Idleing

I suppose I can understand a company driver idling all the time, even though it is extremely irritating.

But what gets me is that I've had owner/ops tell me that the reason they idle 24/7 is so that they can run a fridge. After I explain the numbers, some see the light and some tell me where to put it, lol.

Think about it. Let's use high idle as an example. At 1.5 gal/hr, assuming you are driving 11 hrs/day, then you are idling 13 hours a day for 6 days a week, then you are idling during your 34 hr reset. That's 112 idle hrs/week at 3.40/gal equals $380/wk. If you are saving $380/week on groceries...if you can even EAT $380/week, you, sir, are a pig. You could eat prime rib steak 3 times a day and not hit $380/week, lol. So there's no way on God's green earth that saving money on groceries can even remotely justify idling 24/7.

This isn't even taking into account the MAJOR wear on the engine and accessories. Any engine shop worth their salt will tell you that idling is the number one killer of engine life.

But even in the face of hard facts, there are still owner/ops out there that insist on idling 24/7...unbelievable. Let's just conservatively cut the number from $380 to $300, and say you work 50 weeks a year. That's easily $15,000.00 that the 24/7 idler spends every year in fuel alone because of his bad habit. That's alot of groceries. Not to mention the reduced resale value because of high idle time recorded in the ECM and the lower life expectancy of the engine.

 

I don't know where all of these 1 gallon per hour figures have come from (probably high idle) but in my '04 Columbia with a 14L Detroit, will burn between .4 and .5 gallons per hour. I have tested this on more than one occasion and have proved it to myself time and time again.

 

You probably should check about idling at a slower rpm. There could be problems with this such as rings etc. I didn't even let my ford or dodge idle at the lower rpms.

 

As long as you have oil pressure, there should be no problem. Besides, I got my truck with 459,xxx miles on it...who am I to know what kinda idling it did in its previous life, PRE-GAZOO.

 

I never ran my detroit up on high idle back in 2000.

I noticed one night after running my ford on idle for a couple of hours, then put a load on it, it was shooting out blue smoke. 6 months later, the engine went. After replacing the engine and reading up about it, idling was always at the higher rpm.

The Dodge has much literature on the cummins engine and prolonged idle at the lower rpm.