Diesel versus gas maintance

[rswyan]

mod mech diesel does not wash the walls down but gas does.

Huh ?

Crankcase dilution

Wet Stacking

if idling puts diesel into the oil, then why does the oil level in my diesels not go up?

So then ..... does the oil level go up in any gas vehicles/engines you own ?

i have seen bearing out in turbo's with oil cooked on them.

Certainly can, and does, happen.

Cummins recommends a minimum of, I think, 30 seconds of idling for turbo cool down prior to turning off the engine in my RAM ..... and much longer if the engine has been working hard ....

ups trucks must not have turbos or they would be idled down.

UPS's practice of shutting off vehicles may have more to do with the potential liabilities of having a running vehicle unattended, without a person in it. I know without a doubt that this is certainly the case, at least to some extent, for Fedex .....

I don't know if UPS trucks are NA or blown ..... but I'm sure that if there were any significant potential maintenance issues it would be factored into how they they are operating.

 

[crazyal]

Maybe I shouldn't wade into this but around here in the winter it's common for a truck to idle all night long in -40 temps because you will not start it in the morning if it can't be plugged in. How many truck stops do you drive by at night and see trucks idling all night long. Good, bad, I don't know.

What I do know is if it was me and I was looking for a truck that would tow equipment down the road a few miles so I would have to drive the equipment there then I would just go with gas.

 

[ModMech]

mod mech diesel does not wash the walls down but gas does.

Your opinion is based on what, because it's wrong.

i have seen bearing out in turbo's with oil cooked on them.

So have I, but it was not from not ideling enough!

ups trucks must not have turbos or they would be idled down.

Really, have you seen one?

if idling puts diesel into the oil,then why does the oil level in my diesels not go up?

You don't know? The engine burns more oil than the amount of added fuel, seems obvious.

the manuals on all my tractors says to idle the tractors down up to 5 minutes. do you think that i should listen to you over john deere ,cat ,caseih and mccormick?

The OP was asking about a PICKUP and I ahve been very clear that if the engine was just worked hard, you SHOULD allow some cool-down.

What I also said was in response to ideling while running into a store, waiting in a parking lot, going to the shop for a clip or pin, you should not idle the engine. Apparently people are confusing cool-down with needless ideling.

 

[PSDStu]

If you have/want to idle your 7.3 for any length of time you can purchase the factory AIC (Aux Idle Controller) pretty cheap on E-bay and it mounts/plugs into a factory plug under the dash.

This allows you to increase the engine rpm from idle to around 1500 Max I think, but cn also be set to lower rpm's.

I use the AIC in my 97, 7.3 when I need/want to have the engine running above idle for extended periods of time.

 

[davkir]

Not entirely relevant, but the new Freightliners automatically shut down if they idle without any movement for more then 5 minutes.

 

[ModMech]

Not entirely relevant, but the new Freightliners automatically shut down if they idle without any movement for more then 5 minutes.

That feature has been available for about 15 years, many dealers are now stocking units with this and even more fleets are demanding it. MB, Cummins, International and DD all offer this feature on every engine. The time can be set from as little as two minutes to hundreds of minutes before the shut down. There are even "tamper-proof" settings to out-wit even the most determined operators from fooling the system and preventing a shut-down.

As fuel gets more costly and it will, expect almost every truck to behave this way.

 

[newbury]

It is also involved with anti-pollution laws.

However my '09 VW JSW TDI only burns .1L PER HOUR when idling, so I'll idle it all night.

 

[sandman2234]

Maybe I shouldn't wade into this but around here in the winter it's common for a truck to idle all night long in -40 temps because you will not start it in the morning if it can't be plugged in. How many truck stops do you drive by at night and see trucks idling all night long. Good, bad, I don't know.

What I do know is if it was me and I was looking for a truck that would tow equipment down the road a few miles so I would have to drive the equipment there then I would just go with gas.

I don't do -40 but in 0 or above, you won't catch me idleing a truck. I don't sleep well in a truck that is running due to the vibrations, and would rather cover up more than run the heater. I started this practice in 1997 after parking a bobtail all night at a customers while they loaded the trailer. Seems our shop had left the oil fill cap off in Tifton, Ga and I ran it all the way to Ohio pumping oil and then idle'd it all night. I woke up, put the truck in gear, and started to go p/u my loaded trailer. I glanced in the rearview mirror and immediately hit the kill switch, as there was a puddle of oil a little bigger than the size of the truck. (showed up on that sheet of ice I was sitting on)Put 3 gallons in it and it didn't bring it up to the dipstick. The oil level shutdown failed to operate, and it is a miracle that I didn't burn that truck up. So my rule became, not in it, shut it down if at all possible. I sleep better without it running, but there are drivers who swear they can't sleep without the truck running, so I guess it is all in what you're used to.
However, interesting as idling discussions are, they have limited bearing on what is required as a maintance criteria.
David from jax

I know this isn't a truck buying forum, but the wife is rapidly tiring of waiting on me to buy a truck, simply because I have saved the cash for it, and she needs my Chevy p/u as a trade in for her well deserved new car that she has been promised. So today she drags me to a local dealer to look at a 97 F-350 SRW 4x4 4 door auto. Truck was ok, but I asked for the GVW and GCVWR on it, and realized that it didn't have nearly enough to do the required job of hauling my tractors, so after spending an afternoon looking at trucks and a couple of cars (for her) we came home empty handed, but armed with more information about both. So I am back to waiting on the original truck that a friend has, and has replaced, but hasn't put it out to pasture (for me to buy).Buying a truck with a known history is starting to look even better, the more I look for a truck.

 

[Soundguy]

i find it hard to sleep in a running truck too though I'm not a truck driver.

I sometimes make a ulti-state 'red-eye' trip perhaps 1-2 every 1-2 years, genwerally take a buddy driver with me... we do 5-6hr shifts swapping drivers when we stop for fuel or a sandwich.. eat a lil then swap drivers and try to grab a few winks.. usually I can manage 2-3 hrs max out of that 6hr downtime..

soundguy

 

[sandman2234]

i find it hard to sleep in a running truck too though I'm not a truck driver.

I sometimes make a ulti-state 'red-eye' trip perhaps 1-2 every 1-2 years, genwerally take a buddy driver with me... we do 5-6hr shifts swapping drivers when we stop for fuel or a sandwich.. eat a lil then swap drivers and try to grab a few winks.. usually I can manage 2-3 hrs max out of that 6hr downtime..

soundguy

I understand that! I went back into trucking after a couple years off, and started out teaching at a school, then the school moved to Orlando, so I went while I finished my Instructor's license. After that, I figured if I was going to be gone all week, I might as well make the money real truckers make, so i started training the students out of the school in order to finalize their training. Dispatcher's figure if there are two people assigned to a truck, they must be able to run 24/7 and it is a MAJOR challenge to be able to sleep the first couple of weeks while you break in a new student. Try sleeping with a stranger driving that you know can't handle the rig your driving!!! Makes power naps an art!
I understand about hitting the road for a quick trip to retrieve an item or a vehicle. Worse one I had was a firearm purchase that the seller was supposed to bring to Florida and at the last minute told me he was leaving for California and I had 24 hours to figure out what to do about it, and that he didn't have time to ship it. Since he had 4k of my money, the only thing left to do was fuel up the wife's Blazer and hit the road with my co-driver. We were back from DC before the 24 hours was up that he gave me to pick it up.6 on 6 off but should really do 5 because the 5 in the early morning gets LONG. My wife says men handle traveling fine, it is renting a motel room that they don't understand, lol!!
David from jax