wexman

Ridiculous! So some people are penalized because they sit in more traffic!!! This sounds blatantly illegal.

If this advice was put out by service writers on your average minivan, you're read about some sort of class action suit.

This kind of stuff burns me up.

realsquash

I agree that's no good when they don't give anyone a real value, but 29% idling is too much. Idling isn't good for any engines, gas or diesel.

I drive an hour to work. So that would be 40 miles one way. Average speed is easy here, 40mph. If you add another 29% to that time (assuming I only idle when the truck isn't moving, which isn't 100% correct) you get 77 minutes of operating time. Of those 77 minutes 17 are idling.

So if you put on 23,500 in one year:

- You drive an average of 64 miles a day
- If you average 64mph (hard to achieve) that means you were on the road for 60 minutes and idled 17 minutes each day
- If you average 40mph that means you were on the road for an hour and a half and idled for 28 minutes each day

I don't know why my point is, but 29% idling is an aweful lot of idling in my mind. I don't know if it has any effect on the injectors but idling isn't good for any engine.

Andy

AaronT

I DO NOT believe the stats from the ECM on idle time. I know for a fact on mine when they told that out of 109 hours it idled 24 hours that was BS. I do not let the truck idle except for 2 or 3 minutes in the morning.

The idle time has to include time when accelerator is at 0 position (could be plus or minus 5 %, who knows), which is idling when slowing to stop or going down hills. To achieve the mileage I have would have required an average speed of 43 mph. Not possible. Of course it is possible it ran for 15 hours at the factory and dealer before I picked it up.

kingofdodge7131

Yeah its kind of sad. Myself. Being a diesel mech. Im not even 100% sure if mine has a knock or not. Im new to the whole game of wrech turning but all of the knocks and what not ive heard are distint. youd have to be deaf not to tell there is a knock. But my truck. at times i think there might be but its to insignificant to tell.

Are you hearing these knocks at Idle? runnin at hwy speed?


Or maybe you could discribe the sound. Because i really dont knw what this engine should sound like.

grandblanc

I notice the knock when at idle and after the engine has warmed up. Running you can't hear it because of all the other noise (road noise, wind, engine at 2200RPM). As for the whole how long is too long for an engine to idle. 15 minutes a day isn't over board. Look at how long the "big" rigs idle for and they don't have the knock mine does.

rossn2

The knock will be when warm, at idle and up to 1500 rpms. It sounds like a rod is coming thru the block!

RamWheelsBy4

When I had TSB 18-037-04 at about 7500 miles, the dealer tech said I showed 97 hours idle time. They said that was part of my milage problem, that I let the engine idle too much.

They did not know what specifications define the IDLE TIME. I believe that it is any time that the engine is running and there is not an accelerator signal. When you are stopped at light and have foot on break, foot off of pedal when costing on highway, any time the engine signals and computer drop to idle rpms. This of course would include the 5 minutes a day that I have the trans in Nuetral and the engine running for cool down.

After 7500 miles I developed a rough idle, about 8000 miles idle got rougher and low end knock was evident, at 11000 started white smoke and misfires on cold start up, now at cold start will spit/sputter, white smoke for 5 minutes and clatter and knock worse until completely warmed up.

Will go to dealer next week to see what they diagnose the bad injectors as.

rossn2

The idle time from the DRB is 0-1000rpms.
So, 29.% of the time, the engine has been between 0-1000rpms.

When my 315's where out, gonna drop down to a 285 sized tire to help keep the rpms up higher....

tdupuis

Keeping the revs too low (i.e. lugging) IS bad for the engine, no question about that. Personally, I try to keep the revs between about 1500 and 2000. When driving around town I usually shift at about 2000 rpms, and then I downshift through the gears as I'm coasting, and I never punch it with the revs below 1600 or so. I only let the thing idle for a few minutes at most when I start up in the morning and when I get to where I'm going. Also when I'm on long highway trips (especially with a trailer) filling up on diesel I tend to just leave it running. I have a feeling that the computer's definition of idle is much different from our definition of idling. I find it absurd that STAR expects us to change our driving habits to suit their needs. It would be one thing if the computer showed that you started up your truck on a -10 degree morning and then FLOORED IT down the block shifting at redline, but idling? C'mon. If this engine can't handle that, something is wrong on THEIR end, not ours. I smell a class action lawsuit arising before too long if they don't do something, and it will have to include every truck with the common-rail injection.

All that said, I've said before and I do believe taht the difference between those who have injector problems and those who don't seems to be how hard the trucks get worked. Those who use their trucks for commuting and don't go on many long highway trips and don't do a huge sum of towing appear to be the ones more suseptible to injector problems. Today I met a man at a fuel station with an '04 Duramax with 80k on it, over 50% towing. Now it's not the same truck, but we both have Bosch injectors and the DMaxes have been having injector problems as well. He hadn't had a single problem with his and agreed with my assessment. More you work the truck, less likely you are to injector problems. Makes perfect sense logically and scientifically if you think about it. It also is inexcusable, and DC/Cummins needs to do something about it.

My truck has 9300 miles on it now. It runs quieter and smoother than ever as time passes. I noticed it running much smoother and a significant mileage boost (about 1.5 mpg at 70 mph empty cruise) after I did 5700 miles (mostly towing, almost all highway) in 2 weeks. However, when I start it up cold I hear a ticking noise and it's the #1 injector (I can feel a pulse in the line). The ticking goes away within a minute or two, and never comes back.

Hounddog

Just a comment.This all sounds like what went on in the mid 70s when port injection started in gas cars.I worked in a Datsun/Nissan dealer and the EFI systems/injectors would crud up in a flash.Sometimes NEW ones in a matter of weeks or a month would be back popping threw the intake and rough starts etc.Replace injectors would be great and the same thing over and over.Finaly a machine came out to clean them and it worked wonders.Shortly there after the problem went away.It was all FUEL releated! Datsun/Nissan was also a hard *** when it came to warranty replacments.The 1981/82 turbo cars were THE worst.Sometime in 83 the problem just went away.Egr(Ford site) and electronic diesel injection and comments about such sound almost dije vu.Growing/enginering pains.

wexman

That describes me. Luckily, so far (knock wood) my engine runs smooth as silk.

kingofdodge7131

Im happy as well that mines running good haha. I think it was more of a just well darn, I might have one. I bought the 600 and was like yeah they are possible mileage issues but out of all of them how many report bad mileage. Usually the ones that find the forms are either people wanting to learn about a product or those with problems with there product. my 99 24v has 147k with the origional lift pump and injector pump knock on wood


But i had bad mileage


But that hits around 19 if i keep her between 55-60 now so its aight. but then everyones like opps bad injectors and i was like ah no was that what i hear? But its not!

Mixer Man

Man , this idle thing has everybody way too paranoid !! I'm not meaning to thrash anybody but I have driven Cummins powered concrete trucks for almost 10 yrs now and those things spend majority of their lives idling with NO PROBLEMS . Now if I lived in Canada where the temps get below 0 frequently I would be a little more concerned about the cylinder temps dropping so low to allow unburned fuel to wash cylinder walls but other than that I idle mine alot . We leave trucks idling for hours with no probs at work and I have no fear of idling mine either . To each their own ya know , but I drive a brand new Cummins ISM 315 hp / 1500 tq and it idles more than it is run over 750 rpm . By the way our redlines on the heavy - duty Cummins are 2150 and we don't take them below 1600 rpm . Just my 2 cents but Star is just getting everyone worked up due to taking the easy way out !!

J BODY

.....there is nothing wrong with your #1. Every common rail truck has this "pulse" on the #1 line. It doesn't affect the running of the truck at all.

tdupuis

Thanks JBody. I wasn't saying I was actually worried about it, I was just making the comment. My truck isn't knocking, it runs great, I'm happy.