Idling for extended periods - is it detrimental?

prydey · 30-07-2016, 06:23 PM

Hi,

I have a FG falcon 6cyl petrol. is it detrimental to the engine in any way to leave it idling for an hour or so, while you charge an electronic device? basically using it like a generator?

i do the odd bit of camping and have a power source that should be able to keep phones and stuff charged up for 3-4 days, but in the event it needs charging, i figured i could just use my car as a generator, as fuel is cheaper than forking out for some solar setup (in the short term anyway).

its not like this would be a regular thing. probably once every 3-6 months, not every day or week or anything like that.

thanks for any info in this regard.

Sox · 30-07-2016, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

Hi,

I have a FG falcon 6cyl petrol. is it detrimental to the engine in any way to leave it idling for an hour or so, while you charge an electronic device? basically using it like a generator?

i do the odd bit of camping and have a power source that should be able to keep phones and stuff charged up for 3-4 days, but in the event it needs charging, i figured i could just use my car as a generator, as fuel is cheaper than forking out for some solar setup (in the short term anyway).

its not like this would be a regular thing. probably once every 3-6 months, not every day or week or anything like that.

thanks for any info in this regard.

No problem at all.

**Charliewool** · 30-07-2016, 07:05 PM

Comon Rob....

**98TLS** · 30-07-2016, 07:21 PM

Interesting question really,old fellas ie like my old man had back in the day a habit of under the guise of "warming up" the car the notion to have the thing sitting idling for ages,in 74 he had an XY ute fitted with 351c and all the GT bling being a very young fella loved to listen to it burbling away but looking back have at times wondered if indeed it was a wise move,at idle how much oil was actually moving from a cold start? No big deal just a thought.

**Jastel** · 30-07-2016, 07:56 PM

Taxis idle all day everyday between jobs...cant get the drivers to turn them off.
Half capital cities cars spend hours idling in rush hour traffic.
Wont hurt...but why not just get another battery.

**98TLS** · 30-07-2016, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jastel

Taxis idle all day everyday between jobs...cant get the drivers to turn them off.
Half capital cities cars spend hours idling in rush hour traffic.
Wont hurt...but why not just get another battery.

Maybe the meters motor driven

prydey · 30-07-2016, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jastel

Wont hurt...but why not just get another battery.

they aren't cheap and i'm tighter than a fish's clacker

malazn mafia · 30-07-2016, 08:19 PM

Back in uni days, figured it was cheaper and more convenient to drive the LPG Falcon to uni than to take public transport. Would frequent the 2P spots out the front of uni and never pay a cent in parking. On days when I had to work all night then go to uni, I would just leave the engine idle and snooze in the front seat during breaks. Parking inspectors would leave me alone, as I technically wasn't parked, and I had air conditioning in summer and heater in winter

A falcon can be a surprisingly good power source. Once had a power blackout for 6 hours. Used the Falcon, and inverter and extension lead and had lighting and power source for the entire duration, and still had plenty of LPG left.

Crazy Dazz · 31-07-2016, 12:28 AM

Reality is is a modern EFI car, idling is probably no worse than any other form of running.

Although I doubt it's an efficient way to generate power.

A Battery, or battery pack, will pay for itself in fuel savings.

uniacidz · 31-07-2016, 01:08 AM

No problem at all

Sent via HTC Velocity + [HolicsROM v1.3] [SWEEP2WAKE]

Qwerty321 · 31-07-2016, 01:57 AM

I sure hope not. My car probably spends half its life idling, be it at signals or in gridlock.

Sometimes after a party if I'm too drunk to drive and its freezing I'll just turn the car on, run the heater and sleep in the passenger seat. Wasteful, I know, but Im not willing to ever drink drive it home and some mornings are just unbearably cold, so I just decide its worth forking out the fuel for the comfort. Considering usage is some 1-2L per hour on the readout, its not breaking the bank too much.

Anyway to answer your question. I have no idea whether idling is good or bad. Doesn't really matter cause your car will spend a hell of a lot of time idling throughout its life anyway, so idling for a couple hours to charge your gadgets really isn't an issue in the grand scheme of things at all.

roddy1960 · 31-07-2016, 10:20 AM

G'day..This is an interesting point...I live too far from work to walk ,especially on cold or rainy days but it's only a 5-6 minute drive and i start before 6am. I always go out and start the car five to ten minutes before I leave so the engine is starting to get to operating temp before I actually drive it. Then from 6.10 am til 12.30 pm (lunch time) she sits again..Re start the car for same drive home sometimes for lunch then back to work. At knock off time , 3pm, I'll often go for a bit of a drive on the highway to genuinely get the XR6 engine properly warm.before I go home .Maybe this is a mistake too.. Equally curious is seeing fellow workmates who I know have had their cars sitting for 8-9 hours so dead cold again and the go out , hit the starter and drive off like a F1 car within a couple of seconds..Is that even worse..Don't know..Cheers Rod..

Tassie f100 · 31-07-2016, 11:23 AM

Well I find that it takes about 15 mins to get the gauge up when idlng but only 3-4 when driving.My go is start up,put on seat belt, back out driveway and drive off normally.If you drive for acouple of kms worth of fuel to warm up I think that is very false economy.Plenty of tractor engines running water pumps run for hours at fairly low revs,doesn't seem to do any harm

**GO FURTHER** · 31-07-2016, 02:32 PM

The only time it is detrimental is in the "running in" period of a new car for the first 1,500kms.
This is stated in your Ford owners manual.
For example on page 6 of the FG MK2 owners manual .... Point 2 states;

"Do not allow the engine to idle for excessive periods of time"

FERG_51 · 31-07-2016, 03:54 PM

Not such a good idea with old school v8, tends to starve the cam of oil.

Ben73 · 31-07-2016, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roddy1960

G'day..This is an interesting point...I live too far from work to walk ,especially on cold or rainy days but it's only a 5-6 minute drive and i start before 6am. I always go out and start the car five to ten minutes before I leave so the engine is starting to get to operating temp before I actually drive it. Then from 6.10 am til 12.30 pm (lunch time) she sits again..Re start the car for same drive home sometimes for lunch then back to work. At knock off time , 3pm, I'll often go for a bit of a drive on the highway to genuinely get the XR6 engine properly warm.before I go home .Maybe this is a mistake too.. Equally curious is seeing fellow workmates who I know have had their cars sitting for 8-9 hours so dead cold again and the go out , hit the starter and drive off like a F1 car within a couple of seconds..Is that even worse..Don't know..Cheers Rod..

Funny you say that, in our work cars people will sometimes use WOT within the first minute of starting the engine in the middle of winter.
Other times these cars will idle for a couple of hours straight.
These cars have all lasted to 550,000kms before being sold. No idea about any long term damage though.

Vesper Martini · 01-08-2016, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prydey

they aren't cheap and i'm tighter than a fish's clacker

and its a lot of Idle hours to get to the price of a second battery

mike_nofx · 01-08-2016, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben73

Funny you say that, in our work cars people will sometimes use WOT within the first minute of starting the engine in the middle of winter.
Other times these cars will idle for a couple of hours straight.
These cars have all lasted to 550,000kms before being sold. No idea about any long term damage though.

And on the other hand, we have 3.0TD Hiluxes at work which spend hours each day just idling, and also full throttle take offs from stone cold, they're used on a private site and are speed limited to 40. So other than being able to redline 1st gear they never really get to 'open up'.

Engines are rebuilt with less than 20,000km on some of them. Inlet manifolds get clogged, turbos fail, EGR is the worst thing ever in these situations as are DPF's.

But to add to the OP, I'd say a modern petrol engine is fine, and possibly even more so an LPG engine is fine. CRD's on the other hand I would not do this to.

**aussiblue** · 01-08-2016, 07:20 PM

The real risk if you idle it while not in the cabin is that you could have a unnoticed cooling system failure and catastrophic overheat. But on some modern cars frequent extended idling can also cause the exhaust system to overheat and the catalytic convertor to fail prematurely. Note that car cooling systems are designed around have a moving vehicle and, despite thermatic fans, under-hood temperatures will rise with extended idling; this is probably why the exhaust system may overheat and there is an increased risk of a cooling system failure like a burst hose.

2.8L Hilux · 01-08-2016, 08:02 PM

I do this every year at the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 1000...
The car computer says it's using 1.3 - 1.5L/hour of fuel (about $1.80 worth)?
Saves lugging around a second battery (and far cheaper too!)

**janddbone** · 01-08-2016, 08:13 PM

A decent quality jump pack is handy to have day to day and makes a great power source camping. Cheers.

prydey · 01-08-2016, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by janddbone

A decent quality jump pack is handy to have day to day and makes a great power source camping. Cheers.

i have one of these

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JUMP-YOU-...-/121437122803

Ben73 · 01-08-2016, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

And on the other hand, we have 3.0TD Hiluxes at work which spend hours each day just idling, and also full throttle take offs from stone cold, they're used on a private site and are speed limited to 40. So other than being able to redline 1st gear they never really get to 'open up'.

Engines are rebuilt with less than 20,000km on some of them. Inlet manifolds get clogged, turbos fail, EGR is the worst thing ever in these situations as are DPF's.

But to add to the OP, I'd say a modern petrol engine is fine, and possibly even more so an LPG engine is fine. CRD's on the other hand I would not do this to.

We use 3.0TD Prados. Probably the same engine or very similar.
We do a lot of highway driving though. 550,000kms in 2 years involves a bit of highway speeds. They are not treated well, but hardly seam to have any problems. Almost no major ones at all. I think the worst was the injectors needing replacing. But im not sure how many of the 12 Prados we have needed that done.

Having said that I wouldn't want to buy one of these cars when we are done with them.

GTLEGEND · 01-08-2016, 11:36 PM

We were always taught that letting your engine idle would cause the bores to glaze....

mike_nofx · 02-08-2016, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben73

We use 3.0TD Prados. Probably the same engine or very similar.
We do a lot of highway driving though. 550,000kms in 2 years involves a bit of highway speeds. They are not treated well, but hardly seam to have any problems. Almost no major ones at all. I think the worst was the injectors needing replacing. But im not sure how many of the 12 Prados we have needed that done.

Having said that I wouldn't want to buy one of these cars when we are done with them.

I'm sure 550k in 2 years at highway speed is better to the engine than 20k of putting around over 3-4 years with hours and hours of idling each day. Proves my point though, idling a CRD and never allowing the engine to reach its potential is not good for it.

The terminal I work in has a fleet of maybe 12 hiluxes 10 Hiaces and 4 Dynas. The hiluxes and hiaces constantly have engine issues, theres never a day where there isnt an engine being worked on (not just serviced - repaired) for major failures for a hilux or hiace.

The Dynas on the otherhand are bulletproof. Older technology engines.

Junkyard-Dog · 02-08-2016, 03:25 PM

I can't speak for idling the engine all day everyday but it will be fine to do this every now and then to charge things up. I used to do the same thing in my ED when camping "back in the day" and that engine covered 400,000km before I sold it.

chevypower · 02-08-2016, 05:41 PM

I agree on the diesels, don't idle them for too long, you will clog up the particulate filter and cause glazing. Diesels need to be worked. http://towprofessional.com/2013/12/d...culate-filter/

Ben73 · 02-08-2016, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

I'm sure 550k in 2 years at highway speed is better to the engine than 20k of putting around over 3-4 years with hours and hours of idling each day. Proves my point though, idling a CRD and never allowing the engine to reach its potential is not good for it.

The terminal I work in has a fleet of maybe 12 hiluxes 10 Hiaces and 4 Dynas. The hiluxes and hiaces constantly have engine issues, theres never a day where there isnt an engine being worked on (not just serviced - repaired) for major failures for a hilux or hiace.

The Dynas on the otherhand are bulletproof. Older technology engines.

So I guess idling for extensive periods is ok, as long as you also drive it like a regular car as well.

Im sure you will be fine OP if it is just every now and then.

mike_nofx · 02-08-2016, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben73

So I guess idling for extensive periods is ok, as long as you also drive it like a regular car as well.

Im sure you will be fine OP if it is just every now and then.

Are the Prados you speak of idled for extended periods? Haha not sure how you can manage too much idling doing 550k in 2 years!

As an average estimate, the Hiluxes/Hiaces I mentioned would be stationary idling 6+ hours a day. Thats 42 hours of idling a week. Thats being conservative, its not unheard of for one of them to be not shut down once in a 24 hour period probably having travelled 10km or less in that time.

Ben73 · 02-08-2016, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Are the Prados you speak of idled for extended periods? Haha not sure how you can manage too much idling doing 550k in 2 years!

As an average estimate, the Hiluxes/Hiaces I mentioned would be stationary idling 6+ hours a day. Thats 42 hours of idling a week. Thats being conservative, its not unheard of for one of them to be not shut down once in a 24 hour period probably having travelled 10km or less in that time.

Not to that extent.
Some days they might get hardly any idle time. Maybe 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. Other times it could be couple of hours straight. I guess it's not much compared to your hiaces, a lot more than the average car though.

Our trains idle a hell of a lot more than the cars.
Have heard of idling times of 20 odd hours straight. On a normal 24 hour period they would idle for about 6 hours. Also it's common for some locomotives to have their engine running for 28 days straight. Surely they are designed for it though since this is completely normal behavior. I don't hear any problems due to excessive idling.