Question on warming up your tractor

[TigerfaninAR]

My B7300 has a little over 900 hours but have only had it since Spring. I've put about 50 hours on it this Summer. I usually let it warm up 4-5 minutes, a low idle or going slow to wherever I'm going to use it. If I'm using the box blade, usually light work, when I idle up to start working, everything purrs like it should.

When using the brush cutter and more recently the finish mower, I have some light gray smoke for 3-5 minutes when I start mowing. Usually working around 2700 rpm. After the 5 minutes or so the light smoke is gone and it can work all day without missing a beat and never shows any smoke again.

Am I not allowing it to warm up properly or is this normal? Anything I need to be concerned about? Thanks

 

[dodge man]

I don't let my BX warm up anymore than that. My BX will just smoke for a couple of seconds after I engage the mower, but no longer than a few seconds. Maybe someone else will chime in.

 

[TripleR]

There is a very LONG thread on how to warm the diesels up with some going by the manual at "half throttle" and others at idle. I don't remember the consensus. Good luck.

 

[KennyV]

A diesel engine is reluctant to 'warm up' it breaths a lot of air ... so to heat up it really needs to be doing some work.
If you give your tractor time to get all the fluids flowing before you load it up, everything will be fine and you will have no warm-up problems. KennyV

 

[leonz]

You could buy a block heater and plug it in for 45 minutes before you use it as one option. and the coolant will be up to temperature quickly and thus will help warm everything else quickly.

A small propane salamander will warm it up quickly.


Your tractor will lose heat quickly when it is shut down too.

I use 100,000 BTU kerosene salamander for everything, trucks, tractors, snow blowers, wood trucks, etc. that I run only because of the weather here and my firewood processor has a very large hydraulic tank and its awful when cold even in the summer months.

The other thing I have noticed over the years is the muffler and exhaust systems have no water in them the year round when I keep the engines plugged in and this saves on replacing mufflers and pipes and catalytic converters. I replaced the original converter in my old truck two years ago as the truck was 13 years old at the time.

leonz

 

[KennyV]

In Arkansas you should never have winters so cold that you would need a block heater...
Here in Kansas it's not ever cold enough...
For summer time finish mowing you will not need to use a block heater, unless you can get all your friends to do it AND you have stock in your local utility co...

. Continue as you have been a few minutes of mowing and everything is warm enough to burn clean...

It got up to 102 here today... I suppose I could have used a block heater to bump the engine temp up before I mowed... But instead of using a block heater I turned on my Air Conditioner and let the condenser in front of the radiator ramp up the heat... I think I was at good to go temp within 30 seconds... KennyV

 

[dodge man]

You aren't replacing exhaust systems because most are stainless steel on vehicles these days.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

So the light smoke for a few minutes is ok?

I mowed for about an hour today. Went in and ate supper, relaxed a bit, and started back about an hour and a half later and no smoke this time.

Just want to make sure this isn't a warning sign that something bad is afoot.

 

[KennyV]

I had a Cat motor grader that smoked lightly till it got to operating temp, then was perfect. It did this for over 10 years... The injectors were not spraying a perfect pattern and there fore was not getting a complete burn untill it was up in temp.
A little smoke at startup is definitely not anything to worry about. KennyV

 

[kuboman]

So the light smoke for a few minutes is ok?

I mowed for about an hour today. Went in and ate supper, relaxed a bit, and started back about an hour and a half later and no smoke this time.

Just want to make sure this isn't a warning sign that something bad is afoot.

Not unusual for a diesel to smoke a little during warm up. I usually let mine warm till there is quite a bit of heat in the engine block or until the temp qauge comes off the peg and put under light load till it is fully warmed up. Of course some of my diesels cost $20k to replace.:thumbsup:

 

[legbuh]

When hot out like it is now (above 80) I start it up, light a smoke and when i'm done, drive off. This is also my cool down period after mowing or heavy work. Idle down, have a smoke, and the gauge usually goes from high mids to mid level again.

When it's cooler out and I'm storing it in my heated shed (50-60f) I'll let it warm up a little more since I'll most likely be using it to move snow. Like the previous poster said, let the needle get off the bottom of the temp gauge at least.

 

[nspec]

A diesel will never get up to it's full operating temperature by either idling or sitting at half throttle as it is in a no-load condition. With the amount of hours you have, the tolerances are no longer what they were when new. The unburned fuel will show as smoke until you build up enough heat (by operating the engine under a load) to close up the gaps (tighten the tolerances) enough to make for a more complete burn of the fuel that has been injected. This is good - diesels like to work, not idle in a no-load state.

It has a mechanical fuel pump, so the amount of fuel being injected is the same when it is cold as it is warm for a given engine speed. The brand new electronic engines (bigger diesels) have many more variables that are taken into account. Charge air temperature, engine temperature, engine load, etc... The amount of fuel and the actual timing of the injector pulse can be varied accordingly.

Short answer - it's perfectly normal. Warm it up like you are, that is good for a number of reasons. Just don't expect a longer warm up time to solve the issue. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Short answer - it's perfectly normal. Warm it up like you are, that is good for a number of reasons. Just don't expect a longer warm up time to solve the issue. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

:thumbsup:

 

[TRACTORMAN-DOWN]

deisels do smoke but if you are working it at 2750 rpms you are lugging it and it will smoke and straving your hydro pump of oil to do it right if you read your manual they tell to use around 540 rpms or better ,no matter how fast you go

 

[montelatici]

Has anyone on this board ever actually worn out a diesel engine where it needed a rebuild, i.e new bore and new pistons? I think not. So don't worry about warm up.

 

[nspec]

I've absolutely worn out diesels to the point of needing a rebuild. It may take thousands of hours, but I've been there, done that - many times, many different makes. I'm not talking a tired engine...I'm talking worn out dead! (piston seizures, crankcase explosions, etc...) Take care of your engine and it will last a very long time.

 

[timswi]

I've absolutely worn out diesels to the point of needing a rebuild. It may take thousands of hours, but I've been there, done that - many times, many different makes. I'm not talking a tired engine...I'm talking worn out dead! (piston seizures, crankcase explosions, etc...) Take care of your engine and it will last a very long time.

You are correct. Tractors, trucks all the same...Maintain them and you'll be amazed how long they last...Not talking **** retentive maintenance either...Just what is required and keep your eyes open.

Don't worry about smoke belches once in a while..All normal.

 

[kuboman]

You are correct. Tractors, trucks all the same...Maintain them and you'll be amazed how long they last...Not talking **** retentive maintenance either...Just what is required and keep your eyes open.

Don't worry about smoke belches once in a while..All normal.

I have seen first hand the difference proper warm up and shut down procedures will have on the life of an engine. Not to say that an engine will not run a long time with abuse but if you want an engine that will last as long as you want the tractor then give it a decent warm-up. Just remember that there are many different alloys and metals in an engine and they all expand at different rates. I have seen pistons seize in the cylinder because the engine was put under heavy load before it had warmed up. Just one example. Most diesels are made to vary close tolerances, much more than most auto engines. Hence the need for a little more care.:thumbsup:

 

[bulldog69]

I would like to throw this out there.

I got a new 980 G CAT loader and we got 2 769 CAT dump trucks about the same time. I always warmed mine up winter and summer before operating it and most of the time the trucks were simply started and as soon as they got the air built up off to work they go. Both trucks started giving trouble at around 8,000 hrs and one of them had to have the engine replaced at 10,000 hrs and the other at around 11,000. All three worked in the same location and roughly the same amount of hrs. They had the same engine oil and all had Cat filters at every service. It was almost a daily thing to add at least a gallon of oil to the trucks and it even got to the point that they drivers would just go ahead and take oil with them because they knew it would be low each time the checked it.

My loader on the other hand didn't use any oil between changes and it had 25,000 hrs on it when I got my new one and it is still running today and now has over 30,000 hrs on the original engine. It does burn some oil now but it has been in service for 15 yrs of hard quarry life. I feel like the warm up that I always gave it is the only reason for this long life of basicly trouble free service. I treat my tractors in the same way and have always let them warm up before use. My first Kubota was a mid 70's B 7100 that we bought used. I put this little tractor all amounts of torture for 16 yrs and when I traded it in on a new bota it had just over 6,000 hrs on it.

My opinion in short is this. A good PM program and letting them have a warm up before use will really pay off in the long run.