How cold should it run?

[Dodger-TC]

Ok, so I am new to the commerical truck, but have had a diesel for many years. My 7.3l gets warm pretty quickly. Where as my DT360 does not. I let it idle for 30 minutes last night, and it was just over 112 degrees water temp. For the firt ten minutes I could touch the exhaust manifold! Is this normal? Or do I a mysterious ice block engine?

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

I don't think they warm up very fast just idling. But I would think it might have gotten warmer in 30 minutes. Is it possible the thermostat is stuck open, or no thermostat installed? I think if you can take the cover off the radiator (when it's cold of coarse) and start it up. Look into the radiator. If the water is fast flowing through then that might be your problem. The flow should be pretty restricted when the engine is cold and the thermostat is closed like it should be. Also, get ahold of a infrared temperature gun. Point it at the radiator hoses and see what the temp is. To verify your dash temp guage is working properly. Your guage may be way off and the temps might be okay. I had a bad temp guage on my trans in a car and I failed to verify the actual fluid temp and chased around for way too long when I finally found out the guage was way off. Another thing to check would be your cooling fan. When the engine is cold there shouldn't be much spin on the fan. Try turning the blades by hand with the engine cold (and turned off). It should spin fairly freely. If you get the engine warmed up good and shut it off the blade should be hard to turn. At least I think that's the way to check those. But there might be a better way.

 

[geofkaye]

....IDLE IS NOT A DIESEL FAVORITE.....THEY HATE IT AND MAKE DEPOSITS...... LIQUID WASTE IN THE OIL AND DON'T GET RID OF MOISTURE VERY WELL...CALLED DIESEL SLOBBER...AND ID DOES STINK....geofkaye and the Rivercity Girlz

 

[Dodger-TC]

Ok, so last night I let is run for 15 minutes at 900 rpm, and it warmed up just fine, thanks for the help guys,

Dodger