I've heard this "never idle a diesel" saying passed around for years, and honestly think its one of the most over stated myths about diesels. Every diesel I've ever owned has had hundreds if not thousands of hours idling on it. I've spent alot of nights sleeping in my trucks and during the cold winter, hot summer, I leave it idling everywhere I go. My 05' Dmax has 221,500 miles on it and almost 8,000 engine hours. The high number of hours is due to idling all the time. No issues there. Working up in Williston ND my company 06' Dmax was only shut down for oil changes and service. Other than that it was either sitting idling or driving down the road. It even sat outside idling while I slept inside. When I left that company my truck had just over 250k miles and almost 20,000 hours in the motor. Never a single issue and it ran like a champ.

So just from my experience, the whole idle thing is a myth. IMO you just need to get your truck out and run it. See if it clears up after running and heating up the EGT's awhile.

 

Okay so 9MM its my front ball joints or so I was told by the mechanic he also told me I might need a grand worth of work done to my passenger side front brake bs for sure! and that sounds like it could be it 350 aint tooo bad I think I can afford that lol and thanks guys once again

 

Do a google search for 5.9l cummins the fuel builds up on the pistons cuz of the shape not hundred percent sure what they do but it even says in a dodge manusl do not let idle for more then 5 minutes

 

Ya I knew idling wasn't the best but that it prob wouldn't kill my truck lol

 

My mistake on hole in piston part but I have had a few heavy duty mechanics tell me not to idle em more then 5 minutes if I have to I just use fast idle.

but if it's running there's gotta be something else wrong with it then combustion chamber problems like i said and someone else run some two stroke oil in it and dump in a small jug of howes

 

I'll try that and it hasn't had a good hi-way run in awhile either

 

Idling is harder on the auto transmissions than the engines.

 

but you guys don't figure a blown head gasket?

 

If your coolant level isnt dropping down then its not a head gasket.

 

It was dropping every time I ran the truck till I replaced my cap it hasn't done anything since

 

My guess would be an injector problem. Put the above mentioned oil in the tank, get the front end fixed and run the tank thru it, see how it acts after that.

 

ya I just gotta make some money first haha and then that is the plan

 

My 2 cent worth.

Both of my 1st Gen Cummins trucks NEVER warmed up while idling. Even the defroster didn't work. There was no warm coolant.

Now the DMax thing is YEARS ahead. They have programmed a high idle into them to heat them up.

My brother had a 01 Powerstroke. Once started, after about 30 seconds, the flapper about 6" behind the turbo in the exhaust piping closed. This added back pressure and raised cylinder temps, to warm the truck up. Yes, the idle also increased.

I can see low combustion temps being a particular hazard. When a competition diesel starts up and idles, there is a lot of white smoke. Consistent with low combustion temps, there is a certain amount of fuel escaping. So, if idling for a long time below 1000 rpms (the very least), a cylinder wash down can happen.

I have let my trucks idle while I ran into the store to get a few items. 30 mins later, there was not a lot of heat in the coolant left. Both of these trucks had optimal working cooling systems.

Now adding a brick to the pedal and raising the RPMs did the trick in sub-zero weather. 5 mins of idling and a heavily frosted windshield wasn't heavily frosted anymore.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

WHAT ???
I have never heard this. Tell me more !!! I have seen heavy equiptment idle all day long. Some big diesle oporators buy a new truck and NEVER turn it off.

 

I worked in Buffalo one winter years ago I would idle my truck for 2 - 3 hours every morning.