Why to big diesel trucks idle for hours? We

[bad Chad]

We have all seen it.  My dad told me when I was a kid,  that if they shut the motor down, it was difficult to restart.   I ask because it's on my mind, I recently moved and had a huge moving van spend two days just burning diesel for no apparent reason.   What gives?

[EldoMike]

Illegal to do that in a lot of states...not sure about Illinois..

[Murray]

No block heater? batteries don't work very well when cold all of the above?

[bmc5733946]

I have a one word answer to this question, stupidity. Today's computerized diesels don't need this and it can be harmful to them. It can also be blamed on rudeness, like the "rolling coal" form of abuse of your fellows.

Brian

[Guzzistajohn]

They're probably in the sleeper taking their mandatory time off, watching TV on the dish, cooking with a microwave ran on a inverter and running the air or heat. Some drivers have trouble sleeping w/o the motor running. Some truck stops have an air duct system that connects to the rig for heat and air and have power hookups so the tractor can be shut off.

[wrbix]

Drivers sleeping with desire for HVAC, a lot of these trucks have refrigerators and other appliances, and I’ve heard that some drivers need that background noise to sleep.
I’ve seen estimates of $50 per night diesel use, not to mention the environmental effects.

[EldoMike]

https://cdllife.com/2014/idling-laws-state/

[Huzo]

I'm an interstate truck driver and I assure you, getting to sleep is no problem.
The engine will idle for a period to allow the turbo to cool then will shut off automatically, if the timer is rooted then it will idle 'till it's out of gas.
I'm sure some blokes do it as an extension of their...."masculinity"...  



There's my baby...

[rschrum]

Truck driver, that explains it.

[Pizza Guzzi]

Not only big trucks. In Australia we have a plague of diesel powered 4X4 dual cab utes and many times I've wondered why many drivers insist on leaving the motor idling not necessarily all day or overnight but for up to half an hour or so for no apparent reason.

[canuck750]

Alberta is the home of the diesel quad cab F250, Dodge Ram etc... lift kit, $10K tire package and they leave the damn things idling in a parking lot while grocery shopping in the summer.

Its a dumb ass 'look at my big truck' mentality, goes with the white sunglasses and the ball cap worn backwards, doesn't matter the age, twenty somethings to fifty somethings racing from stop light to stoplight.

[fotoguzzi]

well bust my bubble.. I always thought there was a real reason for that..

[Guzzistajohn]

Alberta is the home of the diesel quad cab F250, Dodge Ram etc... lift kit, $10K tire package and they leave the damn things idling in a parking lot while grocery shopping in the summer.

Its a dumb ass 'look at my big truck' mentality, goes with the white sunglasses and the ball cap worn backwards, doesn't matter the age, twenty somethings to fifty somethings racing from stop light to stoplight.
[/quote.     Around here we have diesel truck with a flat bed, bale spike and a blue healer. But they shut the truck off at a beer stop 👍

[Huzo]

Truck driver, that explains it.

Yeah not bad...for a beginner.
But a little open ended, sort of like, whatever someone says you mean, you can say..
"Yeah exactly"
What does it "explain"...do tell.

[Snowman]

Heat in the winter and AC in the summer, I didn't need it to sleep. I had the refrigeration unit on the trailer just behind the cab to rock me to sleep.  Happens less now because of APUs being fitted to trucks. Idling that big engine burns a gallon per hour, the APU, only a  gallon every 8 hours. When i was parked in a rest area in South Dakota and it was -35F, there was no way in hell I was turning that engine off.

[Turin]

I had a CDL and drove tankers for a couple of years ( do not miss it ). I've never heard of leaving a truck idling unless you were unloading it using the PTO pump. (tankers and some dump trucks).

[Murray]

Not only big trucks. In Australia we have a plague of diesel powered 4X4 dual cab utes and many times I've wondered why many drivers insist on leaving the motor idling not necessarily all day or overnight but for up to half an hour or so for no apparent reason.

That's easy to explain completing a DPF burn.

[nbags]

the reason that people with a ram 3500 do that is they want everyone to know they pay $8800 for that option

[Toecutter]

Well, growing up as I did... my initial answer is "diesels don't like -55C nights".

But, I'm guessing this doesn't realty apply to your location?

[bad Chad]

Temps were well above freezing.    I'm thinking the driver just didn't care.  I asked one of the crew and he said the driver was probably sleeping. 

[Groover]

Maybe the cargo required some sort of climate control.

[Rough Edge racing]

 Maybe pneumatic starters with air leaks...Maybe worn engines with leaky injectors, maybe the driver doesn't care..I notice the UPS package delivery trucks,mostly  Diesels around here, always shut off the engine when the driver steps out to deliver a package even if it's 10 feet away..I asked if the engine was killed automatically when he left the seat... He said, no, it's UPS policy and the onboard tracking devices that tell management he didn't shut it off, will get him a ass chewing from his manager...

[Toecutter]

Maybe the cargo required some sort of climate control.

Reefer trucks always have a separate motor for the cooling system, they operate independently of the truck itself.

[Two Checks]

Reefer madness!

[rocker59]

Depends on the truck.  An older truck?  Cold temps?  Driver will leave it idling.

Many newer Over the Road trucks come equipped with an APU (Auxiliary Power Unit), a small generator that will run the heat/air/fridge/etc in the sleeper.  So, sometimes you may hear a newer truck "running", but it's the efficient APU, and not the prime mover.

As mentioned, it's becoming common for States and Locales to have anti-idling laws and ordinances.  That's the reason for the rise in APUs on OTR trucks.

[rocker59]

Maybe pneumatic starters with air leaks...Maybe worn engines with leaky injectors, maybe the driver doesn't care..I notice the UPS package delivery trucks,mostly  Diesels around here, always shut off the engine when the driver steps out to deliver a package even if it's 10 feet away..I asked if the engine was killed automatically when he left the seat... He said, no, it's UPS policy and the onboard tracking devices that tell management he didn't shut it off, will get him a ass chewing from his manager...

For UPS and FedEx, I think the policy is more about keeping the truck from being stolen than saving fuel...

[GearheadGrrrl]

Diesel technology has really improved a lot, as I learned temping at UPS over the holiday peak season. Back in the early 90s a cold front had come in from the north during the afternoon and by dark it was around zero. A whole bunch of diesel powered semi tractors had been parked for the day on the north side of the building and the first couple drivers assigned to them reported hard starting. I and a couple other drivers came on duty at 5pm and were assigned to getting every one of the cold tractors started. After a battle (throttle to the floor, crank 30 seconds then give the starter motor a break, and ignore the growing cloud of smoke) about half of them started. The mechanics came out with jumper batteries and got most of the rest started, and a couple had to towed inside to warm up.

After a decade across the street doing the same job at the Post Office I retired and again temped at UPS for a couple peak seasons from 2005 to 2007. By then all the old diesel semi tractors had been replaced with new ones with electronic fuel injection. They'd leave them parked outside all weekend and sunday evening it's be zero degrees and they'd start right up with no drama.

That's why I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to go back to the bad old days of mechanical injected diesels...

[Murray]

That's why I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to go back to the bad old days of mechanical injected diesels...

Careful you'll get the suspender snapping I'd change a bike from injection to carburetor crowd going, It  depends on the manufacturer the modern diesels are much much more sensitive to air quality and fuel contamination than the older vehicles and if the manufacturer has either done little to taking a few short cuts with their filtration they can turn anything into a unreliable POS, i.e. how Toyota flushed the reliability reputation of the Landcruiser down the S bend with a motor change.

[oldbike54]

Reefer madness!

 Ha ! Take a bow TC 

 Dusty

[Lannis]

Reefer trucks always have a separate motor for the cooling system, they operate independently of the truck itself.

Besides that, if you shut the engine off, then you have to go through THIS to get it started again, at least in Australia ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZrFkGdti8c

Lannis