Idling uses up to ½ gallon of fuel per hour (although it varies depending on the type and size of the engine). It may not seem like much, but idling for a few minutes everyday can cost you several dollars per week.
Over the course of a year, a long-haul truck could idle for about 1,800 hours, using nearly 1,500 gallons of diesel, which is $5.82 per gallon in the US as of June 2022. For one heavy truck, the cost of idle fuel waste averages about $8,730. Idling a heavy-duty truck consumes about 0.8 gallon of fuel per hour.
Diesel engines don't burn much fuel at idle. Diesel engines create more heat by idling. Diesel engines must idle or they won't restart. engine wear, and should reduce air pollution.
The estimated fuel consumption of an idling engine is 0.6 litres / hr per litre of engine displacement. This means that an idling 3.5 litre engine consumes more than 2 litres of gas per hour.
An idling car uses between 1/5 to 7/10 of a gallon of fuel an hour. An idling diesel truck burns approximately one gallon of fuel an hour.
The most common reason to leave a truck idling, is severe weather. Both extreme cold and extreme hot weather, can present conditions where the driver may find it necessary to idle the truck, in order to be comfortable.
In a vacuum (and with infinite fuel), your engine would continue to run forever. But in reality, several things might occur if your car idles for too long. To avoid running your car for too long, you should only idle your vehicle for a few minutes at most before either moving your vehicle or turning the engine off.
How Long Can You Let Your Car Idle? Idling your car for 30 seconds to a minute is acceptable, and it will not cause any harm to your vehicle. With advanced technology, even if you let your car idle for a slight longer duration, it will not damage it.
As long as the engine is running and you aren't running low on fuel, you can keep your car idling with the AC on for as long as you'd like. However, you will want to avoid doing this with the engine off, as this will use up almost all of your battery power in a short time, leaving you in need of a jumpstart.
Idling longer than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more CO 2 compared to restarting the engine.
As a general rule of thumb, if it is below zero degrees Fahrenheit, you should allow your engine up to seven minutes to warm up. If the temperature is between zero and fifty degrees, the warm-up period should be three to five minutes. Over fifty degrees will only require one or two minutes to warm up.
Over-revving can cause damage to your valve train by causing a valve to stay open for too long – this leads to valve float. Valve float occurs when a valve is stuck in between open and closed. This will cause an immediate loss of power.
With winter in full swing, fleet owners may be thinking about what they should do to care for their diesel engines. The question on the minds of many this time of year is, “Should I let my diesel engine warm up?” Simply put, yes. In the colder months it's a good idea to let your engine warm up before you hit the road.
Unlike gasoline engines which run at a constant air to fuel ratio of 14:1, diesel engines use a variable fuel ratio. At idle they may be as low as 200:1 while under heavy load it may be 5:1. So diesel engines at idle consume very little fuel leaving little reason to shut them off.
It turns out diesel motors are very hard to start in cold weather, so to avoid the down time and cost waiting for a mechanic to come out to start your rig, the drivers would not shut down the engine.
Truckers, both independent owner-operators and fleet drivers, leave their engines idling for three main reasons: weather conditions, economic pressures, and old habits. In cold weather, a truck's engine and fuel tank need to stay warm.
As per sources the estimated fuel consumption of an idle care which is powered by 1000cc engine is about is 0.6 litres/hr and if the AC is on this figures doubles to around 1.2 liters/hr.
Is it safe to sleep in a car with the engine running? No, it's not safe to sleep in your car with the engine running. Leaving your car engine turned on while sleeping could lead to dangerous exhaust fumes containing carbon monoxide entering the vehicle.
Over time, idling can cause your head gasket, spark plugs, or cylinder rings to deteriorate and stop working. Drains car battery. Idling does not allow your battery to charge and causes it to strain.
In neutral, it's resting -- or at least as close to rest as an automatic ever gets. This shift is even more important when the air conditioner is running, so the engine doesn't have to strain so hard while idling. A manual transmission should be shifted to neutral at every stop.
"If your vehicle sits idle for too long, the battery could die, the tires can develop flat spots and the engine oil may start to deteriorate. Just a short solo drive once a week and a little car care will keep your car running efficiently and safely." When starting your car weekly, let it run for at least five minutes.
Poison gas leaking into the house poses a serious threat.
Warming a car for just two minutes raises the CO level to a dangerous 500 ppm. Measurable concentrations may linger for as much as 10 hours. People working in the garage as much as 10 hours later remain in danger.
Ray: Well, to answer your first question, leaving the car running all day won't do any damage. As long as the engine's cooling system is working normally, a modern car can run for days and days -- until it runs out of gas -- without causing itself any harm.
A properly designed and maintained car should handle idling for 8 hours with no significant overheating issues or undue wear. No issues!