Heeding this article could save your unit anywhere from $3,000 to $300,000+
At the end of a long mission, it’s tempting to shut down your M88A2’s engine as soon as you hit the motor pool so you can grab a shower and some hot food. But being in a hurry can lead to some serious damage.
Not shutting down the engine the right way can cause overheating that damages the engine, turbos and other components. Remember, since there are no auxiliary fans to cool the engine and engine compartment, you have to run the engine at high idle to cool it down before shutting it down.
One unit recently had costly damage to an M88A2 engine after the vehicle towed a tank back from the field. The crew shut down the engine without running it at high idle first. That caused the turbo’s bearings to seize up. Don’t let that happen to you! A new engine costs $329,000 while the turbos cost between $3,000 and $4,300 each.
Just like it says in the TM, idle the engine at 1,000-1,200 RPM for three to five minutes before shutting it down. Check out WP 0017-1 of TM 9-2350-292-10 (Dec 18) for more info.