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Went to a truck stop in Bakersfield and noticed something about the idling
I pulled into that TA off the 99 last Tuesday to grab coffee and saw a dozen trucks running their engines for over an hour in 68 degree weather. Must have been burning through diesel like crazy for no reason. Anybody else see drivers just not bother shutting down when temps are fine?
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leodavis24d ago
Fair enough but isn't it worse on the engine to keep starting and stopping it, especially with all the electronics and sensors these newer trucks have? Would think the wear and tear from constant restarts costs more than the fuel you save.
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craig.mila23d ago
That wear and tear thing is a bit overblown with modern diesels. The old wives' tale about starter damage comes from carbureted engines from the 70s, not today's trucks with glow plugs and computer controlled injection. The cost of an extra starter or two over the life of the truck is peanuts compared to burning through a gallon or more of diesel every hour you sit there idling. Plus, the engine actually warms up faster under load driving away versus sitting at idle, so cold starts aren't as hard on it as people think. The electronics don't care about the number of starts, they care about voltage spikes and bad batteries which cause way more problems regardless of how you treat the engine. It's just one of those arguments that sounds logical but the math never works out in favor of the idling.
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drewgonzalez23d ago
My buddy runs a fleet of ten trucks out of Fresno and he did the math once, starting a modern diesel costs about the same as 3-5 minutes of idling in fuel alone. So yeah, I feel for drivers on that one, especially with all the computer modules and sensors that absolutely hate cold starts in the winter. But 68 degrees is basically perfect weather (like, that's hoodie weather for most of us) and letting it run for an hour just to keep the AC blowing is burning a hole in the company's pocket. It's a tough spot though, because nobody wants to sit in a cab that feels like a hotbox either.
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