Is it bad to idle 4 long periods?

Is it bad to leave your truck idle for a long time. I just flushed my coolant system so the temp stays fine. Somebody at work told me that when the engine idles it doesn't have enough oil pressure to lubricate the bearings properly. Is this true? anything else to worry bout?

Is it bad to leave your truck idle for a long time. I just flushed my coolant system so the temp stays fine. Somebody at work told me that when the engine idles it doesn't have enough oil pressure to lubricate the bearings properly. Is this true? anything else to worry bout?


I don't know if that's true but, I'd be worried if GM had designed and Engine that couldn't idle properly and provide enough lubrication. I've had my 99' for 2 years now with no worries, touch wood. and It idles for up to 10 minutes every morning waiting for my Co-workers to show up at the Carpool spot. So I would say it's fine. :smokin:

I always start my truck about 5-10 minutes before I leave for work. That way when I walk out I can feel more comfortable with the engine being warm. It doesn't make sense that it wouldn't be "lubricating" bearings. When the engine starts the oil is running throughout.

Now it's not good to leave the truck idling for extended periods of time. Now if you have a diesel, you can leave it running forever.

I've left mine idling for periods greater than 2 hours at fire/wreck scenes before. All a GM engine needs is 5 psi of oil pressure to keep it lubricated properly.

that's what i was looking for, thanks..

Before my father in-law got a remote starter for his pick-ups he used to leave it run all the time in the winter. He almost never shut it off during the day if it was cold. I don't think you'd have anything to worry about.

Hard on camshaft lobes
Hard on cat converters...risk of overheating them
carbons up the engine
wastes gas and pollutes environment unnecessarily
wastes money

i still leave my stuff running. I feel it wastes more gas starting up so many times other than just letting it run.

Thats just my opinion..not fact.

I've let mine idle for over an hour before with the a/c on and it never overheated, made weird noises, nothing. It seems to be fine. I'll take my chances before I would wake my 2 yr. old from his nap. lol That is why mine idles alot. I have the 4.8 if it matters.

Only in the days of direct drive cooling fans. When idle no air flow through grill, fan moving slow at idle so not much intake air flow. But since fan clutches and electric thermo controled fans. This is not much of an issue anymore.