Idling vs. shutting down

[JackJ]

Now that my mowing season is over, I'm mostly using my BX to move firewood--short trips of a few minutes between wood piles, downed trees, and my house, loading or unloading the bucket and/or my firewood cart at each stop. Is there some kind of rule of thumb regarding when I should shut the tractor off vs. let it idle when I'm parking it for a fairly short period, say between 2 and 15 mins?

I like the silence (and I'm sure my neighbors do too), and saving fuel/less exhaust is a plus, as is fewer hours on the meter.

On the other hand, I don't want to run my battery down, and don't know if frequent starts are harder on the engine (even once it's warmed up) then letting it run.

What do the rest of you do? I imagine ambient temperature might come into play, and whether the tractor has had time to fully warm up in the first place.

 

[William1]

Five minutes, I let it idle. More than 15, I shut it down.

Wear and tear is mostly on the starter motor.

 

[bxray]

Starting it over and over is rough on the engine as well.
Oil settles every time you shut down.
It sounds like a box of rocks every time it starts.

Ray

 

[Technical Ted]

I don't know if I'm doing it "right" or not, but even when I idle my L3560 I keep it at around half throttle...

Ted

 

[mendonsy]

I usually use the temp gauge as an indicator also. If the temp is near normal then I shut it down. If it isn't then I leave it running.

 

[JackJ]

I usually use the temp gauge as an indicator also. If the temp is near normal then I shut it down. If it isn't then I leave it running.

Unfortunately, on my new BX the temp gauge, like the fuel gauge, isn't much use. Temp shows 1 bar upon start up and then 2-3 minutes later, regardless of whether it's working or idling, it goes to two bars and stays there. So it's basically "cold" or "something warmer than cold." Wish it had a plain old fashioned analog needle so I could get a little more nuanced measurement.

 

[clay45]

Until you're ready to shut it down for the day its better to just keep her running when you can.

 

[Bulldog]

Unless I'm going to be a while I leave mine running. About 11 or 1200 rpms seems to be the sweet spot for mine.

 

[Treckerzeug]

Unless I'm going to be a while I leave mine running. About 11 or 1200 rpms seems to be the sweet spot for mine.

Hello,

On the other side of the ocean 1 min idle is too long already, a warm engine starts easily, the battery, starter motor etc dont really have to work to start an engine,
Oil pressure is up a 750 rpm too
It dors no good to the engine to let it run without any load,

We shut them down

Regards

Robert

 

[dandeman]

I eliminate the concern of not leaving the battery at full state of charge due to restarts by using one of these, when the tractor is stored after using it..

http://www.batteryminders.com/batte...esulfator-with-push-button-battery-indicator/

When I start any engine, I try to run it long enough to get it up to full operating temperature. Sometimes idling for a bit (not the best way to get oil up to high enough temp to boil any moisture out) is used for that purpose.. Otherwise shut it down.

 

[armylifer]

My BX1860 uses so little fuel that it costs almost nothing to leave it idle for those few minutes it is not working. Most wear on an engine comes from cold starting and from hot starting. If you shut off an engine at normal operating temperatures and then start it again just a few minutes later, that is called a hot start. Hot starts are bad for the engine because the engine actually gets hotter after sitting for a couple of minutes (no coolant flow to keep temps down) and that causes havoc with the rings due to heat expansion; as well as the cylinder walls being dry from the oil being "cooked off" by the heat buildup.

Bottom line, keep it running until the work is done or taking a break of more than 15 minutes.

 

[WFM]

This is a great question. I don't like to idle and I know its wrong. But I shut down when I stop and get off doing something. A dry hot summer here and very little tractor work for me. I think 30 hours since April when I did an oil change. Originally I had planned on doing a oil change spring and fall. But with November half gone and only 30 hrs on the Rotella oil. I'm gonna go through winter to April again on the same oil and filter.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Armylifer is referring to heat soak, something i agree with being more harmful than saving fuel and a little noise.
I prefer to not low idle,even a few hundred rpms above.
As far as neighbours, i have one with a dog that barks all day, and one with a leaf blower that never shuts off. Nice lady in other direction cuts grass constantly.

So me running my little diesel is irrelevant.

 

[BWXT]

I'm in agreement with the majority here. If I'm going to be off the machine for more than 10 or 15 minutes, I will shut it down. Otherwise I let it idle. I also let it idle a few hundred revs above idle speed. Runs much smoother. That being said, my father-in-law owned this tractor for the first 33 years and he would let it idle all day. 900 hours on the clock and runs like a top.

 

[cerlawson]

Take heed to what has been found for green tractors on farms. I can't recall the source, but it was a maintenance room discussion. The conclusion was that running steady all day long as a field tractor required half the repair costs and time that chore tractors did. Chances are all those we use for our "projects' would be considered chore tractors.

 

[armylifer]

Take heed to what has been found for green tractors on farms. I can't recall the source, but it was a maintenance room discussion. The conclusion was that running steady all day long as a field tractor required half the repair costs and time that chore tractors did. Chances are all those we use for our "projects' would be considered chore tractors.

I would interpret a chore tractor as one that is shut off and restarted several times in the course of a day. To me, that means I should not be shutting it off in between chores. Instead, I should be combining my chores and doing them all within one daily session without shutting down until all the chores for a day have been completed.

 

[jajiu]

Interesting conversation, the one thing that has not been mentioned is the newer tractors have the particulate filter that requires a regeneration when it hits 100%. Idling is discouraged due to build up of carbon in the filter causing frequent regeneration. I had 3 other tractors that I would let idle for 10 to 15 min. while I was doing off tractor work, but that has all changed and it is hard to get used to turning it off and re-starting all the time.

 

[armylifer]

I'm glad that my tractor does not have a DPF. I was thinking about upgrading to a bigger tractor but I decided against it because I don't want to go through all the grief of having to deal with the new emissions. besides the extra costs to purchase you also have extra maintenance and burning more fuel to boot. No, I'll just stick to my current model and forego the grief associated with the newer models.

If I just run it and maintain it the way I have been, it should last me a long time. It has 597 hours on it now and I expect to get 10 times that number before I have to do anything to the engine.

 

[WFM]

Amen Joe. I had heard the rumors about the pollution crap a year before I bought my tractor. THAT certainly help push me to buy before it all came out.

 

[Benhameen]

I'll let mine idle, I don't have any scientific reasoning. I've always just assumed that idling was better than restarting often.

What's the reasoning for idling at a higher RPM? I use the lowest RPM possible, thinking it is saving a little fuel.