Class A Diesel Idling

[harryjr]

Disclaimer: NOT trying to start a firestorm

We were on the road for the last 3.5 weeks. It takes us approx 30min. to break camp in the morning. We then start the truck and position, hook up, do a final walk around and leave. Truck idles for maybe five minutes and is Tundra V-8 quiet.

So why in 3.5 weeks did we run into so many diesel class A's who feel the need to start the engine at 6AM and then do God only knows what for the next hour and a half before they leave? You bought a $400K, 400HP, 40 foot RV. Does it really require a 90 minute warm up before you can safely drive it down the road? We only spent one night together, but I promise to miss you when you're gone. Do you need to wake up the entire park to wave goodbye?

Before you tell me I'm just jealous that I don't have a diesel pusher, I'm not. (Well maybe just a little bit). Saw one today that was such a bargain my wallet started to twitch, but I digress.

If there is a reason for the 90 min. warm-up, please explain it to this dumb 5th wheeler.

Thanks,

[Veebyes]

JaxDad wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

Veebyes wrote:


In British Columbia they have a 'no idling' law. Never heard of it till we got stopped at roadworks for more than a couple minutes & were told to shut the engine down.

Don't have one in BC, they may have one in Vancouver its self but it is basically an unenforceable law. if your hot or cold you need to run your vehicle.
only a couple of municipalities have brought it in so on the highway there is no law.

Steve

According to the B.C. government website 17 municipalities and districts have enacted anti-idling by-laws.

But since the reference was to road work it’s entirely possible that there’s some worker safety regulation to limit idling around them.

Cassiar Highway. Hardly a municipal area along that road. Hardly any traffic either. Still, that was the reason given by flag person. Provincial law.

[JaxDad]

StirCrazy wrote:

Veebyes wrote:


In British Columbia they have a 'no idling' law. Never heard of it till we got stopped at roadworks for more than a couple minutes & were told to shut the engine down.

Don't have one in BC, they may have one in Vancouver its self but it is basically an unenforceable law. if your hot or cold you need to run your vehicle.
only a couple of municipalities have brought it in so on the highway there is no law.

Steve

According to the B.C. government website 17 municipalities and districts have enacted anti-idling by-laws.

But since the reference was to road work it’s entirely possible that there’s some worker safety regulation to limit idling around them.

[JoeH]

JohnG3 wrote:
Our Class A requires the engine running for the hydraulics level/retract the stabilizers/leveling jacks move the slides in and out when we arrive and again when we leave.

If we're leaving in the morning we activate the AquaHot engine preheat for an hour (no more noise than your forced air heater) or so while having breakfast and securing things inside the engine only runs about 15 minutes before we leave.

15 minutes to retract the jacks and pull the slides in ??

[JohnG3]

Our Class A requires the engine running for the hydraulics level/retract the stabilizers/leveling jacks move the slides in and out when we arrive and again when we leave.

If we're leaving in the morning we activate the AquaHot engine preheat for an hour (no more noise than your forced air heater) or so while having breakfast and securing things inside the engine only runs about 15 minutes before we leave.

[StirCrazy]

Veebyes wrote:


In British Columbia they have a 'no idling' law. Never heard of it till we got stopped at roadworks for more than a couple minutes & were told to shut the engine down.

Don't have one in BC, they may have one in Vancouver its self but it is basically an unenforceable law. if your hot or cold you need to run your vehicle.
only a couple of municipalities have brought it in so on the highway there is no law.

Steve

[CavemanCharlie]

Dave H M wrote:
I believe most inportaint is to drive at reasonable loads and rpms til the temps come up... by simply idling, that will take much longer, and dilute oil with raw fuel.

I am not a fan of letting diesels setting around rattling. However, i thought that wet stacking, washing cylinders down, oil dilution was a thing of the past.

I think that it is.

We have a older 1983 Diesel tractor on the farm. We usually let that one run if we are only going to be out of it for a few minutes. The only way to get it to start when cool is to give it a shot of starting fluid. The only way to get it to start when cold is to plug it in.

The newer tractors will start up but, we plug them in when the temp gets below freezing because it's better for them. They take a couple of minutes at idle before the CVT transmissions will work.

Now, on my brothers 2016 F-350 he never plugs it in and it starts right up and drives away at any temp. Once you get below 20 degrees F outside you do have to wait for the glow plugs though. I think he plugs it in when it gets below 0.

[Dave_H_M]

I believe most inportaint is to drive at reasonable loads and rpms til the temps come up... by simply idling, that will take much longer, and dilute oil with raw fuel.

I am not a fan of letting diesels setting around rattling. However, i thought that wet stacking, washing cylinders down, oil dilution was a thing of the past.

[All_I_could_aff]

I believe most inportaint is to drive at reasonable loads and rpms til the temps come up... by simply idling, that will take much longer, and dilute oil with raw fuel.

[Veebyes]

TCollins wrote:
I've got a 2002 F250 with the 7.3L turbo diesel. Just for grins and giggles I decided to consult the owners manual to see what Ford's take was on this topic.

For cold weather starts they recommend heating the glow plugs, starting the engine and let it idle for 15 seconds (not a typo)! They did, however, recommend a 7 to 10 minute cool down after extended high speed or maximum GVW operation.

The truck has over 150000 miles on it and it has never been in the shop for an engine/transmission problem.

Clicked on one of those Youtube diesel vids recently talking about this subject in some detail & why. Waddyaknow? He said pretty much the same thing. Extended warm up in all but extreme cold is totally unneeded.


Basically by the time you start up, check your lights, antenna down, chocks out, you are good to go. Unless the interstate on ramp is right next to your campsite, by the time you reach it you will be well up to temps.

[TCollins]

I've got a 2002 F250 with the 7.3L turbo diesel. Just for grins and giggles I decided to consult the owners manual to see what Ford's take was on this topic.

For cold weather starts they recommend heating the glow plugs, starting the engine and let it idle for 15 seconds (not a typo)! They did, however, recommend a 7 to 10 minute cool down after extended high speed or maximum GVW operation.

The truck has over 150000 miles on it and it has never been in the shop for an engine/transmission problem.

[hotpepperkid]

donkeydew wrote:
maybe they are getting revenge for some grumpy old guy sitting out there with spook lights,smokey fire and loud music all hours of the evening.
other than that i could not guess why it takes so long

That's what my train horn if for

[JaxDad]

harryjr wrote:

Skid Row Joe wrote:

.Diesel engines must have warm Up time because they're ALL lead-sleds without adequate warm up time. Diesel engine Class As, are likely to have air brakes as well. ALL air brake systems need to be adequately charged with compression before they'll even operate.
All my coaches, and most of my cars over 30+ years have been diesels. None perform at all without a good 5 to 10 minute engine warm up period of start up time elapsed. Especially in the Wintertime.
.

Don't think I've ever seen a diesel ambulance or firetruck idle for 5 - 10 minutes before leaving the station. Gotta suck for the poor guy who's house is on fire.

That’s only because they don’t have the time to waste, but they certainly do preheat them in many cases.

Some rocket scientist near here decided to equip a brand new fire truck with a fuel-fired preheater instead of merely using an electric block heater (inside a heated fire hall) reasoning that it would also preheat the auto trans and cab area.

Except ........

It malfunctioned and burnt the fire hall to the ground, with all that stations compliment of vehicles inside.

Fire hall burns to the ground.


Oh, BTW, the reason the fire got going so well before anybody noticed?

The fire hall was NOT equipped with any kind of fire detection system, a case of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ apparently.......

But I don’t mean to pick on these poor buffoons, they do have a perfect record after all, they’ve never lost a basement yet.

[harryjr]

Skid Row Joe wrote:

.Diesel engines must have warm Up time because they're ALL lead-sleds without adequate warm up time. Diesel engine Class As, are likely to have air brakes as well. ALL air brake systems need to be adequately charged with compression before they'll even operate.
All my coaches, and most of my cars over 30+ years have been diesels. None perform at all without a good 5 to 10 minute engine warm up period of start up time elapsed. Especially in the Wintertime.
.

Don't think I've ever seen a diesel ambulance or firetruck idle for 5 - 10 minutes before leaving the station. Gotta suck for the poor guy who's house is on fire.

[Supercharged]

Grit dog wrote:
irishtom's RV runs on Unicorn farts, which are 137% cleaner burning than gas or diesel.

Where do I get some of that. I like to try differant things.