For those of you who have those inevitable short trips (for me, dropping kids at daycare/school in the morning), is it worse to let it idle for 5 minutes while you run in or shut it down relatively cold (oil temps at ~130*) and then start her back up to continue on with the drive to work or wherever?

thanks in advance!

 

im interested in the responses to this tread . my truck does get used like a truck the other 75% of the time

 

Not sure if you are in urban area but if you can leave it run without worry of getting stolen then just leave it run. I would if I owned one but I bought a gasser. So either way diesel or not I would just let it run. I think starting and stopping isn't great for any engine you're only talking a few minutes anyways.

 

I don't. I lock the door with the keypad and leave it running. I try not to idle for more then 15 min
But I also drive a semi that runs sometimes 2 weeks 24/7(turn it of to check oil for 5 min when I fuel)

 

If your dropping off I would let it run, if your stopping walking kids into school, and it's more than 15 minutes, depends on how cold it is. Atleast these trucks don't stink it up so bad, with my 6.0 they wanted me to shut off even though kids were just getting out. At our temps, I would leave it run, before I carry on to work.

 

I guess the real question here is whether your truck every gets up to Operating Temps. If you drives are so short that it never reaches normal operating temps before you shut down. Then idling may be beneficial

I do a lot of short trip. Leave house, stop by first job site, run over to lumber yard, run over to plumbing supply, back to jobsite, up to city office, over to bank. I'm chasing all day and I shut down at each place and never worry about it. I've not had any problems with the 6.7L trucks, Went thru a lot of Glowplugs on the 7.3 L and 6.0L trucks. I don't keep trucks over about 150,000 miles, So there might be other long term problems from the frequent start/stops. But I'm not seeing problems on my trucks

I see UPS drivers start stop their diesels all day long, Almost every stop they shut off the engine. But I'm sure they are up to operating temps and never cool off.

 

EGR Cooler Coking up and throwing a code. Requires either a new cooler or for it to be cleaned. Emergency Aid trucks and Ambulances have this problem. I had this issue on my 2011 and also on my 2015 DRW. This last time the fuel pump was failing and the truck started to overfuel and screwed up my Cooler and my Particular Filter. 2 weeks in the shop with out my truck. 1450 hrs run time and 125 hrs idle. This fall after I brought my boat home from the coast. I did not drive the truck much just a lot of short in the yard moving the boat and other trailers around the yard.

 

Leave it running.

 

Me being a first time diesel owner with the same problem short drives. I usally let it idle for about 15 mins or when the oil temps gets to 100* that's when I start to drive it. I don't know if that helps but I would think. And I try and leave the house a little early and take a detour before I head into work. Plus it help recharge the batteries

 

A lot of the replies here suggest leaving it to idle. Being a diesel noob, what are the consequences if you never idle and always just shut it off every time (even when cool)? Does it hurt the motor, and if so, how? Several years down the road, what difference would there be in a truck that was regularly left to idle vs a truck that was always shut down?

Thanks.

 

thanks for the replies so far. On my first trip of the morning to drop the kids, I only get up to about 130* and have been letting it idle while I run in (5 minutes or so). The next leg of my journey is on the highway and always get up to temps

Sounds like most guys shut down if up to operating temps and let her idle if it will only be a few minutes and the engine is still cold.

 

UPS/FEDEX shut off at every single stop and run WOT, they seem to get along just fine.

Myself I am way to ****.

 

Overthinking it I think. I doubt you'll see any impact on the engine one way or another.

 

Repeated cold dry starts. It's where you get the most engine wear. My work truck drives for half the day, idles for the other half. I make about 3-4 stops per day. And it's gasoline. If there is no point to shut down, don't shut down.

UPS/FedX is a bad example. They go through their fair share of engines.

 

If that was me, I would let it idle. If you have a push button start, use ForScan and enable Secure Idle. That way when you lock the truck from the outside, fob in your pocket, no one can shift the truck from Park if they break in to steal it. I'd also disable to horn honk on exit / lock with engine running.