warming it up

[dieselrunner]

warming up the truck

so every morning when i got start my truck i start it, get the fast idle going then wait till it kicks off, about 8 minutes. the weather isnt all that cold but whenever it sit for too long i do this.

so is this too long to be letting it idle for to warm it up, how long should i wait to start driving.
what do you guys do for a warm up sesh in the morning?

 

[Ironman03R]

It depends on how cold it is, I have yet to plug my truck in this year. On really cold days I start it, go feed the dogs, cat and rabbit, take everything out to the truck, then play the where are you shoes, hat, and gloves game with a 5 year old then leave. By that time it has usually kicked off high idle.
Leaving work at 3:00AM I usually let it run for about two minutes then leave.

 

[Petri317]

With my truck, I just start it up, let the oil pressure get up, and take off. Of course, I try to drive it gently to get everything warmed up(no burnouts!!! )

I see no problem with the way you're warming it up other than wasted fuel due to the extended idling (with the high idle on, wet-stacking shouldn't be an issue should it? )

 

[Petri317]

Of coarse, I'm in Napa, CA and 40 is freezing cold for most people around here!!!

 

[dieselrunner]

so is the stock oil pressure gauge good enough, cause i get oil pressure like right after i fire it up.

and whats "wet stacking"
thanks

 

[tonkadoctor]

I do about the same warm up, did it with the IDI and the 7.3 psd and now the 6 oh no. 5 - 10 minute warm up isn't gonna hurt it, you're fine, in fact if you have an automatic tranny it's much better for it to let the trans fluid warm up.

What you ain't supposed to do is extended idling at low idle like run it all night or for 1/2 hr while you're eating in mcD's. In this situation idle should be set at about 1000 - 1200 rpm

Wet stacking is basicly when the cylinders are too cool and can't keep enough heat for complete combustion. You end up with too much raw unburnt fuel. This can Coke the injectors and comtaminate the oil faster among other things.

The stock oil pressure guage on Fords are nothing but glorified idiot lights. The sending unit is an on off switch set to 7 PSI IIRC, been like that for many, many years.

 

[hahn_rossman]

Diesels don't really warm up like gas engines just by idling. Once you have oil pressure you are better off driving it gently until it's up to temp. You could probably idle it for a hour in your driveway without it getting up to operating tempature.

 

[rickrat]

My high idle kicks off after about 2 minutes. No matter what the outside temps are.

I also notice that my stock oil pressure guage does change as I rev up the engine. On the highway at higher rpm's it registers higher than when at idle.

 

[smoking89IDI]

I have my high idle on a manual switch due to the temp switch being broken, and with as cold as it was a month ago I would go out and start it leaving the switch on and let it warm up for about a 1/2 hour because I am not very well insulated and hate scraping ice off of windows or watching my fingers fall off while trying to drive, I reset the fast idle to about 1300 RPMs and it seems to do just fine. Like noted previously the oil pressure gauge is just an idiot llight with a needle BUT if someone did what I did to my gasser you can make it a real gauge minus the numbers, all you have to do is find an old style pressure sender and remove the instrument cluster and VERY VERY carefully solder a jumper wire over the resistor on the printed curcuit for the oil gauge, when you do that it will the work like a normal gauge moving up and down.

 

[FordGuy100]

I let my truck warm up for about 10 minutes before I go and drive it, maybe that's to much, cause sometimes it might be 15 minutes, with about half of that on regular idle. When I go out there after a good 10 minute warm up the water temp is about 140*.

 

[sassyrel]

absolutely no need to let it idle. start it, let run a few seconds, and go. a few seconds of idling gets oil and pressure everywere. i dont know as id buzz it till warmed up. ive owned vehicles for a few years--and have never had a problem this way. gas or diesel.

 

[rubberfish]

Excessive (more than 15 min) idle time is no good for your motor.
If extended idle time is necessary, do so at 1100rpm and you
can leave it running all day and night if you'd like. Use a switch
or a stick wedged between the seat and pedal. Whatever works.

 

[LA350]

My routine is to crank it up check for oil pressue and amps then idle until I clear the glass. At the worst it is 5 minutes, generally it is 2 mins because the condensation is so heavy

Then I jump in and roll.

 

[dakotajeep]

The above advice seems good (idle for less than 10 min). Unless you talking about severely cold temps ie -20F and lower. If it is that cold I would give it about 10 mintues and be gentle until it gets warm. (yes I know that when in those types of temps guys have battery heaters, block heaters, etc. but things are pretty brittle when its that cold). A little precaution doesnt hurt. I don't think anyone was refering to that type of "cold" so I thought I would throw that in for good measure.

Thad

 

[Optikalillushun]

i start mine, wait about a minute just because im messing with the radio, puttin my seat belt on, etc...then off i go. only way i let it idle for a few minutes is if its heavily frosted or when im cleaning the snow off...or when i run in a store for a few minutes.

on a warm start i wait maybe 15 seconds and im off.