what is the purpose of idling up your truck. i saw an option for this on my downloader?

 

There are couple reasons it would be beneficial...1.) it helps with the warm up of your engine on really cold days 2.) idling for long periods of time isn't good for these engines, so it is recommended that if you are in an environment where you idle alot (such as traffic) it is a good idea to put your truck in neutral and idle it up to about 1000rpms while you sit...

 

i did not know that, this is my first diesle truck and i love it!! I traded a Nissan Titan for it, best dicision i have ever made. love that 5.9 liter!!! i do idle a lot, i guess it would be a good idea to idle the truck up with this option. sometimes i idle for extended periods of times up to like 10 minutes. I thought it was good for diesles to idle, i have always heard it's better to let a diesle idle than to turn it off and on.

 

I do it in the summer when I leave my wife and kids in the truck and the ac on. It keeps them and the truck cooler. Helps a lot in the winter, too.

 

diesel's like to high idle so they don't get cylinder wash down....

 

certainly not a dumb question. In fact it's an issue that has spent a LOT of time on these boards. It is a very good way to warm up your truck because diesels will not get up to full operating temp with a slow idle. It's kind of an old myth that it's better to leave a diesel run than to shut it down. It's no harder on a diesel to shut it down than any other engine (but if the diesel is turbo-charged you should let the turbo cool down a bit before shutting it down). But it IS harder on a diesel to slow idle it for an extended period because the combustion chamber doesn't get hot enough.

The OTR guys only leave their trucks running to keep the AC or heat running and to supply power to the cab when they are sleeping/reading in there. (the OTR engines are designed to do so). It is becoming more and more common to have an smaller generator run and power up the sleeper at night, to save money on fuel. There are also becomming more and more truck stops that have a system that mounts to the trucks window that supplies the truck with air and electric along with T.V. and internet without running the truck at all.

Of course all of this is a moot point when you are talking about extremely low temperatures in the far north.

 

thanks for the good advice guys!!!!

 

When I get off the interstate to fuel up after driving @ 75 or so, I usually drop to neutral and coast to the stop sign then take it easy until I get to the pump. I timed it yesterday (1 min) to see how long I gave the turbo to cool. Would this be enough?

 

umm...no.

 

Cooling off the turbo depends on how hot your EGT's are... In the Dodge service manual, it tells you how long you should idle your truck before shutting it off. I usually wait for lower than 350* to shut mine off. Minimum of a minute if I've been driving faster than 45 on open roads, even if the EGT's are down.