Engine wear by idling

[KevinsDMAX]

Hello All,

I've been looking around to purchase an additional truck (Duramax) to have either as a farm truck or to give to my boy as his first truck.

Living in Alaska the Pipeline does their auctions and I have seen many trucks with under 100K miles but with hours 10K+ on the clock. I have seen places were they say that an hour of idling equals about 25 miles. My question is is this correct and should I worry much about hours?

The Pipeline does a good job with preventative maintenance, and I plan on doing a vin check prior to deciding which one I want to bid on. Just wondering if a say a 48K mile truck's internals are tired if they have say 11K hours of idling on them.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[DrDusty86]

In my opinion no,
Here is why. My DD is a car with 225k on the clock and between oil changes it idles about 90-120 hours every 6k miles or so. I have been doing this since 42k miles. I run the AC in Texas summer and heater in the winter. The motor makes ZERO odd sounds and is within 3% of top factory spec number of both leak down testing and compression testing. The OP is about 40psi hot idle and about 60 hot cruising, it is RIGHT on the full mark when I go to change it..never requires topping off.
I take extra precautions though. I grease all mating surfaces around the air filter & boots. I run synthetic oil and change it at around 6k miles.

The DuraMax is a decently stout engine. WAY WAY stouter than the little 4 cylinder Zetec in my DD. I Also had a 99 PSD with over 331k and got the same treatment, as does my current PSD.

 

[gfh77665]

Find the one with the best body & interior, no worries about the idle times.

 

[440Magnum]

Diesels tolerate idling much better than gasoline engines. Since they're un-throttled, they really are nearly spinning over freely, very little loading at all, PLUS they have a high volume of air flow through the cylinders during idle, rather than the minimal starved airflow of a gasoline engine at idle. Provided the engine is well cared for, I wouldn't worry about idle wear. Heck, even gasoline-powered police cruisers idle a lot of hours and then go on to rack up 300k miles as a taxi.

 

[dnewton3]

I would not fear those idling hours in the least.

As noted, diesels do this very well (although they can "wet stack" in extreme cold). Police/taxi cars idle a whole lot, too.

The Dmax is robust, and has good pressure at idle.

No worries, expecially if they kept up with the OCIs and maintenance as you infer.

 

[Danno]

The biggest issue with idling is in the emissions equipment - where it may get sooted up. Diesels need to run under load to get them up to operating temps and to ensure the emissions systems go throught the correct cycles. I wouldn't be surprised to see a DPF filter needing servicing.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Dmax is very robust, virtually no wear while idling.

Good luck, I bought my 09 used and couldn't be happier...

 

[Ken2]

A diesel should be idled as little as possible. In the Alaska winter idling is necessary if there are no places to plug it in.

I trained at two diesel makers. The problem with idling is that the engine isn't running warm enough to burn cleanly. We were trained to idle as short as possible before putting a load on the engine, and to shut it down as soon as possible when the load came off it. When possible, shut it down under light load and put more load on other engines running in parallel.

Because the pipeline company is regularly changing their equipment, there should be word around about how the pipeline trucks in the past have performed.

 

[eljefino]

What's the VIN check going to get you? They're probably self insured against accidents and wouldn't report any to the cops.

If you go to the auction, are there bunches of small dents and scrapes?

 

[m37charlie]

What year are the trucks?
If post 2006, do they have in-cylinder regen of the DPF?. That is to say, injection of extra fuel into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke to ignite soot in the DPF.
If so, extended idling could be problematic (extreme dilution of oil with fuel).
If the engine has no DPF, or if the Duramax in question has fuel injection for regen of DPF post cylinder, I think no problem.
Perhaps one of the Duramx experts could shed some light on this?

Charlie

 

[LScowboy]

Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Find the one with the best body & interior, no worries about the idle times.

+1

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Ken2
A diesel should be idled as little as possible. In the Alaska winter idling is necessary if there are no places to plug it in.

I trained at two diesel makers. The problem with idling is that the engine isn't running warm enough to burn cleanly. We were trained to idle as short as possible before putting a load on the engine, and to shut it down as soon as possible when the load came off it. When possible, shut it down under light load and put more load on other engines running in parallel.

Because the pipeline company is regularly changing their equipment, there should be word around about how the pipeline trucks in the past have performed.


Fleets around here always leave diesel trucks idling overnight. Up until diesel prices shot through the roof and more stringent idle laws, it wasn't uncommon for fleets to leave their trucks running NONSTOP for 2 or 3 months at a time.

The trucks all made 1000000 miles easily.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I have no ultra cold experiences but at temps above 30 degrees my Dmax will idle all day at full operating temp. Since the oil is run through the radiator it is also kept quite warm.

Idling these days is very low stress operation.

 

[DrDusty86]

Yes, I would try to look for a CLEAN 06-07 classic with the LBZ. Pre emmision and over a decent truck if the front end isn't all worn out.
For engines I would not buy a an 01-4 LB7 because the injector and Water pumps are a PITA, 05 due to some blowing HG, even factory. ALL the other years it is a SOLID motor.

 

[KevinsDMAX]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
What's the VIN check going to get you? They're probably self insured against accidents and wouldn't report any to the cops.

If you go to the auction, are there bunches of small dents and scrapes?


By VIN check I meant that I'm a member of a forum and there are people who work for Chevy and can give you the maintenance history for issues that went to the dealer to be repaired.

I'm not new to the Duramax, I have a '04 that I've had since new and have over 120K on it. It's a true workhorse and that's why I'm specifically looking at the Duramax. They have some 04-07 Powerstrokes, but with the knowledge I have on the Duramax platform I think I'm just going to stick with them, plus with the horror stories I hear about the 6.0...

All the trucks that I'm looking at purchasing are the 06-07 LBZ (pre DPF trucks). I'm sure I could get an LLY or LB7 for cheaper but really want the 6 speed tranny so those previous years are out...that is unless they are dirt cheap, then I might have to jump on one.

The ROE's of the auction is that they give the week before the auction to walk around (in and out), start them, pull forward and back...that's about it.

My plan of attack is to look at them all rack and stack, then get the VIN checked on maybe the top 5-10 and then re-evaluate my rack and stack then attend the auction and hope that not many people with money show up.

 

[DrDusty86]

Kevin, good plan.
Good luck in finding your son a great truck. Just watch for the t-case pump rub and dead gauge clusters.

 

[artificialist]

It has always been my understanding that if you idle the engine for a long time, the EGR passages and intake manifold are more likely to fill with soot.

However, I am not sure about Duramaxes... I usually read about that problem with Fords.

 

[KevinsDMAX]

Originally Posted By: DrDusty86
Kevin, good plan.
Good luck in finding your son a great truck. Just watch for the t-case pump rub and dead gauge clusters.


Thanks! I plan on crawling under each and checking that out. I installed my rub plate with 118K miles and it hadn't worn through.

 

[k1rod]

Is the DMAX that very robust? I am not disparaging as I am the owner of one. But in the 13 years I spent in the US ARMY, all of our work trucks had Cummins in them. They were bullitproof. I always thought I sacrificed the Cummins for the better chassis and Allison in my Silverado. Could I have been wrong? Is the DMAX as good as the Cummins?

 

[DrDusty86]

THE 5.9 CTD is an over glorified POS. It likes water pumps every 60-80k, the timing covers crack aka killer dowl pin up through 02, 53 blocks, rear main seals, the VP 44 junk.

For the record, I had a 98.5 24V CTD

The Duramax is better overall.