hey, was just ganna throw this question out there as i know lots of people round here that seem to like to leave there vehicles run( salesman, vetinarians,ect.)

and also the first year i had my truck one of my hunting partners left my 5.4 running for over an hour while she was blood trailing a deer cuz she didnt want to drain the battery(had lights on)

So does this put excess wear and tear on anything or just add miles to the engine that dont go on the odometer? And burn up insanely priced gas of course

Dan.

 

Of course it does, to both your questions. Reminds me that back in the 60's my Dad used to own a gas station, and during the winter up here in Northern Wisconsin he would park the car and leave it running all day so it was nice and toasty when he went home at night.....whoever bought his caddy after he traded it in every two years was getting a way more used vehicle than they bargained for.

 

In short, yes. Prolonged periods of idling is the hardest working experience an engine usually has, short in town driving without the engine ever reaching full operating temperature.

 

Two words: RING RIDGE........The cylinder walls wear with the rods never seeing any stretch. They never reach the top of their travel and the first time you put it on the rev limiter after that, they tend to stick. Sounds crazy, but it killed our farm truck..

 

In the good ole days of carbs, it was a bad thing to let a vehicle idle for too long. Now with the fuel injection and the computer controlling everything it's not a problem. Our company trucks and cars idle alot. I'm talking sometimes 10 hours a day. I'm not saying it doesn't do any harm, just that it's not that bad for a couple of hours. We have a company truck with 130,000 miles that has alot of idle time and it still outruns all of the newer vehicles. I wouldn't worry about an hour every now and then. No sweat.

 

I don't think it does much harm if it happens every once in a while but every day it can cause problems but with the price of gas these days I wouldn't let it idle very long.

 

X2 this is on the money