Engine Idle Hour Meter
The vehicle may be equipped with an idle hour meter to indicate how much time the vehicle is idling in PARK or NEUTRAL. The idle hour meter is incorporated with the vehicle odometer. Depressing the odometer reset button once will display the trip odometer (miles followed by a T for trip odometer). Depressing the odometer reset button a second time will display the idle hour meter (hours followed by an H for hours). The idle hour meter will only accumulate time when the vehicle is in PARK or NEUTRAL. Displayed time is cumulative for the vehicle and it cannot be reset to zero. Emergency vehicles, such as police/fire and fleet vehicles, often experience long periods of idling, during which time the engine oil will continue to break down but mileage is not accumulated on the odometer.
To assist fleet managers in maintaining proper oil change intervals, the idle hour meter will help determine when an oil change is required. For every hour that the vehicle idles, it has accumulated the equivalent of approximately 53 km (33 mi) of driving. Using the combination of the vehicle odometer and the idle hour meter allows the fleet manager to better determine when the oil needs to be changed.
- idle hours x 33 = miles equivalency
- miles driven + miles equivalency = oil change interval
Engine idle hour meter calculation:
Example: In metric units, this calculation would be 4,828 km + 3,233 (61 idle hours x 53 km/idle hour) = 8,061 km. When the odometer has accumulated 3,000 miles + 2,013 (61 hours x 33 miles/idle hour) = 5,013 mi, the oil change interval will have been reached.