Some tidbits that will save you money

[jimmy649]

Keep the hand crafted propaganda out btw, All I’m seein is trolls

 

[Meathead]

Keep the hand crafted propaganda out btw, All I’m seein is trolls

Uh uh bruh….

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Keep the hand crafted propaganda out btw, All I’m seein is trolls

 

[rossvtaylor]

Keep the hand crafted propaganda out btw, All I’m seein is trolls

Yup that's me. My ultra-troll pattern is that I join a forum and immediately jump into lots of random threads, offering one line opinion posts that aren't helpful...or I share inaccurate advice, which might mislead other new folks, without considering that there are lots of really experienced folks here who can spot my bs and who will call me out on it. Then, instead of having an adult conversation and sharing some sources or, perhaps, even learning something new...I act all butthurt and start calling people names. Yuppers, that's my trolling self indeed. You caught me.

Oh...wait...

 

[Rucker]

Jimmy, see my DM. Looking forward to your contributions.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Only if you don’t know how to idle up…like 900-1200 rpm

When I first started with the party buses I had the same thought that idling up meant putting a load on. My mechanic quickly corrected my errant thinking.

We had a clunker bus with a couple bad injectors and a failing turbo. It idled up in park ok and didn't sound terrible but performed like crap on the road. Once he started teaching me about how my diesels actually worked under the valve cover I started to understand the difference

 

[EastCoastCB]

Just stuff I learned as a trucker on how to treat diesel engines, and schooler info I’ve gleaned throughout the years. You can take it or leave it, i don’t care. One thing I know for sure is that both the dt466 and the t444e have expensive timing chain covers that extend to the front part of the engine where the oil pan attaches and are expensive to replace. I got the Dorman kit replacement. Junk, absolute junk. I had to take it to an aluminum welder to get repaired before I installed it.

I had a DT466E with a bad inner and outer timing cover.
The cost and complication of this repair and worse than actually doing an in-frame rebuild. It basically the worst job you can have to do on a DT.
Now I own a Cat and am quite happy with my 3126.

 

[WiredForStereo]

If your option is to idle, just forget starting the thing. Your oil has what is known as TBN and will neutralize the acids (until used up).

If you're going to start it, get it up to operating temp, otherwise just don't. If you don't have a high idle, most big diesels will either never get to full temp or will take a very long time to get there, and during that time, you'll be condensing water into your engine. Bad juju.

I have five diesel engines, 8.3 Cummins in my bus, 10.2 Cat in my water tender, 6.7 Ford, and two small 3 cylinders, one tractor and one generator. I try to run them all every month or two but they need to be run under power on the road or at least on high idle, 1200 RPM.

Tires also need exercise to avoid flat spots and cracks.

But if you're just going to idle it cold, it would be better if you didn't even start it.

 

[TaliaDPerkins]

Would a 30 minute idle warm it all the way up?

 

[rossvtaylor]

Would a 30 minute idle warm it all the way up?

No. It needs to be put under load for some period of time. A high idle helps a bit, but still won't bring it up to operating temp. The generator diesel folks at Cummins and Caterpillar, and others I shared in the video, say at least a 30% load for 30 minutes...and you just cannot do that while idling your bus.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Would a 30 minute idle warm it all the way up?

Gotta put a load on it to really get it warmed up. Takes a good drive in mine to get it all the way up to full temp.

 

[WiredForStereo]

Might help if you have an engine block heater plugged in.

The reason this is the case is diesels suck in a full charge of air no matter the amount of fuel used. That air cools the engine if there is not enough fuel burned to keep it warm.

 

[HamSkoolie]

In the early 90's I was in charge of a Marine Corps motor pool with 120 Prime Movers.... a prime mover is a piece of equipment with it's own locomotive system such as a 5 tom truck, a CUCV, HMMWV, etc. The motor pool supported the Marine aviation reserve Wing and held all the equipment that the reserve units across the country didn't have room or a need for while in garrison. Every summer they'd come pick up the vehicles and convoy to 29 Palms CA or Yuma AZ. They'd be gone for 3 to 4 months (units cycled through for their 2 weeks summer training) then get convoyed back to us. We would repair them (they got torn up) and then hold them for the next summer.
Before I took charge we would start every vehicle once a week and idle them for 1 hour. We also took them on a "road circuit" once per month (largely because we didn't have the man power to do so more often). We also had them on an oil analysis program to ensure the oil remained serviceable and didn't accumulate acids (from temperature changes causing condensation and from blow by which all engines have to some extent).
We did this because experience in our unit as well as the base (with thousands of new and rebuilt vehicles in storage for the entire Corps) learned that you couldn't just idle them without driving as seals would dry out or get flat spots, the oil would build up acids, tires would get flat spots, bearings would degrade, etc.
After I took over the motor pool I changed the process to "administrative deadline" in which we repaired the vehicles, parked them, and disconnected the batteries. They would then sit until time for them to be sent out for summer training. They didn't sit long because by the time they were gone through after a training cycle we only had 4-5 months before we had to start getting them ready for the next cycle.
We saved fuel, oil, labor, and wear and tear on the vehicles including not building up corrosive elements in the oil. In short, the negative effects of idling with only a monthly short road trip that MIGHT have burned off corrosive elements in the oil was more than offset by simply letting them sit for the relatively short time between repair and being sent back out.


Now, we were letting them sit 5 months or less. They typical skoolie build is going to be much longer and if possible the rig should be "exercised" to eliminate all the issues created by long term sitting and while you will want to start the rig from time to time for various reasons during the build, don't do it thinking it's good for it. IT IS NOT

 

[flattracker]

I will ad a couple cents to the discussion.
There is a way to keep your skoolie engine good without running it periodically. I do this for my 172 which has a Continental 0300 gas engine.
I have a small battery maintainer hooked up to stay on and keep the battery charged. Airplane batteries are rather spendy to replace. I also have an engine heater installed that I run through a timer to come on once a day for a few hours. This keeps the condensation out of the engine.
I do not start the engine unless I am going to fly or taxi to the main hanger to get maintenance done.
Even though the plane is stored in a low humidity environment, condensation will occur.
Getting the engine warmed up with a block heater on a timer will address this problem.
My new Crown has a block heater.
The only issue with this approach is access to electrical power.
I keep my house and starter batteries charged with solar power. There is not a constant charge applied as the solar only charges during the day.
A couple days ago I checked the battery voltages and found the house batteries at 14 volts and the starter batteries at 13.8 volts.
I think it is possible to setup solar panels on the ground and run the block heater from them.

 

[Oscar1]

Is this an offering of Tidbits or Timbits to save money? :biggrin: