zerovise

runnin the car in idle. I have minimal knowledge of cars. but i would like to know if it is bad for your car. Sometimes i have to wait for ppl and i end up waiting up to 30 minutes. Is this bad for your car? Was thinking about it the other day while i was waitin for a friend. Thanks in advance!

-tyler

speedie

iTrader: (1)

Hey whats up? I just had the same concern when my wife decided to wait in the car when I went in the grocery store today. If I had to take a guess I would say it does simply because the engine is turning and working which adds to engine run time. So I left the windows down with the car off....She was cool with that though...


01 GS430

zerovise

ahh cool. I'll do that more often! thanks. peace

-tyler

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Probably not great to leave it idling for more than 5 minutes, but the GS is a highly reliable car - you're not likely to harm it by idling for longer.

rgarjr

iTrader: (1)

I agree leaving the engine running more than 5 or 10 minutes is just waisting expensive fuel.

gssearchin

Leaving a vehicle idling for extended periods of time is actually very hard on the oil as this will actually contaminate it with fuel. I believe that you can do some research on this and all kinds of lubrication questions at
bobistheoilguy.com

Lexiss_sc430

iTrader: (2)

And its not good for your cats either, I remember reading the owners manual and it stated that you should not idle the car for a long because there is no air-flow though the car (meaning through the intake, engine, exhaust) and this causes a dangerous mixture of gases in you cats and this will lead to certain problems in the future.

Here's what the manual says
NOTICE:
A large amount of unburned gas flowing into the three-way cats may cause it to overheat and create a fire hazard. To prevent this and other damage, observe the following precautions;
Use only unleaded gas
Don’t drive with extremely low fuel
Do not allow the engine to idle for more than 20 min
Avoid racing the engine.... haha I love that one
Do not push start or pull start you vehicle

Tommy

zerovise

ahh dang. that's plenty enough of good reasons to check out why not to idle the car. Dang, that's some bad stuff lol. I'll check up that website right now. thanks a lot guys! peace

-tyler

mmarshall

It's hard on the oil not so much because of fuel contamination but because of higher engine and oil temperatures caused by not having any outside air go through the radiators of through the engine compartment...the fan (s) have to do all the work, and because of lower water-pump speeds.

The oil should not contaminate with fuel at idle as long as the valves, valve seals, and piston rings are in good shape.