Capnmilo

I have a customer that sits in his truck at idle for 20 min periods maybe 6 to seven times a day, He may drive it a mile or two and sometimes an actual road trip of about 20 miles. In this situation its a 2006 GMC Sierra 1500.
What I am curious about is the impact on the engine and different components, i.e. 02 sensors, knock sensors, plugs, etc. Also does the oil life algorithm take this into consideration.
Although seem to concerned about the gas mileage or lack there, he is starting to get some codes, Although the codes are in line with the mileage (156000) I cant help but think the extended idling isn't some how part of part failure, plugs, 02, etc. Was just hoping for some more definitive input.

oilcanhenry

Waste of fuel. Letting the motor warm up idea cold is OK, but only a minute or two makes much difference. I don't like mine idle like that. Maybe for a minute, then I drive, taking it easy on the gas until it warms up. If it was very cold I might let it idle for a few minutes to get the oil up into the engine, but it never gets that cold here. To hell with the oil change monitor, I change the oil and filer at 5000 miles with the best synthetic oil I like and a good Wix oil filter.

Doug D

Agree with Henry. All that idling is wasting fuel. Unless you live in Alaska or Siberia, there's no need for such extended idling. I doubt the idling has much to do with any fault codes.

Yes, the oil change algorithm takes the idling into account. It'll just trigger the oil change reminder light to come on earlier.

mountainmanjoe

no, idling shouldn't hurt the engine. Taxis and police do a lot more idling than he does.

I'm pretty sure that the oil life monitor counts the time the engine is running. (among other things). It usually reach 0% right around 200h for me.

mountainmanjoe

So if you just idled a lot and never drove anywhere far, then you wouldn't change the oil?

oilcanhenry

No. I change it every 5000 miles. Back in the day, when carburetors wasted lots of fuel, it was every 3000 miles. I don't idle that much anyhow. I use top-grade synthetic oil, filter, and mostly Chevron fuel, BTW.

mountainmanjoe

ok well the engine is still combusting, and the parts are moving and rubbing on each other when the engine is idling.

oilcanhenry

I dont see where you are going with this. Some modern lubricants can go 10000 miles. The PCV system picks up oil and gasoline fumes and burns them. Yes anytime the motor is running parts are lubricated, idling or not. What exactly is your point here MMJ?

mountainmanjoe

Some gases escape, but some combustion products dissolve in the oil. Soot and crap like that. The oil oxidizes and becomes more acidic over time.

My point is simply that oil still wears out when you idle. It doesn't sound like you understood the poster's question. He's not warming up the car.

hanky

What I would like to know is ,
what codes are coming up, that might help get a better picture of could be affected.
Until we know that , well,,,,,,,,,,,,, you know.