Im so glad i live out in the woods...LOL, the last time i gotten woken up other than an alarm clock was when they were putting a new roof on our house and they got there at 8am, with a big ole kodiak diesel. They park directly next to my room. They shut the truck off i went back to bed.

 

Dan is right. Start it up and go- just be gentle until she is ready.

That sounds right in more ways than one.

 

Hell, I wish I COULD sleep in, it doesn't matter if I don't have anything to do, if I sleep past 5:45 am I feel like I have wasted part of the day. even on Sat. when I don't have to go to work, soon as the sun cracks the sky I am up. the bad thing is I usually don't go to bed till after 11:00pm. 5-6 hrs is all I need.


IZZY- how can you have seriously bad bed head and still be in regs.?

 

He's in the Air Farce, I mean Force. What else do you need to know? Even when I was in, I had "pillow head" in the AM.

 

Man some great ideas floatin around here for the bugger across the street.

Cowboy Steve

 

ok... here's my 02... i'm sure there are some safegards built in by ford, but i try to take better care of my mule than that... i don't remember what the compression ratio is on my mule, i think it is like 18.5:1 ... so, i always do the prudent thing and let those engine parts warm up a little before i put any real load on them... now, back in the day, i owned a rabbit GTI back when all VW's were made in Germany and where worth owning.... it came from the factory with an oil temp gauge that actually worked..!!! i got curious one day and read the manual to see why they put that guage in that car... according to the book, the guage was there so the operator of the vehicle would know when the engine oil was up to proper operating temps... under no condition was the engine to be put under full load, (meaning full throtle acelleration or towing), until the engine oil was up to temp... i think that is an even better idea for a diesel... not just the engine temp, but the oil temp is also important, especially when you take into account all the things the oil does in a psd... and with 15 qrts or more of oil in a psd, it takes a LONG time for all that oil to heat up... so, waiting a few minutes, or 10-15 minutes if it is really cold outside seems like the smart thing to do to me, and if i am going to tow, or plow snow, or carry a load, i wait until i am very sure that the engine is fully up to temp before i start... you guys can do what you want with your mules, but i believe letting a diesel warm up a little before you go driving down the road is the only smart thing to do... jmo...

 

I agree fully there Johnny8, for the most part. I warm mime up and live in the south. I am pretty sure you were the one that convinced me to get dial/sweep gauges when I was looking digital. I love the Optix gauges and want to say thanks for the advice, and glad to see you back on the boards.

 

I let my VW Jetta diesel warm up in the winter, especially when it is well below 0 degrees. I usually keep the RPMs down until the engine warms up a bit.

I will probably do the same with the F-250.

Thanks!

 

For me if the ambient temps are above 40 deg. I start and just go below that I have to let it warm up just abit before I go because It just won't pick-up like it would if it were warm.

 

I normally unless it's real cold have never warmed my deisels along time,one thing takes forever idling

the big motors (cat,cummins & detroit) would probly idle bout 5 min,then take i real easy for a few block til temps started coming up,same with PSD

never had a problem
most important is to cool before shutdown

been doin that over 40 yrs

 

3-5 minutes, no matter what for me. I pull out of my shop, load my lunch and tools for the day and then I'm gone. Also, no matter which way I head to work I have to jump on it to cross a busy road and there is no way I'll do that on any cold engine. I leave by 7am every day, my retired neighbors like it as they use me as an alarm clock. Nice people! My favorite quote so far was this, Boy, that whistle will sure wake you up bouncing off the bedroom window." And all I have is a straight pipe.

 

That is a very good idea. I did the same with my Beetle with the second block. I waited to get on it until the little blue light went out. There's a reason they put it on the vehicle . Our trucks should have one of those also.

Ideally, let it get up to 180* before you start hammering on it.

Diane

 

I like the portable airtank & train horns idea, but I'd have to go out there with hearing protection on.

And on the sleeping at 7:15 thing, I do work the late shift/nights sometimes, so not all of us are 9-5'ers. It's amazing how "forgetful" day-shifters can be...
And the bed head thing was already answered -- Air Force, BABY!!!

Joe

 

During the summer months here (105 to 115) degrees i just idle it for 10 seconds and go...... It's usually in the mid 80's in the morning so it is almost warm already. I wouldn't be surprised if it started without the glow plugs.

 

i may have had an opinion or two for you when you were looking at guages... if you ended up with a set you really like in part because of something i said, then i guess my opinion isn't quite as worthless as my wife says it is... as for being back on the forum, i'm happy to be back..!!!