Thor Forums

[blw2]

I've started mine occasionally while plugged in with no ill effects as far as i know.... I know of no reason it would hurt anything. Seems to me that the converter charger would probably just sense the higher alternator voltage and switch to it's "full battery" mode....

so that's +1 I suppose indicating it's probably ok to do....


That said, I have for many years heard the advice that it's better to not start an engine unless it's driven a good ways. I'm assuming you are saying that you just start up the chassis engine and let it idle for some period of time while it's parked...

I'm not saying it's right or wrong necessarily...just what I have read and heard often enough to consider it "common knowledge" advice... but I might be just spreading mis-information here. So the thought is, that this brings in moisture through a few different ways, but it's not getting hot enough to burn it all out... especially the stuff not getting warmed up as much such as the transmission.

One thing I can say with confidence is that anything vented, such as an engine crankcase, gear box, etc...will bring in moisture... The air & oil inside it warm up and expand when you idle for a little while, venting out. Then when you shut it back down it cools, and as the air and oil contracts it draws in fresh air that contains humidity...that will condense on the surfaces...and then collect in there.... the more short cycles you do like this without driving all the old moisture out just build the level of water higher and higher. The same thing happens to a degree just with temp swings between day and night.

What I do, is add stabilizer to the tank on the last one or two fill ups before I get home from a trip... making sure to do it early enough so that the stabilized fuel is fed into the engines (chassis and genny)...and I try to have my tank as full as possible when I park...
so the day to night to day to night temperature swings don't fill my gas tank up with water... (if there's no air in there to vent out, then none will vent back in when it cools for the night...)