How long does a truck have to idle?

1,000 to 1,500 pounds?????

MAYBE 300 to 500 pounds at the MOST!

Those drivers are worthless ########!

I've read lots of posts right here on this site by morons that say "I don't ever shut my truck off for any reason!"
Those "drivers" are the reason for all the anti idle legislation and rules that municipalities and trucking companies are putting on them.

I never had an air starter...CF had a bunch of them and every now and then you'd hear some other outfit with them but they were pretty rare.

They should have been ticketed for stupidity!

But unfortunately, Stupidity is not illegal.

 

This was about the best advice I saw in this entire thread before people started debating APU's.

In the older days, when turbo's were not advanced in design as they are now, it was recommend to idle for around 3 minutes to let the circulating oil cool down the bearings that were between 1000-1200 degrees.

Coolant temperature can take fluctuation very well. Hoses are rated for quite a bit higher than operating temperature. After all, when you are working the truck really hard, coolant temp can rise quite a bit. The main thing that needs cooled, especially after a hard pull, is the pistons and turbo. This is accomplished by motor oil; the pistons are cooled by spray nozzles that aim up at their underside.

APU or not, the minute the engine shuts off and oil pressure stops, all the circulating water in the world isn't going to do those 1100 degree pistons much good.

A little common sense goes a long way. If you know you are going to shut the engine down, run it easy for a few minutes, and a one minute idle to shutdown is fine.

If you just climbed a 6 mile grade pulling 105,000 lbs. and want to sleep at the top of the hill, give her 3-5 minutes. Your oil temperature gauge (if you have one) is your best friend to let you know when she's ready for a nap.

 

Thanks for the good post,I have always let it idle for 3 minutes.It's trucking 101.

 

I am a Canadian trucker in the Yukon. Winters I have seen as low as -50C it gets very cold and stays that way for weeks. Running down the road I have a winter front on and alot of times a belly tarp under the truck from the front to just behind the transmission to keep the engine and transmission oil temps up. if it wasnt there I would even see the temp gauges move up from the bottom of it. While driving I have the cab heater going as well as the under seat heater on the passenger side on full and even the bunk heater if needed.

While parked at night the truck idles at 1200-1400 rpm to keep everything warm and usually the bunk heater is enough coupled with keeping the sleeper isolated from the cab as well as a -40 sleeping bag to sleep in.

I have never seen an apu up here on any local truck. I wouldn't trust one anyways. Plus I run an 8 axle lowbed alot or super b and they arent air tight so if I shut the truck off there is no guaranteeing I could build air the next morning cause who knows maybe the governor froze or the air dryer or some little line somewhere then I am fighting a truck that can't build air at -40 which is not fun. If the truck doesn't shut down then the likely hood of that happening becomes less.

Here is another shocker. I have 800,000 kms on the truck and have racked up just about 20,000hrs on the engine work that out I idle alot because its needed. Granted in the summer the engine never idles overnight or when not needed I don't have air conditioning and can sleep without the truck running as cold as -5C.


So I don't have a problem idling when needed and wouldn't trust an apu as far as I could throw it unless I saw one at work for at least a week at -40. As far as heat in the summer it sucks to sleep when its 80 degrees outside and the sun is beating down on the truck practically all night because we almost get 24hrs of sunlight up here in the summer so I would have the truck running and the air con on if I needed to sleep comfortably if I had it.

 

That's the advice I was given in school, along with if you pull one heck of a hill and turn her off, don't expect a turbo when you start up. My truck shuts off after 3-4 minutes without my intervention, so I'll usually stop the truck, set the brake, and let her shut herself off. It's usually enough time to catch my log up, grab a coat and other necessary items before I exit the truck for whatever.

 

I've got a neighbor that starts his truck at all hours of the morning and let's it idle for thirty to sixty minutes at a time while he takes his pickup to the coffee shop. It's impossible to sleep. Wakes us up everyday, is it really necessary?