I have a 2004 Ford F350 (like new with only 30K) with the V10 engine. I use this truck for work purposes, which thru the Canadian winter involve driving about 100 miles at 70mph, followed by about 6 hours of idling, then driving back home. How bad is this for my motor oil and what about the engine itself?
Extensive Idling
- Thread starter atc250r
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Id say not much for wear. tig makes a good point. Just think how slow the internals are moving and how light the power stroke is. The Major highway drive cooks out the fuel and isnt hard on oil. I wouldnt do any crazy extended OCI's but im sure you are doing fine doing what you are now. get a used oil analysis done with the current oci you have and get some data to back up a decision. I would love to see the results of that. I didnt see how long in miles your oci was if it was there? Can you figure out how many hours for how many miles you do?
Originally Posted By: tig1
Police cruisers and cabs idle a lot and it doesn't seem to shorten the engine life.
Agreed. For one, the OP is idling after warmup - not warming it up for six hours. The oil will always be plenty warm. Our cab fleet certainly had no issues with engine longevity.
Police cruisers and cabs idle a lot and it doesn't seem to shorten the engine life.
Agreed. For one, the OP is idling after warmup - not warming it up for six hours. The oil will always be plenty warm. Our cab fleet certainly had no issues with engine longevity.
Ok i did some what i call math. so at your speed and distance your truck is doing 2.8 hours run time and you have 6 hours run time at job site. so thats 8.8 hours operating time per day with the 200 miles as hours.
so when you have 161 hours you will have 4000 miles. my work truck which is a diesel and has nothing to do with your engine but it states 10,000km or 6 months or 250 hours which ever comes first.
You will have to take the oci interval with the numbers in the manual and make it jive. If it were my work truck doing that i would need to do it by the 250 hour mark according to manual.
You need to get and hour number and go by that. thats my 2 cents.
so when you have 161 hours you will have 4000 miles. my work truck which is a diesel and has nothing to do with your engine but it states 10,000km or 6 months or 250 hours which ever comes first.
You will have to take the oci interval with the numbers in the manual and make it jive. If it were my work truck doing that i would need to do it by the 250 hour mark according to manual.
You need to get and hour number and go by that. thats my 2 cents.
K, I will look into an hour meter but so far your opinions are that I'm not wrecking havoc on the oil and/or engine. Good stuff.
To state this another way, the service manual for our Crown Vics uses a formula that equates 1 hour of idling to "x" number of miles with regard to wear on the oil. I don't have a manual in front of me, but a quick google search shows that number to be 33. So when: (idling hours x 33) + actual miles driven during OCI = your desired OCI, it's time to change.
Originally Posted By: atc250r
I have a 2004 Ford F350 (like new with only 30K) with the V10 engine. I use this truck for work purposes, which thru the Canadian winter involve driving about 100 miles at 70mph, followed by about 6 hours of idling, then driving back home. How bad is this for my motor oil and what about the engine itself?
You probably have the equivalent run time of double the mileage. I would use a good synthetic oil and change every 3000 miles.
I have a 2004 Ford F350 (like new with only 30K) with the V10 engine. I use this truck for work purposes, which thru the Canadian winter involve driving about 100 miles at 70mph, followed by about 6 hours of idling, then driving back home. How bad is this for my motor oil and what about the engine itself?
You probably have the equivalent run time of double the mileage. I would use a good synthetic oil and change every 3000 miles.
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Back in the day they were afraid oil wouldn't get to the top of the engine at only idle speed.
I ran my saturn OHC with the cam cover off for five seconds at idle b/c I thought a ticky lifter was from lack of oil. I put tinfoil over the exhaust and am glad I did... it made a holy mess. In short, no fears of oil starvation on modern machinery!!!
This sort of thing calls for a used oil analysis. I bet you'll be fine with one change mid-winter using motorcraft conventional.
I ran my saturn OHC with the cam cover off for five seconds at idle b/c I thought a ticky lifter was from lack of oil. I put tinfoil over the exhaust and am glad I did... it made a holy mess. In short, no fears of oil starvation on modern machinery!!!
This sort of thing calls for a used oil analysis. I bet you'll be fine with one change mid-winter using motorcraft conventional.
I'm actually running Mobil 1 5W-20 just because of the cold starts I'm encountering every morning. Next OC (likely a couple months away) will probably be Pennzoil Conventional 5w20.
Several months ago there was a thread here on BITOG about garbage trucks in some country. Those trucks travel very slow all day. The truck maker did not pass on the engine manufactures information about hours. The organization running those trucks was giving the mechanics a hard time because they were changing the oil with low miles, but high hours. It turned out that even the OCI that the mechanics wanted to use was way beyond what the engine manufacturer specified. The end result was those engines failed very early in their life.
If the manual doesn't give some information on how to consider hours in contemplating an oil change interval, a used oil analysis may be in order. The suggestion to use synthetic oil for 3,000 miles may be spot on, or it may be hogwash.
In my taxi fleet, OCIs were 6,000 miles with QS conventional. Fuel dilution was never an issue though, since they were on LPG. A used oil analysis (or a few even) would definitely let you know how TBN is holding up and what fuel dilution you'd be experiencing.
In my taxi fleet, OCIs were 6,000 miles with QS conventional. Fuel dilution was never an issue though, since they were on LPG. A used oil analysis (or a few even) would definitely let you know how TBN is holding up and what fuel dilution you'd be experiencing.
Originally Posted By: Garak
If the manual doesn't give some information on how to consider hours in contemplating an oil change interval, a used oil analysis may be in order. The suggestion to use synthetic oil for 3,000 miles may be spot on, or it may be hogwash.
In my taxi fleet, OCIs were 6,000 miles with QS conventional. Fuel dilution was never an issue though, since they were on LPG. A used oil analysis (or a few even) would definitely let you know how TBN is holding up and what fuel dilution you'd be experiencing.
How did you go about doing the used oil analysis, being that you (like I) are in Canada? Did you just ship your sample to Blackstone via courier?
If the manual doesn't give some information on how to consider hours in contemplating an oil change interval, a used oil analysis may be in order. The suggestion to use synthetic oil for 3,000 miles may be spot on, or it may be hogwash.
In my taxi fleet, OCIs were 6,000 miles with QS conventional. Fuel dilution was never an issue though, since they were on LPG. A used oil analysis (or a few even) would definitely let you know how TBN is holding up and what fuel dilution you'd be experiencing.
How did you go about doing the used oil analysis, being that you (like I) are in Canada? Did you just ship your sample to Blackstone via courier?
IMO I don't think idling an engine today is nearly as damaging as it used to be. If this was my truck I would change the oil every 4-5k and use a synthetic - Pennzoil Platinum or Quaker State Ultimate Durability.
This happens quite a bit with our local fire department. Granted it's not six hours but when responding to a moderate to large fire, some of the response vehicles can sit idling for up to two hours. Especially in the winter to keep a warm environment. I've never seen or heard of any failures or problems with the trucks.
I remember reading an article in regard to the Crown Vic police interceptor that 1 hour of idling was equivalent to 30 miles of driving. Other than a waste of gas, your V-10 will not know the difference; all the fluids are at temp and all is well!
Originally Posted By: dakota99
This happens quite a bit with our local fire department. Granted it's not six hours but when responding to a moderate to large fire, some of the response vehicles can sit idling for up to two hours. Especially in the winter to keep a warm environment. I've never seen or heard of any failures or problems with the trucks.
Most of them probably use 15w40
This happens quite a bit with our local fire department. Granted it's not six hours but when responding to a moderate to large fire, some of the response vehicles can sit idling for up to two hours. Especially in the winter to keep a warm environment. I've never seen or heard of any failures or problems with the trucks.
Most of them probably use 15w40
How much gas does a V10 Ford use in 6 hours at idle?
That plus 200 miles a day must put you at the pump every single day!
That plus 200 miles a day must put you at the pump every single day!
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Originally Posted By: atc250r
I'm actually running Mobil 1 5W-20 just because of the cold starts I'm encountering every morning. Next OC (likely a couple months away) will probably be Pennzoil Conventional 5w20.
If engine speed is a factor in setting viscosity, 5w-20 will be ideal.
Will you be able to keep the same o/c interval after you switch to conventional, or will you have to get a couple more oil changes a year?
I'm actually running Mobil 1 5W-20 just because of the cold starts I'm encountering every morning. Next OC (likely a couple months away) will probably be Pennzoil Conventional 5w20.
If engine speed is a factor in setting viscosity, 5w-20 will be ideal.
Will you be able to keep the same o/c interval after you switch to conventional, or will you have to get a couple more oil changes a year?
How much gas does a V10 Ford use in 6 hours at idle?
That plus 200 miles a day must put you at the pump every single day!
It uses a LOT of fuel idling. Before I picked up this gem,, I was using a Dodge Ram with a 5.9 (360 gas) motor. That truck idled all day on a few occasions and I calculated it out to 3qts of gasoline/hour, which I thought was [censored] good! I picked up this V10 at the end of December and although I haven't calculated the exact consumption at idle, I know it is probably triple of what the 360 was. It is an absolute pig at idle. Driving @ 70 mph, and scaled at 11,100lbs (truck is a dually with 4.30 gears and is only rated for 11,000#GVWR), it gets about 10mpg. All fuel is supplied at work and there is no "meter" on the pump, so I haven't been able to get an exact fuel consumption when idling all day.
Originally Posted By: jorton
If engine speed is a factor in setting viscosity, 5w-20 will be ideal.
Will you be able to keep the same o/c interval after you switch to conventional, or will you have to get a couple more oil changes a year?
Well once the weather warms up comes April, I won't be required to idle it at all, so I'll probably go with 3-4000 mile intervals. I do drive a lot of gravel roads.
That plus 200 miles a day must put you at the pump every single day!
It uses a LOT of fuel idling. Before I picked up this gem,, I was using a Dodge Ram with a 5.9 (360 gas) motor. That truck idled all day on a few occasions and I calculated it out to 3qts of gasoline/hour, which I thought was [censored] good! I picked up this V10 at the end of December and although I haven't calculated the exact consumption at idle, I know it is probably triple of what the 360 was. It is an absolute pig at idle. Driving @ 70 mph, and scaled at 11,100lbs (truck is a dually with 4.30 gears and is only rated for 11,000#GVWR), it gets about 10mpg. All fuel is supplied at work and there is no "meter" on the pump, so I haven't been able to get an exact fuel consumption when idling all day.
Originally Posted By: jorton
If engine speed is a factor in setting viscosity, 5w-20 will be ideal.
Will you be able to keep the same o/c interval after you switch to conventional, or will you have to get a couple more oil changes a year?
Well once the weather warms up comes April, I won't be required to idle it at all, so I'll probably go with 3-4000 mile intervals. I do drive a lot of gravel roads.
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