Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
Locomotives
»
Why do Diesel Engines Idle in the Cold Weather?

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Excessive wear will matter little with a driver or team frozen to death within half a day inside the cab. My rule was to never shut that engine off. It might be 3 weeks 24/7 until I get dispatched to a sunny climate.Once or twice I was forced to shut engine off below freezing with a cooling system casulty or something that required it to be shut down or it be destroyed. Luckly Ive found a nice mechanic who had a wood stove that I could bunk down near.Once I aborted a salt lake city delivery and stayed in a trux stop in I-80 near Larimie because the truck refused to operate properly with the faulty water temp sensor. It will be two very expensive dealer visits before the real problem was found and replaced. By then too much revenue was lost because something wasnt fixed right the first time that winter.I could run around the sunny gulf with the bad water sensor the computer overriden with a paper clip. but in winter you dont take short cuts.Oh, let's not forget about the nice East Coast people. They put up signs requring no idling enforced by small town cops. Ive gotten my dispatch to issue hotel tickets paid for free and clear by telling them that they can buy my hotel that night for 50 dollars or be handed a ticket for idling plus whatever else wrong the DOT might find.I usually got the hotel. Hopefully she will start in the morning. If not? Well, that is going to ruin the schedule now wouldnt it.Now that I look back and recall that the old air starters; you old ones know the kind. 8 seconds of crank time and maybe you get it to fire properly if you work the throttle right. They usually started if the fuel and engine block is warmed all night no matter how cold it got. Not like the picky cranky onery problematic fussy double problem computer crap.Gotta love it.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag