whoops- so how bad did I fry my engine?

I did the biggest bonehead maneuver today- I left my engine running for 2 hours!
Oops, forgot to turn it off after spooling the turbo down and my idiot coworkers didn't have the courtesy to let me know, they thought it was supposed to be running <img src="emoticons/icon_smilie_bitchin.gif" alt="Bitchin">

didn't sound bad when i went out there, and temp was normal as was the charging system.

So did I do it any harm or just waste fuel?

<img src="emoticons/icon_smile_blush.gif" alt="Blush">

Ehh, just burned up some fuel! Probably slobbered some fuel in the oil too. Smell your oil to see if its saturated. 2 hrs isn't bad! A buddy left his M292A1 with the LDS427 running for 2 days and it was no worse for wear. Actually it was one of his mutant workers that left it running in the back 40. Talk about a slug! Try lugging that heavy pig around with the 427!

Yup just burned up some fuel, which is getting costly now <img src="emoticons/icon_smile_angry.gif" alt="Angry"> I would, sell, trade, barter, or give away, anything I could'nt leave running for a couple hours<img src="emoticons/icon_smile_wink.gif" alt="Wink"> I was up in Barrow AK (don't ask why) They leave things run up there 24/7 in the winter, so I think your good too go<img src="emoticons/icon_smile_thumzup.gif" alt="Thumb Up">

Should be fine... in the future if you want to idle it to cool it down or warm it up, just pull your throttle control out a few notches and bring the idle up to around 1000rpm. That will keep combustion temps up and reduce slobbering. My new Dodge Cummins has a feature built into the ECU that if the idle air temp is below a certain point and the truck idles for more than 2 minutes after starting, it will ramp up to 1000rpm automatically. Makes it a lot easier to warm the cab in the mornings. No more stick between the seat and the throttle is needed<img src="emoticons/icon_smile_wink.gif" alt="Wink">

The most desirable temperature to properly combust diesel fuel is around 650 degrees. At idle you might be running around 200-300 degrees, not quite enough to properly burn the fuel. What happens is called "wet stacking" and if done often enough can cause damage. If you have to leave it running for extended periods of time just to like was mentoned above, use your hand throttle to keep the RPM up a bit.