With a dodge diesel can you let it idle with the aircondition and it remain cold, because i live in AZ and it get so freaking hot here and sometimes i have to wait in the parking lot for my job for a while with the AC on and i was wondering if it is ok do do this for a long time. i always heard you can let a diesel idle for hours witht eh ac on?

 

Its ok for a bit, but if it idles too long it will wet stack, not sure bout the 07s but the others Ive heard will do it

 

yes you can. i run my a/c with mu cummins for 20 minutes or so around town here too. sitin too long, you need to drop an auto into N for fluid to be pumped into the torque converter.

how long ya been at AZ State??

 

Get one of those high idle features on there if it doesn't seem to be keeping things cool enough. I've heard lots of guys say this keeps the AC pumping really cold when idling while parked. As far as letting an engine idle for hours on end you can do it sure enough but it's not good on your engine. It's really hard on one not getting it up to a normal operating temp and not getting proper lubrication on the cylinder walls. All the unecessary wear and wasted fuel. If it's not absolutely necessary to idle I wouldn't.

 

Asu, I assume you are near Tempe, well keep witht he forum and welcome, we jsut had a little meet and greet and am hoping to set one up in November. Also trying to get as many dodge diesels to a specific manzanita day. I am pushing for 7-14 but not sure what others responses are yet.

 

You'll want to bump the rpm's up if your planning on letting it idle for extened periods over 5 min. Engine temp will drop enough that it will not completely burn the all the fuel. The fuel then washes the oil off the cylinder walls. If you do let it idle for long times, I would suggest a more frequent oil change (about 5000 miles should be ok).

 

bajafun i have been i az 29yrs. so what can i ask for when i buy a diesel that will allow me to idle longer than normal?

 

just ask them point blank. "will the a/c work fine , and the engine be ok if I idle for upwards of 30 minutes with out movin????"

I have sat eating in my 93 ctd with the R12 air blowin high and about 15 min or so into I reved it for a few seconds. nothin too major.

if youre gonna buy new, what those friday newspaper ads for deals. they will be the low loss leaders. if ya qual, you save $10K!!!

 

One other thing about idling for more then 5 minuts is that the Turbo does not get fresh oil to keep the bearning cool and this can cause them to go out and screw up a $1500.00 Turbo. Also on the newer trucks I've been told by a Dodge tech that long idle times can lead to injector problems if they have an idle time of 40% or more. IIRC any time the engine runs under 1000 RPM's counts as idle time.

 

Just make sure the manual high idle feature is activated and you're good to go.

Then when the truck is idling, you turn the cruise on, hit the set button and the RPM's jump up to 1100. You can adjust the RPM's up or down using the accel / decel buttons.

It has to be activated by the dealer. It takes all of 5 minutes.

This also works great if you have a winch. It keeps the alt spooled up and providing more juice so that you aren't putting such a drain on the batteries.