dieselnewbie

On the temp gauge, that very first tick that stands by itself in the far lower left and is not attached to the rest of the bar that arcs upto 200*, is that the 140* mark?

And the very last tick, the red one by itself at the far right, is that the 240* mark?

I called Cummins today with a few questions about extended idleing and the guy, who seemed to know all the physics about the 5.9 and combustion, etc., very smart guy, said as long as the temp is at least 175*, you can idle that engine indefinitaly with no ill effects.

He said you can idle it until you run out of fuel with no problems.

I'm trying to locate 175* on that gauge.

Thanks,

DT.

Geico266

In my opinion the stock gauges are not designed to be that accurate. The marks are just a guild so you see "normal" temp rises and temperature trends.

I agree with the service guy and his assessment. (I know that will spark a conversation with the crew )

Please fill our your signature so we know what truck you have at a glance.

030303

I always thought that EGT temps were more important? At least 300° to have complete combustion of the fuel. Otherwise you can "possibly" end up with wet-stacking and/or cylinder washdown. I don't know. Just what I've read somewhere. I do know that with my 4" straight through exhaust and the PG7, I'd have to idle at 1800+ rpm's to keep the egt's above 300°.

dieselnewbie

Sorry about that. I thought it was on there.

2004.5 2500 SRW QC short bed auto 4:10 gears.

It's in my profile but I'll fill out the signature when I figure out how...

Thanks for the response.

BigBlue

Click on the button at the top of the page that says user CP.

murray

Dieselnewbie,

Due a search on Idle. Not to argue with the person you talked with, but the manual suggests limited idle times. If you do the search you'll find the majority will disagree with long idle times.
There is also a comment from Cummins recommending against it, due to incomplete combustion, waxing of cylinders etc. Another problem is that it will reduce your mileage significantly.

Alan

dieselnewbie

The guy said that 175* is the minimum temp for safe extended idleing because at that temp and greater combustion is complete.

The only reason I believed the guy was that he sounded like a physicist. Very smart.

Just yesterday I noticed the auto high idle kicking in on my 2004.5 QC.

I had the cruise control high idle feature enabled a while back so I haven't paid attention to the auto high idle kicking in.

That's actually a great feature because if it's cold enough it will automatically up the idle to 1100, the supposed RPM's needed to generate enough heat for complete combustion.

I kind of wish Cummins had some kind of 1 day technical course to lay out all the details about how the CTD differs from gassers.

It would be worth it because the engine is such a pricey option.

And it would be good if all the dealers sent their CTD techs thru it as well. Those guys don't think twice about leaving these diesels idleing for long periods.

I don't know if they don't care because it's not their own property or if they're just plain ignorant.


SO you're dealer is buying back yet another truck huh?

Wow!

That means I probably haven't been near as tough as you have on them.

I'm going to have to start getting alot more hard-nosed with them!

LOL!

Good luck with the new '05.

murray

Dieselnewbie,

I just picked up a URL (pdf.) that had a Cummins service bulletin regarding your question on Idling. Found out the link is dead. Got a "This page cannot open" page. One thing that was mentioned is that at idle the temperature of the engine decreases to the point where the injectors can "carbon up". Thought you'd like to know. I guess that idle-up feature is good in MA. weather.

New '05 has an ETA at dealership the 27th of December. Will be turning in my '04 with over 21K miles. Not a problem with the dealer or DC.

I just hope that the '05 is as good as my '04. Only problem was a crushed weather stripping strip on the left rear passenger door that was replaced. Other than that, no problems, squeaks, rattles, etc.

Take care.
Alan

moterhead

I find your comment about crushed weather strip on the left rear passenger door interesting. Mine had that also!! Wonder if there is an assembly line worker not doing his job properly?

murray

>>>I find your comment about crushed weather strip on the left rear passenger door interesting. Mine had that also!! Wonder if there is an assembly line worker not doing his job properly?<<<

Wayne,

It was replaced by Dodge, under warranty, months ago. No problem since. By the way, it seemed to be a common problem.

Alan