Extended idling thoughts?

What are your thoughts on extended idling with A/C on? Most days I grab lunch and park under a tree for 30 minutes (sometimes a nap is in order). It is getting darn hot down here, today it was 90 in the shade. I usually roll the windows down and I’m good. With summer here I want to keep the engine running with the A/C on. Thoughts?

 

There was a debate on this, it won't hurt anything IMO.

 

It increases head pressure due to added heat from not getting the same amount of air to cool the condenser as when driving. As with most things heat is what causes premature failures. You have to decide if your comfort is more important then possible early failure.
Also to consider is long idles like you are talking about do cause added wear to the engine. It all boils down to there are no free rides and what you feel you want most. The comfort with less parts life or longer parts life and some suffering.

 

Eat in the restaurant or go back to a work breakroom and stop wasting gas and money and creating pollution.

 

Also Transmission fluid may need to be changed sooner due to more heat buildup with extended idling.

 

Its not going to hurt anything, as long as your cooling system is in check it wont do a thing but waste minimal fuel. Ive done that quite a few times to eating in the truck for lunch and I have the torque app and gives me all my vitals to the truck and there all in check when idling for periods at a time

 

Click and Clack's take on the issue:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/idli...ar-there-are-other-reasons-why-its-lousy-idea

/thread

 

I drove around the country a few years ago in my Dodge 3500 van with my Husky. There were quite a few places that I stayed where it was too damn hot to sleep for both of us, so I left the van idling all night with the AC units on. Not saying it's good for the engine, but it's still running strong with over 300,000 on the clock. Keep the oil changed and you'll be fine. It's just a truck.

 

I don't think it hurts anything. My UltraGauge says engine temp is at about 185 degrees or so. That's the same temp as running the truck. It's like sitting in traffic.

 

Uhh what??? This couldnt be farther from the truth, I would understand this theory making sense in the 60's but not today with modern engines

 

He wasn't referring to the engine.

The bad far outways the good overall.

 

I located underground utilities for a couple of years and our fleet was about 120 5lug 2006-2008 Tacoma with the 2.7L. Of course the company wanted us to idle less but many of us idled for 6-8 hrs a day. I drove that truck for two years and 90% of the time I would start it in the morning and then turn it off in the evening. It ran all day long many times for 12-14hrs.

I received the truck with almost 70k on the clock and turned it in with 105k and never had a issue. As a matter of fact, when it was time for oil changes I could still see through the oil.

We hauled a shit ton of paint and tools in the back also. It looked like the trucks had broken leafs.

That is why I bought a Tacoma with the 2.7L and auto trans.

 

Company I work for has about 150 work trucks (ranging from chevy 1500s, F150s and tundras) all years from 88-2013, the majority of them idle NON stop all day 10 hours a day and have done this for years (I've been here 8 and counting).

 

Than what?

 

I worry about oil pressure at idle.

if an ultraguage can decide that its high enough, so be it. but remember, even if your at factory specs for pressure at idle, that's NOT what the truck was designed for. proper oiling occurs at cruising speeds. if your getting cruise rpm pressure at idle, you probably have something wrong.

until some sort of constant-flow pump is developed, I avoid excessive idling. not based on any sort of statistics, never heard of anyone's car blowing up from too much idling, just my logic.

and to the a/c thing, it wont be near as efficient operated at idle. in fact these trucks have crappy a/c till you get on the highway in my opinion

 

to be more specific, I think he's talking about high-side pressure in the a/c system getting high. high-pressure=high heat as its not being transferred off the condenser. to make matters worse, these trucks have an engine driven fan, which even when fully engaged will never move enough air at idle to give proper high-low differential for efficient a/c opperation

 

Ever since I got remote start I idle everywhere. In the winter I idle for probably a good 10 minutes every morning.
Does it cause increased wear, sure, but so does the act of driving your truck.
I personally bought my truck to use, and my previous three Toyota's each had over 400,000kms on them and engine wear was not the reason I got rid of them.

Shawn.

 

Ever seen a cop shut off a cop car? We usually got rid of them at about 180K and they were Fords. The Toyota fan locked up is more then sufficient to cool the condenser idling.