SteveLord

Idling for longer than a few minutes (tops) is of no benefit to you beyond defrosting windows. You're playing into an old myth....really badly I might say.

1994Vmax

No it actually makes the cab warm. Lots of days at work I don't shut it off... if it's -30 C or colder it can run all day for all I care. I have done it many times... short idle and jump in and drive when it's that cold... Well on my 1 hour journey maybe by the time I am 15 minutes in its "comfortable". Sure it blows heat right away driving... problem is the heat loss from the wind against the windshield and the fact the cab was negative 30 ambient to start with. You want to drive in that.. go hard. I don't. I spend enough time in the bloody cold that at least my truck can be warm. As far as " hard" on it... uh huh. The LQ4 in my 05 Sierra has a pile of hours on it... and 150000 miles... still doesn't burn oil and runs like a champ... and idled most of those hours from cold starts in ugly weather. Do what makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

SNOW.

The Remote Access cell phone starter allows a 30 minute run time. Use it quite often when trying to leave the office and other people stop for a question and five minutes turns into 20.

Toasty warm (or cilly cool) is worth the OMG the sky is falling engine wear to me.

rraiderr

I hear the not to let you truck idle for to long in cold weather often but I am curious to the sience behind it.


How is idling a vehicle for over 15 minutes bad? As far as the vehicle knows would it not be the same as driving minus the drivetrain wear?


Does sitting in traffic for long periods or have the same negative effects of idling it for over 15 minutes?

Farmerdan

Reason I ask is that I have COPD and breathing cold air is not a good thing. I can't afford to retire and stay in the house so I need a warm truck to jump into when the air gets to me. In single digit temps just the walk across the parking lot is enough to get me. My '98 Silverado would run for an hour, even as primitive as it was.

R&L's F150

If it were bad for the engine remote start wouldn't come standard on just about every vehicle nowadays.

1994Vmax

There are a couple ways to look at it. Any cold engine start is bad...... whether you drive it right away or not doesn't mean jack. Now really getting on the engine especially at cold temps is probably more detrimental in ways than it sitting idling. Every engine has clearance on journals for bearings...... and namely here piston to wall in the cylinder. You test those limits on cold engines. How? Cylinder to wall will be the worst and front wheel drive transverse mounted V6 and V8's show it the most. The piston no matter what will expand more quickly than the water jacketed cylinder that surrounds it. You don't have a lot of piston to wall..... 2 or 3 thou at the absolute highest and even maybe 1.5 thousandth of an inch.....on most production engines. That's not a lot.... that piston heats up and swells and there is a chance of scuffing. Why I mentioned transverse mounted engines is those front 3 cylinders have no protection from air coming through the radiator. Almost every transverse mount V6 I have seen torn down shows scuffing in the front 3 cylinders and not the rear 3 as they are protected from the wind. Cold start.... give 'er...... and it will damage them in time. The front cylinders on a conventional mount are the same deal but usually engine accessories help block some of that air blast. They can scuff too....... On the flip side super hot running engines will do the same thing and the last cylinders in line to get coolant will always be scuffed. It's life.... you can clearance accordingly.


Now a couple trains of thought....... idle will slow the cylinder being able to warm and expand to full size at operating temp. Now driving will make it warm up quicker...... but then it has to deal with a lot more RPM that may cause contact idle may not. Oil is always thickest and hardest to pump cold..... it may starve things a bit on initial start but should be alright once primed and running.


The other side is fueling. A cold engine requires more fuel to idle than a hot one..... just like why a choke existed in the old days on a carb. So a cold engine idling and warming more slowly will run richer longer than one driven. Once you warm adequately to achieve closed loop ( which is not thermostat set temp...... it's probably around 120 or 130 degrees f) then fueling is fueling lol. Will that additional fuel at cold idle wash the walls.... a bit yeah. Most fuel injected engines though are pretty good...... I have dealt with fleets of trucks for a long time now..... they don't randomy blow up because they idle all the time cold to warm up.... and then on throughout the day. They just don't.


I said it already...... do whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Basically none of you reading this will ever own the trucks in question long enough to see anything detrimental done to them from any kind of hot cold cycles.......

steve392

I believe mythbusters proved that starting and letting it run actually uses less gas then starting it and then driving it to warm up. Starting and letting it idle, its pretty much at a given rpm, while driving your going up in the rpm range alot higher then idling.

But yea, I bought a remote start for a reason. I'll start it and let it run for its 15 minute max. If it turns off before I get outside, i'll just hit the remote again. I got sick and tired of freezing for 15 minutes before I had heat even in my 2011 which did warm up faster then my 97 and 98 f150's. Those took forever.

mmc45414

I tried to find a link, but it is my understanding the shorter run times were implemented after a guy (coincidently, in my cousin’s neighborhood in the Lexington area) who was asleep on his couch rolled over on his keys, started the truck in the garage and the whole family didn’t wake up. Ever.

SteveLord

They are not standard by any means. It's s good money maker for dealers and Afternarket shops.

And yes, I have one. I like having one. I live in Iowa. I hate the cold. But even this morning the truck warms up faster after just a few minutes on the road compared to being idle for the same amount of time and even longer.