With the cold weather hitting the country, many new owners of the Chevy Silverado 1500 Duramax Diesel are wondering if their truck comes with a high-idle setting heavy-duty diesels offer to warm the truck up faster. The answer might surprise you.
For clarification, this information applies to both the latest generation of the 3.0-liter inline-six turbo-diesel code named LZ0 and to the prior-generation LM2 Duramax Diesel.
Fans of this outlet have suggested how we might utilize the high-idle feature on the smaller Duramax, however, none of those suggestions worked. So, we reached out to Chevrolet public relations for answers.
Does the 2023 Chevy Silverado 1500 Duramax diesel have high idle?
According to Sean Szymkowski, senior manager for Chevrolet Trucks Communications, the short answer is no.
The longer answer:
“The Silverado 1500 light duty with the 3.0-liter diesel engine has never offered a high-idle or elevated-idle function.
“What your readers/viewers may have witnessed was a minor glitch where some trucks displayed this setting by mistake. An over-the-air update removed this setting display on the screen. The function displayed, before its removal, did not change anything with regards to a high-idle or elevated-idle function.
“All Silverado HDs come standard with elevated idle – rapid heat. HDs with either the gas or diesel engine may be optioned with a high-idle function.”
We followed up to further understand the difference between elevated idle and high idle.
He explained:
“High Idle: For customers with large electrical or mechanical loads that need additional RPM to generate the necessary power. Example: Think of an ambulance parked with lights activated and life-saving equipment. This is optional for both the 6.6-liter gasoline and 6.6-liter Duramax Diesel engine on the HD.
“Elevated Idle – Rapid Heat: This feature raises engine speed and applies load from the transmission to warm up a cold engine for cabin heat. The feature disables when the engine coolant is sufficiently warm. This is standard on all Silverado HDs.”
The bottom line
The smaller 3.0-liter Duramax Diesel simply doesn’t operate the same as a heavy-duty diesel and this is more proof of it being different. It simply doesn’t need the elevated or high idle since it already warms up quite quickly.
2 comments
Howard
Not sure why they say there is no elevated idle on the 3.0. i have a 2020 Silverado LT Z71.When temps are cold like they are now (below 35*), my 3.0 idles at approx. 900 rpm until the the engine coolant gets up to about 120*. It’s about the same idle as when it regens.
And my info system still has the “Elevated Idle” selection under the “Vehicle” screen but it doesn’t matter if it is selected or not. It still idles higher when cold.
So, what does GM consider “elevated” idle?
Scott T
If I remember right their idea of high idle was 1100ish. As stated in the article; they removed that as a vehicle setting a couple years ago. I too have several different idle speeds; the 900 warm up; the 600 warm idle and a new 750 where it feels like the transmission is loading. For my yukon XL; operating temp was 210; plenty of other temperature related issues going on with it right now. It’s been back to the dealer 4 times since december and everyone shrugs their shoulders. This is new after the last round of 3 over the air updates and really frustrating because I don’t know if something is broken or thats part of the new programming. I will never accept another over the air update.