You would be surprised how little fuel you burn idling. I use my diesel pickup as a mobile office of sorts and about ten days a month it gets ran from about 5 am until 4 pm without being shut off. About two of the hours are driving and the other 9 are idling. I did this with my last diesel also and never saw any ill effects. A whole day of idling barely moves the fuel gauge.
Proper Idle Time???
- Thread starter KevT
- Start date
avc8130
Platinum Member
If you think it's about the fuel you are missing the point. Modern diesels aren't like the diesels of old. Pretty much gone are the days you'd idle because you are scared they wouldn't restart. Nowadays, if you idle you create more problems due to all of the emissions equipment.
A lot of areas have laws about idling vehicles. Heck, quite a few cars shut off automatically at stop lights.
It's up to the owner to choose what is right for their equipment. I just hope they owners realize 2015 equipment isn't the same as their dad ran in 1970 and some of that old school procedure isn't necessary and might even cause more harm than good.
ac
My truck that I idle 60+ hours a week is a 2015. I don't do it because I am worried about restarts I do it because I more or less have to as I work from the truck and need power for computers and equipment and heating/cooling not just for me but for the equipment to run properly.
I am not saying idling is good for these vehicles but I don't think it is a bad as people think and there is no need to be paranoid and shut them off if you are going to be away a minute or two.
I know of some guys that work up north in the oilfields and they work two weeks on two weeks off. During their time on they will leave their trucks running two weeks at a time 24/7.
I am not saying idling is good for these vehicles but I don't think it is a bad as people think and there is no need to be paranoid and shut them off if you are going to be away a minute or two.
I know of some guys that work up north in the oilfields and they work two weeks on two weeks off. During their time on they will leave their trucks running two weeks at a time 24/7.
truckdiagnostics
Platinum Member
There is actually some truth to that. The newer engines that have a variable turbo can keep the boost up going a crossed the after cooler, and have other controls on the intake air temp. it is the engines that have an after cooler and do not have the intake air temp controlled that extended idling is an issue, and that will only be when it is cold. basically they are not running fast enough to make enough heat for combustion. In those cases you bring the engine up to high idle which is typically a 1,000 rpms. Idling on the emergency and the DPF issues is not so much the idling as it is they don't or they are not allowing them to come off an idle long enough to do a regen. I have seen fire truck go into regen parked on city street and melt the asphalt. Now you can program the ability to do a parked regen out, however they don't typically stay moving long enough so they can do the regen. Ability to do a park regen is not the default. What most places are doing is they just force a regen when the truck comes in for a service. With that said if you leave your tractor in the field idling it is not just going to go into a regen. You must be moving or working the tractor and that is not because you have to be moving the tractor to do the regen it is because if you are parked and it goes into a regen you can catch the field on fire. Also when it is moving that means someone is in the tractor and can monitor the regen. I don't know how smart the programming is on the new tractors. On a truck you can program in an idle timer so the truck will shut off after a particular period of time. One would think they could do the same on a tractor. The ECU should know when it is really idling and not in say PTO at an idle as it should sense the load on the PTO and not consider that idling.
On the fords for example the dealer can turn on the option for the operator to do a parked regen. Once that option is turned on there is a certain sequence of buttons that have to be pressed then you can force a regen with out the OEM software. I hope that clears somethings up. Best recommendation I can make is read your operators manual. This ain't Kansas anymore.