Its bad for your car to let it idle in the morning? | Page 6 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Its bad for your car to let it idle in the morning?

this thread is full of so many statements, but are there any facts?
confusing :confused:
i'm just subscribing to the thread to see if we ever get an accurate answer
 



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leenjen said:
this thread is full of so many statements, but are there any facts?
confusing :confused:
i'm just subscribing to the thread to see if we ever get an accurate answer

YMMV
;) :p
 






Well I guess I will have to let all my vehicles speak for themselves:
1-Hi! I am a 1993 Buick Roadmaster and I have been idleing every morning for about 5 minutes in the warm weather to 10-30 minutes in the cold weather. I have been doing this idling thing for 13 years now and had only deno oil in me for about 13 years.
I feel great with no knocks or other engine problems. As a matter of fact I have NEVER had my exaust changed yet since new. I have 250,000+ miles on my original V-8 350 engine.
Hi! I am a 1992 Ford pick up truck. Read above for me too. I have 130,000 miles on me with no engine problems yet.
Hi! I am a 1986 Chev Nova with a 4 cyl engine in me. Read above for me too. I have 135,000 miles on me with no engine problems yet.
Hi! I am a 1995 Ford pickup with 120,000 miles on me. I have a V-8 in me with no engine problems yet. Read above for me too.
We all have had our engine oil changed faithfully with dino oil at 7,500 miles. We have never had our transmission oil or filters changed either.
Thanks for listening to us,
Old Mechanics vehicles.
 






I dont buy that for a second !!!!!!!!

Each one of those cars spoke in the exact same voice.
 






viscosity

If your oil is taking that long to warm up maybe you should consider a different viscosity, it doesn't get that cold here in the winter, normally not to far below -20 but a lot of people, even with trucks, swich to a 5-30 for the winter. it should flow better and quicker. your tranny doesn't do anything when it's not in gear so saying it works better is a completely different thing, I agree that putting a load on the vehicle first thing is a lot better for it.
Normal driving conditions according to the manufactuers is starting a vehicle and dirving at 65 or above for ten minutes or so and then stopping and instantly shutting it of; no idle time.
 






Tbonejr said:
OK guys - I think this is a good show for MYTH BUSTERS . I think Ill send them this info and see if they will do the tests that will prove the truth.


I don't think the Mythbusters will do it.... there's really nothing to blow up on this one, and they'd likely start with wrecked motors anyways... :rolleyes:

-Joe
 






well they did do the tail gate up or down for better gas mileage but at the end they did blow the trucks up :eek:
Actually they took 2 brand new f150s and the one with the tail gate up actually got better gas mileage the one with it down lost aerodynamics and caused more drag on the truck. kinda oposite of popular opinion

oh yeah as for the warmup depending on a nuber of factors prolonged idiling could cause carbon bildup in the cumbustion chambers specifically in the head and on the top of the piston and will most likely cause detonation (pinging) but for the most part a 3 minute warmup will be good to any car
Nate
 






What they did in that test was a very non-objective test of two particular vehicles in an EXTREMELY uncontrolled test environment. None of those test results made for any conclusive evidence, and made for mediocre TV at best. Had they actually blown the trucks up, it might have been worth watching.

Now, if they had done some analytical testing of drag coefficients and drag forces on the different tailgate setups, then I would have been impressed.

-Joe
 






94explorer2x4 said:
well they did do the tail gate up or down for better gas mileage but at the end they did blow the trucks up :eek:
Actually they took 2 brand new f150s and the one with the tail gate up actually got better gas mileage the one with it down lost aerodynamics and caused more drag on the truck. kinda oposite of popular opinion

I found an SAE paper years ago where they did the same type of study; they also found that leaving the tailgate down increased drag and also increased lift on the pickup bed! Which is not really what you want on a vehicle where the weight is mostly on the front axle to begin with.
 






interesting.... increased lift.... sounds like that might be a good way to decrease rolling resistance, thereby increasing mileage, right? ;) ;) Might be time to fill those tires with Helium after all!!

-Joe
 






another aspect that might be considered is what if you start your car and drive for 3 blocks and then get on a highway...you have to accelerate harder and quicker on some highways/interstates to merge or whatever. In this case you might consider giving the car 3minutes or so to warm up before pounding down the interstate trying to merge into traffic...just my 2cents
 






gijoecam said:
What they did in that test was a very non-objective test of two particular vehicles in an EXTREMELY uncontrolled test environment. None of those test results made for any conclusive evidence, and made for mediocre TV at best. Had they actually blown the trucks up, it might have been worth watching.

Now, if they had done some analytical testing of drag coefficients and drag forces on the different tailgate setups, then I would have been impressed.

-Joe

Actually at the end they did a scaled down test in a "water tunnel" and using oatmeal in the water they could see that with the tail gate up it created a vortex that caused most of the oatmeal in the water to pass over the tailgate, and with it down the oatmeal just fell after the cab straight down into the bed and was causing a sort of pocket of low pressure that would explain the findings of the drive. Although I am not an expert on fluid dynamics I see the validity of the findings and agree with them.
This is my opinion and I am not asking any one else to feel this way but I personally will leave the tail gate up :thumbsup:
Nate
 






A engineer for a major auto manufacturer was asked to put a rest to this up down tailgate theory. He said that the trucks are designed to run with the tailgate up for the best gas mileage. He said that the bed fills up with air and the following air flows over it. When they determine their gas mileage figures the tailgate is up.
 






idaho said:
If your oil is taking that long to warm up maybe you should consider a different viscosity, it doesn't get that cold here in the winter, normally not to far below -20 but a lot of people, even with trucks, swich to a 5-30 for the winter. it should flow better and quicker. your tranny doesn't do anything when it's not in gear so saying it works better is a completely different thing, I agree that putting a load on the vehicle first thing is a lot better for it.
Normal driving conditions according to the manufactuers is starting a vehicle and dirving at 65 or above for ten minutes or so and then stopping and instantly shutting it of; no idle time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I didn't say it took that long for my oil to warm up. In my previous posts I have said that I sit in the car or truck for about 3-5 minutes SHIFTING the tranny from drive to netural to reverse a few times. In this time the engine and tranny are fully lubricated before I take off. Yup! I know its a PITA but I do it.
When you use multi viscosity oil (5-20 10-30 ETC) the oil starts off thin so the engine will start easier and the oil will flow faster to all the engine parts, then it thickens to provide better lubricating. Taking off with the oil in its thinner first stage is not what is best for a engine.
As far as me running the motor for up to 30 minutes, thats just for heat in the winter, heating up the interior, getting windows good and clear and allowing enough time for the rear defrosters and heated mirrors (some of mine have that) to clear up the glass. And NO! I don't sit in it for the whole 10-30 minutes waiting for everything to warm up. LOL!

As for that manufacturers recomendation, sorry but I just don't buy it. Most people do not even drive on the highway to get up to 65mph.
As far as i'm concerned thats the worse thing you can do to a engine, start and go up to 65mph right away. Besides most highways are not even close enough to do that. Some freeways are miles away so how could that even be done?
Ah! Just my view and experience.
 






Rick said:
The guy is an enviro nut...



Exactly. There was a total hidden agenda there! He didnt give a crap about the cars themselves, he only cared about trying to get people to let their vehicles idle less so that they wouldnt pollute as much. You could tell just the way certain things were said; same way you can tell when a person is beating around the bush when talking face to face. I didn't bother to read the whole thing because after a while I was turned off to it but out of the first half none of the opinions, whether from supergeniuses or not, were really substantiated by any factual evidence. Sorry dude, but i want to know WHY those engines apparently failed due to too much idling. To the fella whom has this guy as your professor I feel sorry for you because it seems like this fella is just another "educator" trying to push their hidden agenda onto others while masking it as something totally different; and no less using their somewhat high placement within the education system to do so. I like the idea of minimizing the harm we do to our environment but don't try to BS me with crap like that. Don't try to sell me lambchop from a bull. Just remember a Rope-a-dope should only be used for boxing. :p
 






Factoids aside
Can someone post some facts to the Question:is it bad to let your engine idle for extended periods on cold mornings.
This thread is going nowhere
 






99SportX said:
I don't agree with that. When my engine is really cold, I wait until the needle hits C before going anywhere. If I just start driving, everything feels like crap. Steering, transmission, even engine.


Exactly, and with my Explorer's tranny being as messed up as it is, it runs crappy if I don't bring it to running temperature
 






well now i got my remote start..mine runs for 18-25 mins before i leave in the morning. last few days its been -20 or more in the morning. by the time i get out and head to school(20 miles one way) it runs like it does on any summer day..everything is warm and feels like it should. when its cold and i take off(before i got the remote start) everything felt stiff..its hard to describe but i dont like it.

on a side note..when i'm at my dads house i take the highway to school in the morning. my trucks parked in a 60-70* garage there. and the highway is less then a mile down the road. now when i'm merging its full throttle untill i hit 70mph. some say this is harder on the truck..if so how?
 






I did not read all of the posts, but I will add this. My company truck (05 F150)gets started early in the morning and runs pretty much all day long. Thats right, 8 hours straight every day. It sits at idle for long periods every day. I have put 75000 EXTREMELY hard miles on it and havent had any problems. We run our gas trucks to 150,000 miles and our diesels to 200,000 and never have problems.
 



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spindlecone said:
Factoids aside
Can someone post some facts to the Question:is it bad to let your engine idle for extended periods on cold mornings.
This thread is going nowhere

I thought we debunked all arguements.
 






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