Excessive Idling?

5479 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Midnightsky228, May 13, 2017

Midnightsky228

Discussion Starter · May 11, 2017

Well delivery day is Saturday and I wanted to check in with the masses and ask about excessive idling. Over the years I have developed an affinity for sitting in nature spots in my car for hours on end, 1-3 hours. Historically in the summer I idle the vehicle during those periods with the A/C running and in winter idling with the heat on. Where I live it gets frigid cold in winter and gross dry heat in the summer, Alberta to be precise. My body has never gotten very good at adapting to the heat of summer or the frigid cold of winter so I rely on my vehicle to help balance things out. Why I do this? I enjoy the solidarity, the peace and quiet away from general city noises, its a great way to collect my thoughts and relax. I generally do this once or twice a day depending on various life circumstances. Typically I will watch red winged black birds, hawks/falcons, deer, and coyote's. Occasionally I will have music playing in the background sometimes at minimal volume and sometimes its blasting. At worst my vehicles will idle for 3-4 hours a day, at best 1 hour per day. What negative effects may this have on my 2017 Mazda 3 Hatch 2.5L engine? What suggestions would you give me to prevent any excessive wear on my engine from all this idling? I could reduce idle time but if I am starting/stopping the engine alot that puts extra wear on my battery and could require a new battery more often, which may in the end be a cheaper solution than replacing an engine. Also for the initial "break-in" period I would assume I need to prevent any idling, more or less at all costs correct? For about 1000-2000km? Any information, thoughts, and opinions are greatly appreciated.

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CJR238

· #2 · May 11, 2017

Midnightsky228 said:
Well delivery day is Saturday and I wanted to check in with the masses and ask about excessive idling. Over the years I have developed an affinity for sitting in nature spots in my car for hours on end, 1-3 hours. Historically in the summer I idle the vehicle during those periods with the A/C running and in winter idling with the heat on. Where I live it gets frigid cold in winter and gross dry heat in the summer, Alberta to be precise. My body has never gotten very good at adapting to the heat of summer or the frigid cold of winter so I rely on my vehicle to help balance things out. Why I do this? I enjoy the solidarity, the peace and quiet away from general city noises, its a great way to collect my thoughts and relax. I generally do this once or twice a day depending on various life circumstances. Typically I will watch red winged black birds, hawks/falcons, deer, and coyote's. Occasionally I will have music playing in the background sometimes at minimal volume and sometimes its blasting. At worst my vehicles will idle for 3-4 hours a day, at best 1 hour per day. What negative effects may this have on my 2017 Mazda 3 Hatch 2.5L engine? What suggestions would you give me to prevent any excessive wear on my engine from all this idling? I could reduce idle time but if I am starting/stopping the engine alot that puts extra wear on my battery and could require a new battery more often, which may in the end be a cheaper solution than replacing an engine. Also for the initial "break-in" period I would assume I need to prevent any idling, more or less at all costs correct? For about 1000-2000km? Any information, thoughts, and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Excessive idling is not good. Avoid it if at all possible.

Try walking in the woods, its better for you, your car and nature. The only way to adapt is to get out there and do it.:wink2:

Not sure there is anything you can do affordably to help your excessive idling.

Yes, you do not want the car to run at a specific RPM for too long. I took back roads mixed with highway for the first few thousand miles.

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CJR238

· #9 · May 13, 2017

oscargamer said:
have to disagree with a lot of the above

yes - for the first 1500km or so, you need to load up the engine with a mixture of all driving, full throttle etc... to seat in piston rings, try and avoid excessive idling during this period, try and avoid long periods with the same revs

after that, no issues - do what you want

our work cars run for about 8 hours a day, for various reasons we don't turn them off, sometimes they are driven for those 8 hours, sometimes they idle for 7 hours

NEVER EVER had any issues with any cars over the 15 years we have been doing this - we run about 200 vehicles like this, day in day out and sell them once they reach 60000km

You can beat the heck out of any car for 60000km/37282mi and not see the damage you have done, let alone what excessive idling will do. lol

Now if you had one that went over 200000km/124000mi that would be saying something.

I know i don't want a car that lasts under 100,000mi. lol

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CJR238

· #11 · May 13, 2017 (Edited)

Midnightsky228 said:
What type of damage would be created by excessive idling?

It doesn't really cause additional damage, just decreases the life of the car for the amount of idling you suggest.

Think of it for every hour you idle your putting 30 miles on the car. That could be an extra 1200mi+ a month, 14,000mi+ a year and 72000mi+ in 5 years. If you dump the car before 100000mi no big deal, but if you want it a long time and get the most out of it don't idol excessively and unnecessarily.

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