extended idling

billbarr100 · August 20, 2005

I'm a vol firefighter/emt. in the winter when it's really cold, i usually let my truck idle for the duration of the call. I'm talking like 20 below or colder. Is 20lbs enough oil pressure for the long idle or should i get an idle controller to bump up the rpms a tadd. On my jeep you could ground a wire on the ecu which was a stock police package high idle for police detail use. If you grounded it the jeep would idle at 1000 instead of 600 which brought the oil pressure to 40 from 20 at hot idle. Is there a similar wire on the ecu for the chevy. also, does anyone know about how much fuel idling uses. gas prices may put a stop to that this winter. I'll be able to figure it out when i get that cool gage that shows mass air flow rates and get some data on air flow at idle, but mabye one of you guys already did it and know so i don't have to. The truck is a 97 gmc 1500 5.7 4x4.

3500in nc · August 20, 2005

i have the same prob with the duration that i let my truck idle weather it be on a scene or just waiting around but ive done the math for my 8.1l she will drink .75 or 3/4 of a gallon about every hr without a/c of course

hope this helps

any tricks or mods uve done to your truck to make it more ff ready??

Mighty HD · August 21, 2005

I don't think idling will hurt it too much. Here's my situation. I've got an 03 F150 4x4. It has 76,000 miles...thats quite a bit for a new truck. ALL of that has been off-road & some highway, with 13-15 hours a day of idle time with the a/c maxed out. Oil changed are @ 5,000mi ...not my choice but thats what the company wants.

I also have a friend that has a 97 Z71 4wd 350, etc. Since new he has done the same thing but using hsi own vehicle. It now has 150k on the odometer and still runs strong.

Now granted there's not a chance in hell I'd do this with my personal truck.

If you're looking @ LONG idle times like my work truck--13+ hrs a day and hard driving (Idle to a wide open merge into traffic doing 80mph), I would run a synthetic and at a MINIMUM every 2500 miles for the oil changes.

billbarr100 · August 21, 2005

i have the same prob with the duration that i let my truck idle weather it be on a scene or just waiting around but ive done the math for my 8.1l she will drink .75 or 3/4 of a gallon about every hr without a/c of course

hope this helps

any tricks or mods uve done to your truck to make it more ff ready??

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I just put a dash strobe in it. Nothing major. It's the dash strobe from www.strobe.com and i threw in an overhead switch for it in the overhead console. That is about it. Infact, other than that, the truck is completely stock.

Mighty HD · August 21, 2005

How did you find out the gal/hr consumption of your vehicle. I'd like to know this for my work truck. I burn about a tank a day.. :shock:

3500in nc · August 21, 2005

well on my truck all i did was go top it off (havent done that in a while) then i drove home less than 2miles and left it running while i was washing her took about a hr then on my way out i toped it off again and subtracted a lil for the 4miles driven

thats how i did mine but there is a gauge that you can buy i think at a place like west marine that is a gallon per hr gauge i have one on my boat and its great

hope this helps

plus i just remembered but after i tested the gph i found a website that had it listed ill look for that on and get ya a link