Hi,

I have been lurking for a year or so, and am about ready to buy a PSD but have a few questions.

My experience with diesels is with my John Deere tractors. My John Deere will start without glow plugs or engine block heater down to the 40's. Below that I will use the glow plug or the engine block heater, let the tractor warm up for about 30 seconds and then head out to feed the cows. When I am ready to kill the tractor I will let it cool for about 30 seconds before shutting it off. Of course if I am going to work it hard, I will warm it up more and obviously let it cool down for a couple of minutes.

What is the procedure for the PSD? Are glow plugs required to start? How long must it warm up? How long do you have to let it cool down?

I will use the truck for hauling hay, and fertilizer but also to drive to my city job which is 10 minutes from my house. Will this truck be o.k. for that short of a (4 day/week) drive? In otherwords, is the start/stop procedure too much trouble for short trips? Should I keep my car for the short trips? I would prefer to use the PSD BTW, I live in Texas, so it doesn't get that cold around here........

Thanks

 

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I think the psd will work fine. Its just getting the engine up to temp so it burns the buildup off of the exhaust valves, but i think you will be fine. The computer in the truck will automaticly activate the glowplugs if they are needed, and they will start pretty close to zero without being plugged in, just not a very good idea, 10w-30 gets kinda think at zero, even though it is the recomended oil. As for startup, you might want to let the psd warm up a little more, but i just baby my stuff anyhow. As for shutdown 30 seconds of idling should be enough to cool the motor down and have safe EGT's.

 

Three psd full time ranch/farm trucks here and have had two others. All have been excellent trucks. Like you, cold weather isn't a big issue for us down in Georgia. We just start them when glow plug light goes out ( a couple of seconds) and take off and shut them down when were are done. No engine trouble thus far with 260,000 mi and 140,000 mi on our 1st two trucks and 50,000 mi 65,000 mi and 22,000 mile on our current trucks. Auto tranny overheated and burned up in our 1st one a 97 while hauling 18,000+ lbs of cattle through the mountains but that has been the only major problem with any of them.