Leaving the engine run All night long (all night)

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If you leave your engine always running you will save wear and tear on the ignition switch, and starter motor. They can be expensive if you ever have to replace them..
 
Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver
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No seriously i don't know if you are trolling or if you are serious... i would never leave an engine running all night unless it was -50 degrees outside and i didn't have a block heater on a car, its a massive waste of gas, it creates wear on the engine, it's unnecessary pollution etc etc etc.


No trolling in his post.

I have seen -40C - without windchill and I don't live in the coldest areas of Canada. At that temp using a block heater may not be enough as the block heater does warm the coolant, but the oil pan is not heated That means a 15W-40 in a diesel will be like molasses. Good luck with starting at that point.

If you run a block heater, oil pan heater, and heated battery blanket, you will probably start, but with heavier duty trucks, you start running out of electrical power on a normal 15 AMP circuit to power all those accessories.

I was at a natural gas trucking conference a couple of years ago. Emterra, a refuse company in Winnipeg Manitoba (known as Winterpeg" in Canada) had launched a new fleet of NG refuse trucks. They could not get enough heat into the engines by plugging them in and had to resort to insulated engine boxes and run 20 AMP service.
They were experiencing up to 50% downtime before they took the extreme measures.

So yes, leaving your truck running to avoid a no start is a reality where it gets really cold.

Edit: Just looked up Emterra, they won't be getting the business after 2017.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-waste-contracts-1.3783784
 
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My 06 Crown Vic Police Car i bought used last year, must have idled alot during its service life, it has almost 7000 idle hours on it plus 105000 miles with no ill effects, but i dont let idle much any more.
 
And something that never seems to be mentioned, a fuel fired coolant heater. Yes, they come in both diesel and gasoline varieties. Not cheap, but not terribly expensive either. Webasto and Espar are the two major brands and have been around for a long time. Can be set on a timer and when they start up, they can have an engine, even a larger heavy truck engine, up to 140F in less than an hour even at -50F outside temp after the engine has been shut off for 24 hrs. Uses less than 1/8th of a gallon of fuel from the vehicle tank to do it. And these thing can be plumbed in creative ways to also warm tank fuel (diesel) and the oil pan. So the old argument that "there is no plug in so there is no way to keep the engine warm with a block heater" doesn't fly anymore. For those that actually deal with cold issues frequently and not just academically, we have figured out how to get the job done.

We never seemed to have such a terrible time in the interior of Alaska when I live there for 10 years. Folks actually used the gray matter between their ears that they were given and some common sense which is sorely lacking nowadays.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
I have with my Civic to keep an 2500 watt inverter running to power my boiler and fridge during power outage.


2500W is a nearly 200A load on your alternator...I'm sure it's fine as a peak load.
 
There was a TV show where some guys drove Porsches across Alaska in winter and they did let them idle all night. If I remember right they didn't use use as much fuel as expected. I know a few people who drove home drunk and left there car running in the yard overnight. Still running with the radio on and the door open the next day.
 
lol- I've seen that!

Originally Posted By: RedOakRanch
There was a TV show where some guys drove Porsches across Alaska in winter and they did let them idle all night. If I remember right they didn't use use as much fuel as expected. I know a few people who drove home drunk and left there car running in the yard overnight. Still running with the radio on and the door open the next day.
 
I have done work as a security guard and had to set in my truck (toyota tacoma) for 8 to 12 hours per night and left the motor running for 8 hours or so to run the heater.
at the time temps were below freezing
 
Originally Posted By: ShotGun429
My 06 Crown Vic Police Car i bought used last year, must have idled alot during its service life, it has almost 7000 idle hours on it plus 105000 miles with no ill effects, but i dont let idle much any more.


Around here, police cars are required to be idled as long as the car is on duty. Literally as long as they are not filling up on gas, the cars are idling. even when they are inside dealing with an issue. I was told they aren't allowed to turn them off for any reason other than gas while on duty and they have to have a receipt with time stamp to prove it. It sounds like a huge waste of gas to me, but that is their choice, not mine.
 
I'm not going outside if its colder than -15F. Stay home stay warm. Some don't have that luxury.

My across the street neighbor, who does short and medium hauls, will leave his rig idling all night if its gonna be below zero. That's a International 9200 cab chassis I think.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Why would someone do that?

There are people in Alaska and Canada's deep north who do it all the time.
 
i don't know about ye but leaving your engine on all night while you are sleeping is not a good idea at all.. If it gets that cold where you live its really time to move into civilization ..
What happens if you get a leak while you are sleeping or if it overheats.... What about the cats on you car? Fire?
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Do the truckers leave the engine running when they sleep in their cab on the side of the road?


Yes, they do. My older brother was a trucker in the 90's and I accompanied him on a few trips in the freezing winter.

We'd sleep in the back of the cab (where the bed was) and leave the engine running all night for the cab heater. It also kept the engine warm so as to prevent start-up issues (in -40C temps, they can make owning a diesel a real headache).

The small amount of fuel used was FAR cheaper than the time and money of a service call to get it running.
For longhaul trucks, time IS money
 
It's a very common thing to do in Alaska. I know a guy that works on an oil rig and they leave things running for months at a time.
 
Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Do the truckers leave the engine running when they sleep in their cab on the side of the road?


Yes, they do. My older brother was a trucker in the 90's and I accompanied him on a few trips in the freezing winter.

We'd sleep in the back of the cab (where the bed was) and leave the engine running all night for the cab heater. It also kept the engine warm so as to prevent start-up issues (in -40C temps, they can make owning a diesel a real headache).

The small amount of fuel used was FAR cheaper than the time and money of a service call to get it running.
For longhaul trucks, time IS money


Agreed, and with the wider scale introduction of APUs, idling has been reduced, in our Class 8 fleet to less than 5% of engine run time.
However, the APU only circulates/warms the engine coolant. The problem becomes the engine oil in the sump is not heated and when you hit -40C, you still need to idle the engine or plug in with an oil pan heater.

Maybe we should take the earlier suggestion and move to civilization - where was that poster from - New Jersey ?

Now that's the ticket......

crazy.gif
 
We did it all the time in the expediting of freight,,,gas and diesel,,never hurt the engines, some engines idle for two or three days , just shut off for refueling, but that was the real world of freight,,,home owner types that park at work and so on,,,would never do that, does not even compute in their world....
 
Where I live we do hit -40F often enough, had -38F in a few spots at 6am this morning and temps don't start rising till almost 10am. Never had my diesel not start if I keep the block heater plugged in and I know it'll start at the end of the work day today at -10 without being plugged in. Modern synthetics don't get that thick in the cold and has never been an issue with anything I've driven. Fuel isn't even an issue as long as it's properly treated and doesn't gel up.

I can see remote equipment being kept running but the fuel oil coolant heaters are used by most of the loggers around here and they rarely have any issues with the equipment starting when the coolant temp never drops below 140, kinda nice getting out of the truck and having heat in the cab of the skidder as soon as they turn the key.
 
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