21 1500 Rebel Idle vs Drive hours

[JT1501]

Evening, All
Long story short, saw a sweet 21 rebel 5.7 at a local dealer on the ride home from work today and a couple hours later I have the truck on loan overnight to see what I think. The thing that catches my eye is the idle vs drive hours—350 idle / 672 drive. I see lots of talk high idle time woes and thought I’d send out a feeler for opinions. Super clean truck inside and out otherwise with just under 25,000 miles. How much should that idle/drive ratio weigh on my decision to buy? I get it’s a used truck sit don’t want to set myself up unnecessarily. I’d appreciate any opinions out there. Thanks!

 

[GTyankee]

I would have to think that someone used that truck for something like Surveillance.

My 2016 Ram with a BABY DIESEL has 68,000 miles on it
the IDLE Hours is just above 350 Hours
There were days that i idled for 8 hours, while i waited at different Mexico/ California International Border Xings.
I waited on Semi Trucks to Cross Over into California, i needed A/C because of insane Temperatures
There were no Trees or Shade Structures to wait under.

Idling is bad,
You can get a Compression Test & a Leak Down Test done by the dealership, as a Condition of Sale

Others may have more suggestions

 

[JT1501]

Thanks, GTyankee. I appreciate your insight!

 

[HemiBrother]

Definitely seems excessive. I thought mine was high at 500 hrs with 110,000 miles on it. Hows the motor sound cold and hot idle?

 

[White six four]

From a quick search an hour of idle is roughly equal to 30 miles. How true that is...well it's on the internet so it must be true lol.

On my 16 with 138k miles I have upper 300s for idle time. My truck is not near me so I don't have an exact number but I don't let it idle any more then I have too.

 

[markabby]

so.....why is idling time bad? We won't drive ours until the idle hits 750 rpm. sometimes in cold weather it might longer.

 

[Daw14]

2014 rcsb 29,785 miles

54 idle 809 run

 

[KansasArt]

I question their accuracy. I have 89,600 miles. And 522 drive hours. To reach that mileage in 522 hours I would need to average over 170 mph every hour!

 

[White six four]

so.....why is idling time bad? We won't drive ours until the idle hits 750 rpm. sometimes in cold weather it might longer.

For me its because I'm a cheapskate. You get 0mpg while idling. Also the longer something is running in theory the more problems you will have. I have a work car and work construction so in the winter when I've been outside for roughly 8 hours I'm not going to sit there and let the car idle for 15 minutes before I get some heat when I've already been outside in the cold. So I fire it up let the idle come down a little and get on my way slowly til the car warms up. Usually have heat within 5 minutes. I've had the car for 13 years now. So 15 minutes of idling every week day in the winter would really add up. If you don't keep your vehicles long then it doesn't really matter.

For the hemi during idle the cam is not properly lubricated and can lead to cam/lifter problems. That's the main reason why people bump their idle up to 750rpm or so with a tune.

 

[White six four]

I question their accuracy. I have 89,600 miles. And 522 drive hours. To reach that mileage in 522 hours I would need to average over 170 mph every hour!

There have been posts on here that people's hour meters have reset themselves. Not sure why or how but to me it sounds like yours reset itself at some point.

 

[KansasArt]

You’re probably right. It’s the original display, nothing changed by me. 422 idle hours on a 2017 equates to about 1 hr a week. That seems too high.

 

[Shutterbug57]

I thought I was an idler. My stats are:

Total Miles = 84,767
Drive hours = 2,510
Idle hours = 537

 

[Shutterbug57]

There have been posts on here that people's hour meters have reset themselves. Not sure why or how but to me it sounds like yours reset itself at some point.

I doubt that as it relates to the OP because the average speed on the data the OP presented is 37.2 MPH average for drive hours. That seems reasonable and is not far off from my data of 33.8 MPH.

 

[HemiBrother]

Mine I doubt is accurate at all sometimes I start it and drive hours says zero then other times it displays a number.

 

[White six four]

I doubt that as it relates to the OP because the average speed on the data the OP presented is 37.2 MPH average for drive hours. That seems reasonable and is not far off from my data of 33.8 MPH.

I was replying to @KansasArt hence why I quoted his post.

 

[Shutterbug57]

I was replying to @KansasArt hence why I quoted his post.

Understood. I was simply stating that I did not feel that was the OP’s issue. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

FWIW - I wouldn't put too much faith in that feature being accurate whatsoever!

I bought new in 19' and in my 5 years of ownership I observed my idle & drive hours bounce all over the place, on an appreciable scale, too.

If you feel it's a good truck to consider, as other have said, do a compression and leak down test to really know what's up with the engine health.

Any service records with the truck?

 

[jimmyfjk]

my 21 rebel 5.7 was bought during covid. did lots of eating in the truck in hot and cold weather where needed either ac or heat. I am at 61,500 miles. 2179 drive hours. 281 idle hours so over 10% idle time. Has not been an issue for mine. Does not mean it will not but so far no issues. Except of course the rear glass leak.

 

[Rambo71]

2015, 151095.3 miles, 679 Idle hours, 3838 Drive hours, no ticks, no adjustments.

 

[G/T jonny]

Seems like 15-20% of total is appropriate for idle time for 5.7. Yours at closer to 50% is excessive.
On a diesel engine not so much an issue.