Idling diesels- a BIG NO!!!

[justinc]

So many times I see people idling diesel engines, especially larger capacity like 3 litres and up, unnecessarily.

It WILL cause bore glazing, it WILL cause oil consumption, it WILL use fuel, it WILL annoy the heck out of people next to where you are parked, and it should be attracting a tax or fine.

There, that feels better already

Saw 3 vehicles today like that, in town, and 1 even unattended outside Repco, windows down, no one there...late model BT50 company (Not saying which one...) ute. The operator should be sternly spoken to by the people that pay for the use of his vehicle over the weekends...

JC

[djam1]

Justin
I always had it drilled into me when I used Detroit Diesels idling was a very bad thing for this very reason.
That said today I wound my winch cable back in with the TD5 idling and thought about it but still did it.

[rangieman]

So many times I see people idling diesel engines, especially larger capacity like 3 litres and up, unnecessarily.

It WILL cause bore glazing, it WILL cause oil consumption, it WILL use fuel, it WILL annoy the heck out of people next to where you are parked, and it should be attracting a tax or fine.

There, that feels better already

Saw 3 vehicles today like that, in town, and 1 even unattended outside Repco, windows down, no one there...late model BT50 company (Not saying which one...) ute. The operator should be sternly spoken to by the people that pay for the use of his vehicle over the weekends...

JC

Mmmm but a fast idle is ok ,

[Ferret]

It WILL cause bore glazing

Why is glazing bad - what does it lead too?

[LandyAndy]

The cylinder bore has a fine cross hatch finish,when it glazes up the hatching fills with carbon making a shiny surface.Now the rings dont seal correctly,oil enters the combustion area,ie oil consumption,plus combustion gasses leak past the rings into the sump loosing power.BOTH are real bad in a high comp engine
Andrew

[zedcars]

Why is glazing bad - what does it lead too?

In short excessive oil consumption/smoke emissions, crankcase oil dilution and carbon fouling on late catalyst equipped exhaust systems on some applications. (General statement)

Some work was done in the 1970's by engine manufactures to improve the cylinder bore hone to reduce the glaze effect and reduce smoke emission.
Plateau honing of the cylinder bore on production to something like 35CLA cross hatch finish, with bore conformable rings.

In a practical sense I remember one customer in Tehran had about 2000 Leyland double decker buses which they never stopped them! Simply put, if they stopped the things they would never start them again due to the bad /none existent maintenance in the organization. The winter fugg in the Narmack district at dawn was--yes 2000 Brit buses doing their best to pollute the city. The pollution levels even in the 70's exceeded UN standards; Leyland buses were doing their bit to add to the smog.

Today in the USA many places only allow a trucker to idle for 5 minutes, and the no idle laws are slowly creeping down to regular car owners, In Colorado there are city ordinances that ticket owners who idle their cars.

In many cases it makes sense. My business division installs APU's to big trucks to keep the cab/sleeper comfort systems going when the driver takes a rest for 8 hours.

Typically a big 14 litre engine uses about 4 litres of fuel/hour when left idling for the night. An APU with say a two cylinder Perkins, or three cylinder Kubota power pack uses only about a litre per hour, so savings can add up to about $1500/month in US green money.
Engine wear and tear is equally reduced and I know of one customer who has an APU on very truck in his oil field fleet. Savings alone on a Krupp Vee 12 MB powered well head crane have amounted to millions of dollars saved in repair and downtime costs.
So yes excessive idling is wasteful and bad for the engine and the environment. Not to mention your bank balance.
Dennis
zedcars

[scarry]

Something i hate as well.
I was recently at canarvon gorge,a nice quiet holiday spot in central Qld.

At 6.30 one morning some clown starts his noisy tour bus and lets it idle for a good 3/4 of an hour before loading it with tourists & driving off.

Hopefully those bores will glaze up

[justinc]

exactly dennis, as wasteful as a leaking tap...doesn't look like much but add it up over 12 hours

jc

[87County]

probably quite different, but there are certainly cases where 48 class locos can be idling for days.....

[LandyAndy]

My 12M Cat grader makes strange changes in idle speed when idleing.I had a chat with the service bloke about it,NORMAL.When cold and warming up OR if left ideling to keep the aircon in the cab going(NO,I DONT) the ECU shuts injectors off 1 at a time to load the other 5 up.
I can only believe what he says,not my domain.
Andrew