Leaving your car running unattended?

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by audiman08

I have a few police officers in the family and I've always heard leaving an engine idling all the time at low RPM is hard on it...that's one reason police cars don't last long. I don't know if it's true...

You've got to be kidding me

[Racerbvd]

In my own driveway, behind my gate & other cars (warming up a track car rignt now) of course some one would have to get over the Featherlite & burb to get it out.. Not long ago, a guy I know wife did this at a gas station, the car passed him with police in folllowing. They got lucky, as someone saw the guy take off in the car & called the police, the perp just happened to head in the direction of the hubby..

[audiman08]

Originally Posted by kaisen

You've got to be kidding me

Sorry if that sounded asinine to you...for the record, I've only been a "car guy" for a couple of years. Before that, I wouldn't have known what I was looking at under the hood...so I take things with a grain of salt

[kaisen]

Well, you can measure the life of an engine by miles, revolutions, or hours (miles is really just revolutions x hours). An idling engine is not really putting any stress on any components. And police cars last darn near forever.... many hard miles serving law enforcement, then many more serving taxi duty. Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptors are known to go 400K miles without an overhaul, with more idle time than any normal passenger car will ever see. I'm glad you're now a car guy, welcome to the club!

[rnln]

one car drives 20k miles per year. The other car drives 20k miles and idles another 5k miles per year. Which one last longer?

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by rnln

one car drives 20k miles per year. The other car drives 20k miles and idles another 5k miles per year. Which one last longer?

You can't infer based on that information. It could very well be the car that idled longer. For example, if the idling ocurred several minutes before driving to bring the car to operating temp, then again for several minutes after driving to cool the car down, then the idling car would likely last LONGER. It really depends.

Big diesel trucks idle for hours and hours and it hasn't proven to affect the overall expected miles between overhauls. It used to be common practice. They only stopped the practice when fuel prices skyrocketed, and when some obscure emissions laws changed.

[kaisen]

Person who left keys in car responsible for wreck when car stolen, court says | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

[RWebb]

leaving a gas engine idling all the time at low RPM is hard on it in the sense that fuel components tend to get clogged up, and for some other reasons

taxi service is like this a lot and has been used to test motor oils for that reason

even on a diesel (a low speed engine design), Running an engine at low speed (idling) causes 2x the wear on internal parts compared to driving at regular speeds.

- American Trucking Ass'n


just b/c people do it, doesn't mean it is smart

[wcc]

I do on those cold winter days. Of course the doors are locked. It is nice getting in a toasty warm car..

[Scott R]

Illegal here in Denver CO. They call it "puffing" and you can get a ticket in your own driveway.

[Jrboulder]

Just don't leave an aircooled 911 idleing for too long...
Or a 944 for that matter

[rnln]

I thought the topic was about leaving their normal cars (not a biggo diesel trucks) running while doing their errands, such as 7-11 parking lot etc. It wasn't about warming up your car in the morning or cooling it down after a race. Leting it idle at the parking lot can be a lot longer.

Originally Posted by kaisen

You can't infer based on that information. It could very well be the car that idled longer. For example, if the idling ocurred several minutes before driving to bring the car to operating temp, then again for several minutes after driving to cool the car down, then the idling car would likely last LONGER. It really depends.

Big diesel trucks idle for hours and hours and it hasn't proven to affect the overall expected miles between overhauls. It used to be common practice. They only stopped the practice when fuel prices skyrocketed, and when some obscure emissions laws changed.

[RoninLB]

high school kids around here might steal your car to get home if it starts raining while you're running in to a shop for newspaper & coffee or into a bar for a quick tune up and leave it running

no problem with real crooks as bridges become notified

nobody wants to walk home in the rain