Question for diesel owners

[Verlyn]

It is no longer necessary to run the diesel to warm it up. They need to come to the party and wake up!!

[Poppy C]

I have an 01 Dodge Cummins. Some folks may say its loud but oh well. We typically don’t leave early. Yes I idle more than folks think I should in the summer. Reason is my wife can’t handle the heat at all & neither can our bulldog. So I am cooling off my cab so they can transfer from our tt to the pickup without having to be in the heat too long. This is done on arrival & departure. Arrival is to get setup enough to where I can turn the AC on. I understand the grip that started this but some have real reasons.

I’d rather listen to an idling diesel for a few minutes than a herd of screaming kids & a radio blaring all day till the official quiet time.

[frizfreleng]

[QUOTE=Vagabond51;6186953]

Originally Posted by frizfreleng

Pretty sure no one was looking for sympathy, certainly not from you. Your "embrace it..” attitude doesn’t even hold water! You should know there is certainly camping site etiquette, and this would fall into that category.

Don’t discourage other members from asking questions. By the amount of responses you should understand it is an issue, whether for mechanical reasons or etiquette-related reasons. Be respectful of others and don’t comment if it isn’t something for you.

Cheese with that wine? Was that your wife? You come across very defensive. A legitimist response to what I found a selfish attitude. Disagreeing with your attitude is not permitted?

[Lockman1958]

Most of us with pushers have to idle to build the air pressure up for our air brakes

[Carrbigdog]

Originally Posted by vsheetz

I only start the engine when all else is ready for travel. Start the engine, do a final walk-around - ensure the suspension aired up - go.

I shut down for short stops - such as campground check-in, etc.

I also have a non-electronic Cat diesel (3126B) and try to limit the amount of time that we sit and idle but with an older RV and when the motor starts, it is noisy. With the air suspension it can take several minutes to get to the point we have braking power.

I apologize for any noise but we try to leave mid-morning so most folks are up and by leaving mid-morning it also gives our dogs a last chance to do their thing before being limited to their travel crates.

If we have to leave early, I start, pull to where we can hook up our toad without brakes.

I know that isn't what everyone does, but if someone wakes you up, smile to the RV gods and say thank you I woke up this morning and I will try to enjoy this day and give them wishes for a safe journey.

<grin> Probably more than they wished for you.


But we can be better campers than they were.

[Azmiike]

They saw a truck do it one time and think it's cool.

[abuelo83]

Originally Posted by CamJam1

Is there are reason people let diesels idle for prolonged periods before they hit the road in the morning? It's really irritating for those of us in the campground who are trying to sleep in. Had a couple of Harley riders do the same thing recently, so it's not exclusively a diesel thing.

Diesel pistons are not round when the engine is cold. The wristpin part is smaller than the rest of the piston so when it has been warmed up the piston becomes round.

[Rev. Roy]

I idle because I have to be at ride height, raise my Jacks, and then bring in the slides. (According to the manufacturer) If I don't have a long pull-thru site, I'll need to hook up the trailer, which means maneuvering the RV to line-up to the tongue and the hook everything up. Sometimes that is in an overflow/visitors parking lot. I don't shut the engine off to do that. I then do a walk around to make sure I didn't miss any thing . All of this will take 10-15 minutes, which seems like 30-40 minutes if it bothers you. When we still had our pop-up we once was given a site close to the dump station. We had a 2 HR parade of diesels sitting idling while waiting their turn. Now that was annoying.

[Max Headroom]

Originally Posted by FuShiLu

Everyone has opinions. Mine has zero power until at temp, safety systems in modern machines are very different. If your not running it long enough you may even get the drive until your told to stop warning, that one’s fun. Read your manual. The internet is a terrible place to get information.

Right, I got flamed for telling people what I do, and it's per the Cummins manual that came with the coach.

A lot of 'experts' regurgitate that "Cummins no longer recommends that." What these geniuses don't get is that 'Cummins' doesn't care about anything but modern gear, and they have been forced to put a bunch of fragile pollution controls on their engines that they will have to cover under warranty.
The other thing they don't realize is that Cummins is just going to change the narrative in order to sell engines. If the government says jump, Cummins, says, "How high?
For literally decades, hundreds of millions of miles worth of data from real world experience was gathered to determine best procedures for the writing of owners manuals. Then, just like that, oops, my bad we were wrong for all those years, all those miles. Don't warm up your rig, don't cool down idle either. Don't pay any attention to what was in your engines owners manual.
Look, all they care about is pleasing the PC crowd so they can sell more engines. If their new advice shortens the life of your older engine or components, does anyone think Cummins cares about that?

Originally Posted by keninvic

Hopefully some of the diesel pusher crowd will read this and think about what the rest of us have to put up with after you sit in front of us running your stinky diesel while you hook up your toad and say your goodbyes. You don’t need to warm them up for half an hour, be more considerate of others.

I LOVE THE SMELL OF DIESEL!
If your injectors are set up right, it smells slightly sweet. Only thing close is some Jet A burning machines.
There is nothing stinkier than a pollution controlled catalytic converter engine running.


I found one more good reason to idle. It annoys the virtue signaling, PC sheep.

[dhschultz39]

Originally Posted by CamJam1

Is there are reason people let diesels idle for prolonged periods before they hit the road in the morning? It's really irritating for those of us in the campground who are trying to sleep in. Had a couple of Harley riders do the same thing recently, so it's not exclusively a diesel thing.

If the engine temp (usually ambient air) is:
< 0 deg F, 5 - 7 min
>0 deg, but < 50 deg F - 3 - 5 min
> 50 deg F, 1 - 2 min
then operate at low power if possible until oil pressure near nominal for the rpm, and in any case, until air bags fully inflated if applicable. If engine heater is available and used (recommended below 40 deg F), warm-up time is minimized in low ambient temperature conditions. It's an oil viscosity and turbine normalization thing.

[tmandoug1]

Camjam may just be trolling.......he knows what it takes for all rigs to depart safely. Moderators can we shut down this thread.....seems like a game.

[chisler]

The most important issue is air pressure for the brakes. No others excuse is really valid. Warming up okay, old school idea, maybe but it’s not required. Without adequate air pressure the emergency brake will not relearse and it’s illegal to drive without at least 60 PSI. Air Brake Course 101. The ride height and air bags also need to be inflated before you move the rig. It usually takes about 3 minutes but it depends on several things like the age and condition of the rig, the air pressure may well last a few days if the system isn’t leaking.

[Empty nest]

I like to let mine idle higher than normal and to test the air pressure I like to cut loose with a good blast on the old air horn in the early am. That way nobody complains about my engine idling. I like to beat on stubborn jacks with a shop hammer too. Sling a few cuss words around every now and then just to add a little more flavor. I’ve been thinking about taking the muffler and catalytic converter off and just straight pipe it. Pull out the old ghetto blaster and hook up the 12 sub woofers with 10,000 watts going to each one and crank up a little rap music. That usually gets everybody in the spirit. Folks I know y’all think I’m crazy (and I am somewhat) but I have experienced each one of these things in the past in campgrounds. (Except the sub-woofers). The world might end soon but I don’t think it’s gonna be because I missed a few minutes sleeping due to a Diesel engine idling next to me. If you want to see some rude people pick out a motel/hotel of your choice and try sleeping in one of their rooms. Noise in an RV park is minuscule compared to that. Just my observation and opinion.

[USMCRET]

This thread has achieved peak stupid.