Tractor idling

[HAR]

While my Kubota manual does not specifically mention idle, it does mention warm up, after start. In very cold weather, I do let it idle for a few minutes before I bump the throttle up a bit, to let the fluids begin to warm and flow, before applying loads.

While nothing is said about cool down, I feel it prudent to let the engine cool some before shutting down, especially after having run it full bore for a while under heavy load. I do this by throttling back to just above idle under minimal or no load, letting the engine cool for 1-3 minutes.

EDIT: I should note, during the 1-3 min cool down, I take that time to use an air gun to clear/clean all debris from engine/radiator screens.

 

[deserteagle71]

Or like our member above with the big Massey Ferguson. His big tractor is way over the HP cutoff but it uses recirculation exhaust through a diesel exhaust catalyst... that is a whole different system than burning the soot off through regeneration. No telling how it idles.

I was about to buy a new one of those (uses a catalyst instead of a DPF). Reading the owner's manual, I remember it said that idling must be kept at a minimum because otherwise the catalyst would not get hot enough to do it's job. So whether your tractor using a catalyst system or a DPF, you still need to keep the rpms up to keep the exhaust hot.

 

[Mart5130]

Normally I would say let it idle but with a regen system you are loading up the muffler with unburnt particles that will need to be burned off sooner or later by a regen cycle. So anymore than 5 min I would turn her off.

Agree with this

 

[Too many Kubotas]

In this day and age, many new vehicles shut themselves off as soon as the vehicle comes to a stop.

Not that I like that feature, but what do the let-it-idle crowd do in those cases? Emit primal screams?

 

[LouNY]

In this day and age, many new vehicles shut themselves off as soon as the vehicle comes to a stop.

Not that I like that feature, but what do the let-it-idle crowd do in those cases? Emit primal screams?

Hit the damn button to over ride that squirrelly system.

 

[colken]

Normally I would say let it idle but with a regen system you are loading up the muffler with unburnt particles that will need to be burned off sooner or later by a regen cycle. So anymore than 5 min I would turn her off.

My New Holland dealer told me the same thing. The new engines are different from the old ones that way.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

I was about to buy a new one of those (uses a catalyst instead of a DPF). Reading the owner's manual, I remember it said that idling must be kept at a minimum because otherwise the catalyst would not get hot enough to do it's job. So whether your tractor using a catalyst system or a DPF, you still need to keep the rpms up to keep the exhaust hot.

Except with a DOC there is no connection to the ECM. You can remove the DOC and the tractor wont care.

 

[MiserableOldFart]

I think new vs. old basically boils down to turbo vs. naturally aspirated, and to a lesser extent the new pollution stuff vs. none.
I never much let my older tractor, the New Holland TC26DA idle except to warm up in cold weather. My 2021 New Holland Workmaster 40 calls for minimum 1 minute warm up and 2 minute shut down at idle. I believe this is for the turbo.
If your machine is warmed up and naturally aspirated, I think you can turn it off. The turbos want that idle before and after working. The other side of the coin is that particularly the newer machines with the anti-pollution stuff on them don't like to idle for long periods and it will cause more frequent regen.

 

[snowman4evr]

I'll turn it off if it's going to be idling for more than a few minutes or I'm working with another person and need to communicate. It's a quiet tractor but you're still raising your voice to be heard. I'll turn it off if I smell exhaust fumes as I don't like diesel exhaust. Sometimes I'll turn it off just to have quiet.

I think that the idea of letting diesels idle because they're hard to start comes from the old days of gas pony engines instead of electric starters and big truck engines that were hard to fire up. Modern CUT diesels start easily.

Most of the wear on a diesel comes from starting, hence the reason of letting it idle. When we go on a long trip with the diesel truck picking up equipment, we never shut it off till we get back home. With regen system though not a good idea to idle long. My case doesn't have regen, this is one of the reasons I went with case.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

Most of the wear on a diesel comes from starting, hence the reason of letting it idle. When we go on a long trip with the diesel truck picking up equipment, we never shut it off till we get back home. With regen system though not a good idea to idle long. My case doesn't have regen, this is one of the reasons I went with case.

I dont know a whole bunch about tractor turbochargers. I do know that VGT (another emission feature) failures are common with high idling The veins become clogged with soot and gunk and become stuck. I have no idea which tractors are using VGT style turbochargers.