Extended idling on Dodge vs. Big Rigs

[Steve St.Laurent]

Actually, there is a lot of talk in the truck industry about reducing idleing times of engines because of fuel burn AND engine wear. Check out some of the links here: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=diesel+idle+engine+damage&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt . There are a lot of companies now making diesel powered auxilary power units to go on trucks that run at shutdown to keep the cab cool/warm and to keep the engine warm.

 

[David Oxland]

Sorry HH

Didn't mean to annoy

I can think then of two reasons off the top for them long haul guys doing it;



-It's the old way and fitting in with the crowd feels right.

-Some of them do keep warm and the steady noise makes for better sleeping and keeping warm



But to say that it's not harmful the the machine is not right even for the big ones.



I work on a ship with auxiliary generators of about 500 HP and when some of the guys bring on a new machine they like to idle it for up to an hour before putting it on load; It it's an old and damaging habit but hard to break. It's a persisting engineering myth. Our main propulsion engines 4000HP ea have strict instructions from the manufacturers that 20 percent load is to be applied as quickly as possible after start up and increased to 80 percent with in twenty minutes

 

[illflem]

Extended idling is even illegal in several states.

Check it out http://www.trucks.doe.gov/plain-talk/idling-regs.html

 

[Truckie]

There is a saying out here in the truck world that " IDLE TIME IS TIME IN THE DEVILS WORK SHOP" Cummins did a report on this a while ago and if you stop of at a big truck dealer you may be able to find this article.

If I can find the article I will post it here for everyone to read I just have to find if I can.

MIKE

 

[ROADWARRIOR]

Hohn,



I talked to a Cummins tech a few years back and if I remember right, he said the ISB uses 1/2 gallon per hour idling.



Dan

 

[hammersley]

I would like to see if this is true -

but I heard that on a typical diesel, it takes more fuel to stop and start it than to let it idle for 10 minutes.

 

[Lurch]

A 14 liter engine at idle is no better off than a 5. 9 liter engine. Many of the same issues. The 1-1. 5 gal/hr at idle is minimal compare to the 10+ gal/hr they use running down the road. Most drivers will tell you their mileage suffers from the excessive idleing as well. Even after accounting for the fuel burned at idle, the mileage on the road is somewhat worse after idleing excessively. The biggest reason for them idleing is, after all, they LIVE in that truck. How many of you would give up your heat/ac every night, trying to get some sleep? Most can't justify the upfront expense + maintenance cost of a genset, and while the electrification of truck stops is slowly gaining popularity. Take a look around at the number of parked trucks compared to the number of wired spaces, just doesn't make it. As more and more states/cities pass anti-idle laws, the problem becomes bigger.



my . 02

Lurch