Using Idle Control Knob on Startup - Proper Engine Care?

[mattias]

I'm completely new to diesel engine care, so please tell me if I'm being over cautious by the following cold startup procedure:

1 Turn key to second stop and wait for the second click. (glowplugs hot)

2 Pump gas pedal and start van, holding at ~1500 RPM with throttle knob.

3 Wait two minutes, bring back to idle speed. Drive.

I understand it's not good to put the engine under load by driving away before it's had a chance to warm a little bit. Does idling high for two minutes actually do anything? If it's running well at idle speed after idling high for only 10 seconds, can I drive it without damage? I want to care for our daily driver but sometimes I wonder if I'm being too cautious with it, especially when it's not cold overnight.

This post http://www.delica.ca/forum/cold-start-650.html was sort of helpful but it digressed into many quotable posts about knob pulling and the nature of the throttle knob. Good for a laugh!

Thanks for your input,

Mattias

[EricN]

That sounds more like a sub zero starting procedure. For our average temp, step 1, yes, step 2, not needed, step 3, overkill, waste of fuel, bad for the environment. The idea with letting the motor warm up is to make sure the oil is pumping through the motor and has thinned out a bit. Plus you want the internals to warm up some before you stomp on it.
So step 1, do as it says,
step 2, start motor
step 3, put on seat belt, adjust mirrors, get comfy, (30 seconds is plenty)
step 4, drive as gently as is reasonable (like you just borrowed the girlfriends parents car and they are watching you drive away) untill you see some movement on the coolant gauge.

If it starts getting near freezing and you find your truck wont idle cold or you start noticing it runs really rough on cold start, then bump the hand throttle up.

If you have to chisel the ice off your windows while wearing an Eskimo parka, gloves and boots, follow your procedure, chisel during step 2.

p.s. The "how long are you supposed to warm up in the morning" issue has been beat to death over the years. Excessive idling is also hard on a motor, less so with a diesel but it is not ideal.

[Green1]

Excessive idling is also hard on a motor, less so with a diesel but it is not ideal.

excessive idling on a diesel is also hard on it unless you bring the revs up, at idle a diesel really doesn't put out enough heat to keep the engine warm, you need to drive, or adjust the idle higher (big diesel trucks that idle all night and such do so at "high idle" for this reason)

[Schwa]

Anyone know what the ballpark fuel consumption per hour is at idle on a Delica?

[Green1]

Anyone know what the ballpark fuel consumption per hour is at idle on a Delica?

no... but as a general rule there's really no reason to ever find out... if you are idling that long the engine really shouldn't be running.

[Schwa]

I agree, idling for an hour is a no-go, but that's the way we talk about fuel consumption over time, it's just a standard measurement like kilometers per hour, or liters per 100 kilometers.

[Green1]

if you aren't idling for anywhere near an hour though the fuel consumption at idle is basically moot...

[Schwa]

If you add up all the short periods of time you spend idling it amounts to something more significant. I'd just like to know about how much fuel I'm wasting warming up the engine and cooling off the turbo on this thing.

[EnviroImports.com]

In our climate you dont need to warm up your diesel engine, and any fuel you "waste" cooling your turbo, is well spent to ensure you dont have to Replace your turbo, but if your not hard on the engine right befor your turning it off then dont even worrry about your turbo cooling, its Exhaust driven so if your rpm's are low then you turbo is hardly spinning

Noel.

[Schwa]

I live at the top of a big hill, so I figure it needs a bit of cooling, and from what I understand about diesels, you should let them warm up a little before putting them under load so the pistons and rings can expand to minimize blow-by contamination of the oil, which doesn't evaporate like with gasoline engines. I'd like to put some kind of aux electric oil pump in that could run for a while instead of my engine for turbo cool-down.

[Green1]

from what I understand about diesels, you should let them warm up a little before putting them under load

The problem being that they don't really warm up at idle, it's actually bad for the engine to idle it at the standard rpm when not already warm, or for any extended period of time.
Generally the recommended method to warm them up is simply to drive (just don't stomp on it until it warms up) If you absolutely MUST idle before driving make sure to bring the revs up to over 1000 using the throttle control.

[Schwa]

When I start mine in the morning it idles very shaky at low revs (600 or so) so I usually set the throttle lock so that it revs at about 800-900 RPM and then it climbs to 1200 on it's own. I like to give it at least that much warming up because I either face a steep hill right away or fast traffic, so neither is particularly easy driving.

[Erebus]

When I start mine in the morning it idles very shaky at low revs (600 or so) so I usually set the throttle lock so that it revs at about 800-900 RPM and then it climbs to 1200 on it's own.

That's pretty much my procedure too.

As for consumption at idle, my only long idle was my previous vehicle, a Chevy Caprice, 5.0 L gas engine. It idled for 12 hours on about 15 L of gas. No, I don't usually idle for more than a few minutes, this was a missing person search, and I was running equipment that draws 10 Amps, so I didn't have a choice.

[marsgal42]

I set a new record this morning, starting my Delica with the outside temperature reading 3 degrees. Please try not to laugh too hard if you live in the Interior.

With the cooler weather I'm fine tuning my use of the hand throttle when starting. I shoot for an initial idle about 1000 to 1200 RPM when the engine catches. This will increase in a few seconds, so I back off the throttle to keep it in that range. By the time I've got a CD in the CD player (30 seconds or so) I'm off, drive gently for the first couple of kilometers, then drive normally after that.

The Japanese owners manual advises against excess idling, with a cloud of Yen notes with little wings flying out the tailpipe of an idling Delica.

...laura

[josh]

I set a new record this morning, starting my Delica with the outside temperature reading 3 degrees. Please try not to laugh too hard if you live in the Interior.

can i at least snicker? 3 degrees hey? i wish it was so balmy up here... do you really need a warm up procedure at 3 degrees?

Josh