SpeedHighway46
Member
Continuing the “winter start” part one thread:
Starting and warming up the engine on my Peterbilt Motorhome Conversion is something I like to do every week or tens days during the winter here in West Michigan, where temps can easily drop into the teens during January and February. These winter starts are intended to get the Cat C15 up to operating temperature and put a fresh charge into both the starting battery bank and the house battery bank.
Both battery banks are comprised of four Group 31 batteries. The starting batteries are AGM type; the house batteries are deep cycle golf cart flooded type.
Now, back to the story . . .
The APU is now warming up nicely; pumping 14.2 volts into the starting bank, and beginning to fill both the cab and the bunk with warm air. My butt is slowly warming also. I’ve got Mr Coffee plugged into 110 vac and it’s starting to perk. Life is good . . .
The engine temp gauge on the dash is mechanical and as the coolant begins to warm in the APU, the main engine gauge begins to rise ever so slightly also. The coffee finishes up and I climb into the driver’s seat to start the main engine.
Because my C15 is a “computer controlled” engine, it aitomatically goes into “cold start mode” when the outside temp drops below 32 degrees. In fact, this engine, a model 6NZ, was Cat’s first computer controlled designed engine from the ground up; as opposed to the 3406E which was adopted to be computer controllled.
My engine ALWAYS starts on the first try, even when it’s -15 outside. In fact, it starts better than the small Kubota on the APU. Today is no exception . . . the big Cat fires right up; a bit rough a first till everything settles out. A puff of white smoke and all is good. I am constantly amazed with this engine, almost a million miles, never rebuilt and still running strong!
It takes the Cat about an hour to come up to temp, even with the idle set at 900 RPM. When up to temperature the water is 150 degrees and the oil temp is 125 degrees. A bit lower than nominal when rolling down the road but still good enough for everything to warm up nicely. The battery banks are topped off at 14.2 volts. All is good!
Turn off the engine; run through the Shutdown check list, and begin to wait another week or ten days till I can enjoy another Winter Start and spend some more time enjoying my Peterbilt 379.
Until next time . . . thanks for reading!
Starting and warming up the engine on my Peterbilt Motorhome Conversion is something I like to do every week or tens days during the winter here in West Michigan, where temps can easily drop into the teens during January and February. These winter starts are intended to get the Cat C15 up to operating temperature and put a fresh charge into both the starting battery bank and the house battery bank.
Both battery banks are comprised of four Group 31 batteries. The starting batteries are AGM type; the house batteries are deep cycle golf cart flooded type.
Now, back to the story . . .
The APU is now warming up nicely; pumping 14.2 volts into the starting bank, and beginning to fill both the cab and the bunk with warm air. My butt is slowly warming also. I’ve got Mr Coffee plugged into 110 vac and it’s starting to perk. Life is good . . .
The engine temp gauge on the dash is mechanical and as the coolant begins to warm in the APU, the main engine gauge begins to rise ever so slightly also. The coffee finishes up and I climb into the driver’s seat to start the main engine.
Because my C15 is a “computer controlled” engine, it aitomatically goes into “cold start mode” when the outside temp drops below 32 degrees. In fact, this engine, a model 6NZ, was Cat’s first computer controlled designed engine from the ground up; as opposed to the 3406E which was adopted to be computer controllled.
My engine ALWAYS starts on the first try, even when it’s -15 outside. In fact, it starts better than the small Kubota on the APU. Today is no exception . . . the big Cat fires right up; a bit rough a first till everything settles out. A puff of white smoke and all is good. I am constantly amazed with this engine, almost a million miles, never rebuilt and still running strong!
It takes the Cat about an hour to come up to temp, even with the idle set at 900 RPM. When up to temperature the water is 150 degrees and the oil temp is 125 degrees. A bit lower than nominal when rolling down the road but still good enough for everything to warm up nicely. The battery banks are topped off at 14.2 volts. All is good!
Turn off the engine; run through the Shutdown check list, and begin to wait another week or ten days till I can enjoy another Winter Start and spend some more time enjoying my Peterbilt 379.
Until next time . . . thanks for reading!
