Looking at a '17 F350.
50k miles, 1900 engine hours, 725 idle hours.

Seems kinda high to me. Also, with engine hours looks like lots of slow speed or in town driving.
Thoughts?

 

I would have to agree.

 

That's only 38% of total drive time. I was told 50% is high and to stay under that. But I have not seen a definite on this. I read that each idle hour is equivalent to about 25 driven miles. But I'd say higher than most.

 

I have not heard of the 50% guideline. I seem to recall suggestions of trying to stay under 20% but I could be wrong on that number

 

with that many hours, my concern would be DPF life.

 

20-23% is what I think I remember reading as a good target max idle. For gasoline, Ford Fleet said one hour is equal to 33 miles, I don't know if that is the same for the modern diesel but likely close enough.

I have 109,194 miles with 820 idle hours and I've idled my truck a decent amount over the past nine years.


And EGR cooler (which has a high chance if issues first).

 

For a diesel newbe, I had always heard leaving a diesel engine idling is "better" than shutting it off and starting it? For example, on Friday's I do my chores, I take my garbage to the recycling center, leave the truck idling when I put the recyclables into the bin, short drive to the garbage bin, leave it idling when I put the garbage into the bin, drive to the PO, leave it idling when I go in to drop my mail off, go to the bank, same, leave it idling. Is the general opinion that with modern diesel engines this is bad? It really doesn't matter to me one way (leave it idling) or the other (shut it off and restart) which I do, it's a question of what the general consensus is.

 

I was told by the dealer, (so take that how you want) that idling is bad for the emissions system, not the engine so much, but the newer diesels have been designed so that shutting them off doesn't hurt them like it did in the past.

Stopping and starting any engine gasoline or diesel is not good for it though.

 

Not running high speeds it horrible for egr and dpf . The dpf cleaning only goes on under certain conditions. When I bought I truck I deleted every single emissions item and I put in a cp4 disaster prevention kit . Truck will last for ever now and no more worries on idling or any emissions failures ever .

 

I'm no expert but I've always read that a lot of idle time is no good for the emissions system. We all know what happened to the 6.0 factory EGR coolers, especially in commercial applications such as ambulance service for example. The aftermarket came up with a better design that worked well. Not sure about the 6.4s design. The comments are that the 6.7s EGR cooler design is better but will still clog up with carbon with high idle time. I wish the aftermarket would design a tube style cooler like the 6.0 one. IMHO, that's why Ford came up with the new 7.3 gasser for reliability and use in the commercial market where trucks idle a long time due to various reasons.

I try not to let my truck idle long even in colder weather. I start it, let it run for a minute or two then back out and drive off slow. I get enough idle time at traffic lights in the city once I'm off the Expressway going to work.

 

idling is also 0.0 mpg btw.

 

Excessive idling causes cylinder wall washing...loss of honing marks...poor lube retention....

 

I leave mine running for all those kind of things also. When people talk about extended idling, they are referring to ambulances, service trucks, people who work out of their truck and leave them on all day, etc. A few minutes here and there isn't going to hurt anything and I'll be damned if I'm going to burn up my starter and batteries turning my truck on and off every time I need to let it idle for 5 minutes.

I cringe every time the UPS guy turns their truck off to step 2 feet out and set down a package. But UPS has a much bigger bank account than I do so they can ruin their trucks all they want

 

I've heard this as well. However as I understand it, it takes hours of idling before "wet stacking" occurs. If long idling is required it's recommended to use SEIC to bump the rpm's up high enough to prevent wet stacking (1100-1200rpm)

Idling also causes excessive soot which will clog the EGR and the DPF. The DPF will take care of itself if the truck gets enough hwy time to clean it properly. The EGR is another story, it will need more frequent cleaning or replacement on a vehicle that is idled excessively.

 

In reference to is it better to idle, not for the diesels we have today. I still do it from time to time especially in August when I want A/C relief from the southern humidity or I've used the two minute "rule" (not that there's a rule) for a long time which even that thinking should be reduced.
Plus, if you use remote start, it's already idling quite a bit over time. If it's remote started from inside the house, maybe you get distracted and five minutes pass by for example.
Idling begins to slowly clog the EGR inlet (butterfly valve area) because their is oil mist in there to help it stick, those smaller EGR pipes, the EGR cooler and eventually the DPF (but at least that can self clean (more fuel) unlike the EGR cooler).

Even idling my tractor (no DPF or DEF) has resulted in 3% fuel in the oil in the past.

The company I work for spends quite a bit of money with UPS where I've picked up a few bits of info over the years and they data log and analyze everything they can put a sensor on (telematics for the vehicles) or get metrics from. UPS's data analytics with folks who know how to utilize that data are actually one of their advantages. They have determined it is cheaper to replace starters than it is to pay for fuel and other wear from 10's of thousands of idling trucks. In addition, it is expensive (especially depending on the package contents) to have a truck more easily stolen so that factors into the consideration as well. UPS has said they proactively replace some parts anyways, such as starters. UPS will market it as "green" and "reducing our emissions" but it comes down to idling at their scale is a colossal waste of money.