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Friday, April 4, 2014

What does 2 minutes cost? Pt 2

Welcome back for part 2 of Warm-ups: 

    Tuesday we got started on the importance of warm-ups, today we'll conclude that thought and hopefully convince you to waste some fuel to save some engine.

     Engine parts need to warm up slowly and evenly and turbochargers are another important piece of equipment that should have this rule implemented every start.  A turbo on a small VW diesel can spin at over 160,000 RPM, larger turbos somewhat slower. Tolerances are VERY tight and a slight warp or wobble can be supremely catastrophic- explosive or fiery mess like. A fast heated turbo can suffer from rapid over heating and siezing of the exhaust end of the shaft as it heats and expands while the bearings/bushings are still cold. Shaft and bearings must warm-up together to keep fitment correct.  Most commonly though, the turbo shaft heats first, swells,and proceeds to gall and grind the bearings or even seize up solid if not allowed to heat up slowly and evenly.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

What does 2 minutes cost?




First: 
   On this, the first day of April, I wanna wish my wombmate, my sister Elizabeth, a very Happy Birthday.  You are loved more than you know Liz- heres hoping its a great day for ya!!  

    What can 2 minutes get ya?  Warm-ups part 1
  
    Well, to speak for the machines, let me clue ya in. We all have been told for years that every cold start on an engine is detrimental and does irreversible damage. Realistically, we can't much avoid that type of initial damage without pricey pre-oilers, but driving and loading a cold engine is far more damaging long term and quickly takes over as root cause of premature engine failure.
  
    Some of the damage is alleviated by using good oil, but loading a cold engine and cold oil cannot help but remove miles from the tail end of the engines life at a more rapid rate regardless. Define 'cold' you say. OK, so, some parts of the engine run very hot, some run cooler. When possible, everything under the hood should roughly half of its normal operating temperature before putting any load on the engine- 'rule of thumb' there if ya need one.