Extended Idling?

[30-30]

Just how long can you/should you let a pickup motor idle? Twenty minutes? An hour? Four hours? I know traditional wisdom says diesels can safely idle longer than gas motors, but what about newer diesels with all the emissions equipment? How long should gassers be left to idle?

I have never liked the idea of letting a truck idle more than twenty minutes or so; gas or diesel. But I also see trucks on construction sites daily that essentially run all day whether or not they’re being used...

What exactly happens when a motor is left to idle too long? Overheating? Lack of coolant/oil circulation? Battery discharge?

[Gclyde28]

Ive slept in my Sierra 1500 a couple different nights down at the beach with the truck idling and it hasnt missed a beat. Prob 6+ hours each time when I do that.

[TX03RUBI]

I’ve had plenty of trucks that had 200k drive time and double that idle time. Sometimes they idled upwards of 24 hrs straight. Gas 3/4 ton trucks

[bowfishin fool]

I’ve put thousands of idle hours on trucks in the oilfield. Certain engines tend to have more problems than others. For example

5.7L hemis don’t have sufficient oil pressure at extended idle to property brocade the camshaft and tend to develop issues faster than most.

My 6.7l Ford diesels run great at idle even with the emissions intact however they run high RPMs and smoke every few hours to clean the DPF.

I have seen many of Cummins shutdown on location due to clogged DPF before they came out with the high idle settings through the cruise control.


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[xman59]

worked a security job watching a church parking lot a couple of nights a week for 6 years,, idled 3-4 hours every night in my gas trucks with zero issues

[hog_down]

Google 'wet stacking' and read til your heart is content.

[TXBRASS]

Have sat in multiple gas vehicles (Crown Vics, Chevy 2500's, Ford Expeditions) working road closures for 10-12 hours at a time idling. No known issues.

[bossbowman]

On the new F150 diesel the owners manual says to avoid extended idling. Always thought the reason diesel guys did this with company trucks because as long as the engine is running they stayed on the clock.

[Flex]

Just in to get educated. Always been curious about sleeping in my truck with it running.

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[Powertool1994]

I manage a fleet of around 120 diesel vehicles and most have excessive idle time. Any of them 2008 and older have almost zero issues idling for hours even with several hundred thousand miles but the newer ones all Cummins clog DPF filters all the time. Emissions have destroyed a great engine design. That why we keep those older ones as long as possible.


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[floyd80]

My ford diesel crew truck idles for 12 hours every day on location. The 2018 i have now regens every 3 hours. My old 2013 jist seemed to do it at random times. Never had problems from mine, bit some guys had fuel systems fail from idling so much. Thats a 9000 dollar fix.

[Drycreek3189]

I’ve had plenty of trucks that had 200k drive time and double that idle time. Sometimes they idled upwards of 24 hrs straight. Gas 3/4 ton trucks

When I was working, my trucks ran from 6:00 am until I got home. Fully half of that was probably idling. I never noticed any adverse effects, but I drove Fords.

[Texas Stalker]

7.3....idle long as you want.


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[El Paisano]

Most of the newer electronic diesels do not do well when idled a lot. They build up soot in the DPF and idling doesn't create enough heat to regen (or burn it off).
Engines of any age will tend to slobber oil if they are idled excessively. The reason is that they don't get hot enough for the pistons and rings to expand to seal off the cylinder walls.

[scott.str]

Why arnt the fleet guys deleting the Cummings. Wouldn't it fixed the issues?