Gordon wrote in
:

Larry wrote:
"Roger Long" wrote in
:

I agree thought that excessive idling isn't good. "Reducing to 10
minutes" sounds like too much to me.


Drive by any truck stop at 2AM in the cold. They idle 24/7 and only
run 2 million miles between overhauls. What nonsense.


Idling a diesel engine such as in a boat means it will never warm
up
to proper operating temperatures thus causing more wear.
In the case of a semi in a truck stop, there is an automatic
shutter
in front of the radiator which closes down to keep the idling engine
at operating temps. They don't shut them down because in the morning
they would again be abusing a cold engine.
G


There were two 8V92TA train engines in my buddy Dan's 1981 Hatteras 56.
Until I came along, he never operated these monsters at any speed over
half of hull speed because he was terrified of it. We're talking about
YEARS of "just idling around".

The first time I opened the throttles wide as we cleared the Charleston
Jetties, enough carbon black poured out of the pipes to make a mountain
of tires, spread out over miles of ocean as a black cloud! She smoothed
right out after clearing her throat. He went below, convinced the
engines would explode in a blast of parts as she cleared 2/3 of redline.
They didn't....they were fine....albeit a tiny bit noisy because Dan had
the engine room hatches open with his fingers in his ears....(c;

Soon after he spotted the fuel flow meters and did a little math, I
pulled the throttles back to a more economical position, just above
planing speed. What a beautiful yacht she was cruising along, a giant
bassboat.

When he sold her, right after Larry got everything working below the
galley house and engine rooms and electronics suite, the buyer had
General Diesel, our DD shop, to pull them down and inspect them. I knew
he was wasting his money because they cranked so easily I'd be afraid to
jack them over with a big wrench for fear they would spontaneously start
they started so easily...GD found ONE out-of-spec spring in the
starboard engine, in spite of Dan's "trawler speeds" all those years.
They were just fine. I saw her a couple of years later and talked to
the new owner who'd had her in the Caribbean long enough to completely
blister her underwater hull. He cracked an injector, but that was all.
She was still just fine, thousands of hours later.

You yachties need a little reality check. Ask a local shrimper if you
can go out with him for a day and watch his diesel(s) run. Count all
the idling along hours during the day and multiply by the shrimp
season... Notice how his engines are all pampered and pure like yours.

I always thought what killed them first was the water in the injection
system caused by the lazy ******* that owned them NOT filling the tanks
before he stored them and NOT getting the oil changed because "I didn't
run it much". If you crank it full of new oil, a biologic clock starts
ticking as the fuel blowby consumes the lube oil...even if you "don't
run it much". That's what kills sailboat engines.....disuse.