Changing oil and engine idling after long trips?

Myth: Diesel engines need to idle for 5 minutes or more in the morning, especially on cold days.
Fact: This is one of the most commonly held myths in North America concerning diesel engines. Most engine manufacturers recommend that newer diesel engines run for no more than 3 minutes before driving.
Gelling of diesel fuel used to be a problem, but refiners have worked to resolve this issue by creating winter blends that better withstand colder temperatures.
Letting an engine idle actually does more damage to the engine than starting and stopping. Running an engine at low speed (idling) causes twice the wear on internal parts compared to driving at regular highway speeds, which can increase maintenance costs and shorten the life of the engine.

2oldman wrote:

GordonThree wrote:
Every diesel I've camped next to needed to idle for a good hour to warm up or cool down, according to the owner.

LOL

My 8.3L Cummins does not like DWC. (driving while cold)

Neither does my 7.3 PSD Ford so it gets at least a 5 min warm up

I don't think anyone said not to let the engine run 15 to 60 seconds before putting into drive.

The issue is with idling 15 to 20 MINUTES or even longer.

Thank You Jessica Orwig (Business Insider) for describing what a 'combustion Event' is.

There is nothing NOTHING wrong with allowing an engine to warm up for 15 seconds (as written in my Ford Owner's manual), or somewhat longer when it's really cold (winter).

I really think that most of us are saying the same thing regarding warm-up and cool down.

Fla904 wrote:
It's a 1998 ford E-350. I change the oil every 3-5k miles depending where it's been. My question about the oil was, can I act like I did not drive the 5k miles since it was all highway and change it in 5k miles from now? It was going 62mph with no city driving all the way to Portland. So since highway driving is low wear on the oil can I wait longer to change it? That's what I was asking. As far as the idling I heard its good to let all the fluids "settle" in park before throwing it from drive to park and turning it off?

I have the E450 V10. I think the oil change interval should be 5000-6000 miles even with the best oils. They have a relatively small oil pan and get only 9 MPG or so.. lot of fuel burn and not much oil to hold the contaminants . Even at a steady 62 they're burning a lot of fuel. If you need to go over that a few times for long trips, should be OK-use the best oils and IMO go up a grade in viscosity.

Warmups- I don't slug mine with hard throttle until it reaches operating temperature. But I do drive it off 30-60 seconds after a cold start.

Cooldowns- If it's been running hard climbing hills or high speed I think these engines benefit from an idle of a few minutes before shutdown (not cut it clean immediately after hard pull). Less hot soak spike of transmission temperatures, and perhaps easier on the head gasket or exhaust manifold studs. Sure they'll survive this stuff but why not be more gentle with it?

Alright folks,
Let's start again.

Fla904 wrote:
I recently took a trip from west palm beach all the way to Portland, before I left I changed the oil and oil filter. The trip (with much site seeing and detours) was about 5,200 miles. Is the wear and tear in the oil the same during this all highway drive as it would be normally and should I change the oil now or drive a little in the city for a couple hundred miles? Also I heard letting the engine idle before and after for maybe 10-20 seconds is a good habit to get into? Any truth behind that?

His profile says only "98 E350". We don't know if it is a 5.4, 6.8 or 7.3. We don't have any clue how much weight he is pulling. He said Portland and 5200 miles. I am going to assume that he means Portland OR and not Portland ME.

So, I stand by all of what I wrote:

Matt_Colie wrote:
Let me answer as an engine professional with no clue at all what you vehicle/engine is:
* There is nothing good that happens when an engine is idling.
* The statement about cooling a turbocharger might be correct if it does not have a water cooled bearing section.
* Changing out lube oil is required by the service the engine has seen. If you don't want to get a lube oil analysis (~25$us), change it at the recommended intervals.

***Some of this might have minor revisions if the vehicle is described in great detail, but I doubt it.

Matt - An Engine Test Lab Refugee

First Diesel Specific (But we don't know way Fla904 has)
Those that idle any diesel for an hour are wasting a lot. As a direct result of laboratory work done by your truly for a number OEs. It is actually hard to warm a diesel up by idling it without load. There can be enough cold air in the combustion cycle to completely meet the cooling demands of an unloaded diesel.

The best way to warm up any engine CI or SI, is to do so with moderate load the until main engine lube oil is over 100°F. In the lab, I always programmed 15-15 to 100 for passcar engines. That is 15"MAP and 1500 RPM at what ever power and time that takes to get to 100° Sump. (For diesels, I would give a % rack and idle * ~2.5 for RPM.)

Even after a test run at 100% power, it never took more than 5 minutes for the test engine to get to temperatures for a safe shut-down. Did we know? How about a diesel with 32 thermocouples recorded by a data aquisition system that won't allow the test engine to be jeopardized. (Test engines are BIG BUCKS.)

I did not include cases for extreme conditions (single digit and negative °F are not normal for most RVs). Anybody that tries to run an engine at those temperatures should be considering an engine heating system.

Again, if you idle the engine for longer than it takes to operate it safely, you are wasting engine life and fuel.

Matt

Y'all realize the op has a gasser right? And he asked about idling 15-20 sec??
Bam! Off topic again. Just like clockwork......
(Well my cousins brothers friends dog has a triple turbo ford Cummings with a 2 stage turbo timer and when it's colder than -19C warm up takes exactly 11.33 minutes if the automatic pressure sensing high idle feature is engaged in stealth mode which keeps the neighbors from complaining about the old 14 valve rattling in the campground. )

obgraham, I guess you were referring to my post and maybe it wasn't written well. I don't idle my truck usually more than a couple of minutes before leaving when it's that warm. I generally crank it and within less than a minute or so I'm gone. Ocassionally (ok, maybe frequently) I'll forget something in the camper or check the rig, so it may idle another minute or so. I really don't do it to annoy anyone. My Cummns 6.7 is really quite quiet. I'll also try not to talk while outside.