!
Chris
