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Idle or not?

7K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  twood71 
#1 ·
So, I'm used to not shutting a diesel motor down if I can help it, but I've heard that letting these new 6.7s idle is not a good idea?

So what is best? Let it idle during short (<15 minute) stops or shut it down and restart?

Interestingly, my friend who drives a UPS delivery van says he averages over 100 shut down/restarts every day! They are not allowed to let them idle.
 
#4 ·
Its always a fine line, most of the wear on a diesel happens on startup. The problem arises in cold climates where shutting down can be detrimental when cold to both the truck and the person sitting in the cab. And by cold I mean below -10*...

The real issue behind idling modern trucks falls in the dpf and egr systems. They tend to clog and make life expensive for the owner or whoever is covering the warranty work.

High idle times tend to also cause buildup on the valves, cylinder wash when cold, and oil dilution. A lot of this can be mitigated by high idle options. 6.0s, 6.4s, and 6.7s automatically go into high idle after a certain amount of time. And the high idle rpm will change with temp. You can wire in a high idle switch and set this automatically yourself if you know you will be idling a lot. Still not ideal if you have a dpf and egr system still, but better than nothing.

The other issue is emissions. This is actually the reason most trucking companies limit idle times at night when the drivers are sleeping. Its also the reason UPS and FedEx drivers are required to shut down at their stops.



There is no straight yes or no here... Personally (and I am deleted) I idle when I go into the gas station for coffee as long as I know its going to be less than 5 min. If its over 5 min I always shut down unless below 0. But anything over 5-10 min is excessive idle time to me.
 
#6 ·
It all depends on your situation... But don't be that guy that is idling while you fuel up when its 40 or 50* outside......... It isn't like our trucks have trouble starting. If its above freezing there is literally no reason to idle unless you are deleted and running a hot tune and live a block from the freeway... Even stock its good to get some heat in before you stand on it getting on the freeway. But even still, plug her in and you should have no problems. When driving cold just use common sense and let her get some heat before you try passing people on the freeway.
 
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#8 ·
I've used my remote start every morning since buying the truck, but I fire it up right before pouring my coffee, putting on my jacket, and finding my wallet to leave for work, so it's idling at most 5 minutes before I drive away. With just 5 minutes of idle time, there's already a decent amount of heat in the cabin and the windows are starting to clear. This may change once the temp drops below 30, but right now 5 minutes seems like the perfect amount of time.

I don't think the remote start hurts the truck, as you're not idling it that long. There's also a menu that allows you to set how long it will run. If I remember correctly, the default is 10 minutes.
 
#9 ·
I run it, drive it, and idle it, Like I'm suppose to do.
 
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