Preparing Your HD Fleet for Fall & Winter - Doug's Tip of the Month

As the fall and winter months approach, preparing your heavy-duty (HD) fleet for colder temperatures becomes critical for maintaining optimal performance and avoiding costly breakdowns. Cold weather presents unique challenges that can significantly impact the operation and longevity of your fleet. In this guide, we'll cover essential steps to ensure your fleet is ready to tackle the harsh conditions ahead.

Think Colder

• Preparing for cold weather operation is a combination of several facts.
  • Verifying coolants are in optimal condition.
  • Verifying the correct engine oil and viscosity for cold seasons according to OEM recommendations. Lighter viscosity engine oils allow for easier startups in cold weather.
• Training equipment operators and drivers of proper cold weather startup and warmup procedures. Keep in mind excessive idle time is as detrimental to equipment and lubricates as no warmup time.
• Thickening fluid can create resistance to flow through a filter which could result in filter damage or bypass.

Warm-Up Procedures & Viscosity Choices

• The majority of wear in engines, up to 80% of wear, can be attributed to cold start-ups.
• Using the proper or lighter viscosity grade of oil can significantly reduce wear because the lubricant can flow to moving parts of the engine much quicker.
• Warm up cycles for an engine should be long enough to bring the engine up to normal operating temperature which will minimize wear and improves the service life of parts, such as turbochargers, bearings and piston rings. The need for DPF cleaning can be impacted positively by a warmup procedure.

Pre-Winter Equipment Checks

• Block heaters, which keeps the coolant at a warm temperature when the vehicle is parked.
• Proper sizing of a heating element is very important for ultimate coolant temperature. Also, just because the engine temperature is warm at start up does not mean all the other parts in the vehicle have been warmed as well. Letting all components warm up to normal operating temperature before working at 100% is very important.
• With Diesel engines, the DPF checked and/or cleaned as it can impact the warmup procedure.  
• Testing DEF heaters for cold operation should be part of the be part of schedule maintenance as DEF can freeze and could cause engine shut down.

By taking these essential steps, you'll keep your HD fleet running smoothly through the winter months and minimize the risks of costly repairs and downtime. Please reach out to your Sales Representative or myself, Doug Vrooman, Senior Technical Advisor, with any questions you may have!