Help! Will idling for hours at a time damage my DTC
 

Hello...Just bought 07 5.9 and was wondering what problems if any idling for long periods (4 or 5 hours) will cause? Are there any mods I should make or temps I should be watching (besides the obvious)? Been a Found On Road Dead man for the last 12 years and [duhhh] my Fords left me dead 3 times. Going back to Dodge and hoping for the best. Thanks for the help in advance.

WELCOME TO DTR.

idling for extended periods will damage the engine. it will carbon up the piston crowns, ring lands, and valve faces. it will cause fuel wash and dilution of the oil.
you need to have the high idle enabled. that will allow you to use the cruise control(when parked) to adjust idle rpm from 750-1500 rpm, and then no worries.

I wouldn't idle that long. Check the Cummins site and it'll explain why. But if you need to sit that long running, the dealer can enable the high idle feature which is controlled with the cruise controls.

Opps, I got beat.............

Don't forget to put the trans in N so that fluid will flow to the TC if you want to idle for several hours, if not you will burn it up in no time.

Thanks for the fast reply...is enabling the fast idle something most dealers are familar with? Is idle then always "fast" or do you enable it only when needed?

you enable it only when wanted.
most dealers cant properly find the valve stems to add air to the tires, you will just have to try your luck.

And being an 07 it will require the dealer to use the Star Scan tool to enable it. Once enabled you turn on your curise control (auto tranny only without other mods for the standard tranny) then push the set button which will take you to about 1000RPM, each push of the + button increases idle by about 100 RPM to top of about 1500rpm, each - takes off 100rpm to the base 1000 rpm. As above though be sure to put tranny in neutral, not park for long idle times to prevent damage to front pump and brgs.

I do have 6 speed, not sure what you ment by other mods. I will follow up with the dealer. By the way this site is great and I have spent hours reviewing past threads to catch up on my DTC knowlegde. Thanks

you will have to get a ecm connector from cummins and jump pin 22 on the ecm. here's a link to the procedure and discussion. i hope the '07 is the same as the other 3rd gens.https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...=high+idle+mod

What is DTC? Do you mean CTD?

yeah i am sure he meant cummins turbo diesel instead of diagnostic trouble code. :)

Take it easy Pauly!!!! He's new. [laugh]

I remember the first time I posted asking about gas and about everyone jumped on me.

Do they charge to do this? What about a shorter time like 15-20 minutes. Will it still damage anything?

Thanks.

once i did my high idle, i never idle at stock rpm anymore. except for stoplights of course. warming up, traffic jams, waiting for the border nazi's, etc. if its going to be longer than a minute or 2, up to 1100 it goes. but i am just being overly anal.

Hey, I'm just making sure I'm not missing something! [laugh]

IIRC Dodge/Cummins recommends no more than 20% idle time vs driving.