Idle Nightmare

Joined
Jun 27, 2016
Messages
1,332
Location
Minnesota
Just a quick story i thought may make a few of you cringe. I walk through a neighborhood next to mine 2-3 times a day when it's nice. I like to observe and just take in my surroundings.

Saturday morning around 7am I walked by and this 2018/2019 Camry is idling in the driveway. No big deal people warm up cars all the time. I then walked by again later around 4pm, the car was idling again. I figured it was strange but hey maybe i just walked by the 2 times they were heading out.

Sunday morning I walk by and the car is still idling in the driveway. Now I'm pretty sure someone has forgotten that the car is running or something. I was tempted to walk up to the door but decided it wasn't any of my business. The final straw is when i walked by Sunday night around 7pm and it was still sitting there running. I walked up to the door and knocked, rang the bell but no one answered. I know the guy next door so we called the police and they came and checked it out. The conclusion was that they had left for the weekend (other neighbor saw them) and had just forgotten the car on.

The car sounded bad on Sunday. Huge puddle of condensation under the exhaust and the sound was distorted from what i assume was moisture in the exhaust. The car will probably run for another 200k flawless miles but it makes me cringe that the poor thing sat there for 2 days idling. Especially when i try to avoid idling for 15 minutes at the car wash!
 
I've had five remote starts installed in the past 20-25 years. I made sure beforehand that the store technician / installer set the 'run-time' at 10-20 minutes, depending on what the make/model offered.

I had to return to the store one time a couple days later. For the original remote-start on my Colorado would keep the engine running indefinitely. I recall the store salesman seeing me return and recommending I leave it in that indefinite setting.

I handed him the keys - pointed to where my Colorado was parked outside - then called my wife to pick me up at the installation location. Got a call about 4-5 hours later, saying my vehicle was ready for pickup.

I guess we-all know the moral to this story........
 
Some vehicles can be remote started 1000 miles away using your cellphone like some Hyundai's and I'm sure others.
If you have keyless start in some Hyundai's, you can start the vehicle, get out, it still runs but gives you a warning beep, but you can leave the key out of the vehicle and keep driving it.
So some Hyundai's with keyless start have the potential to be stolen if left unattended to warm up.
 
Wow! I would have to believe the computer would allow the car run until it would be harmful to the engine and then go to limp mode or shut down entirely. Glad it's not my car. The car shouldn't run any higher temperature than if going down the interstate at 80 mph therefore more than likely there was no harm done. These newer cars are pretty amazing if everything is working properly. Now, if the serpentine belt were to break while running that long you would have a big problem or if it leaked out all the anti freeze or used up all the oil and so on.
 
In northern Canada and Alaska many cars idle for days at a time.''30 years ago days of idle was a manufacturer test. I assume it still is.

Rod
 
A common feature with after-market remote starts in Canada is a temperature driven automatic start to keep the coolant temp at a certain level. It is especially common with diesel trucks in the oilpatch.
 
The owner is extremely fortunate that no one took the car. Around here a running car like that left alone would be gone in minutes.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
The owner is extremely fortunate that no one took the car. Around here a running car like that left alone would be gone in minutes.
Factory (and most aftermarket) remote start systems won't allow this to happen.
 
Originally Posted by wag123
Originally Posted by PimTac
The owner is extremely fortunate that no one took the car. Around here a running car like that left alone would be gone in minutes.
Factory (and most aftermarket) remote start systems won't allow this to happen.


As soon as you touch the brake it stalls the engine without the key present and on, or the fob equivalent.

And you have to touch the brake to get it out of park.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
Some vehicles can be remote started 1000 miles away using your cellphone like some Hyundai's and I'm sure others.
If you have keyless start in some Hyundai's, you can start the vehicle, get out, it still runs but gives you a warning beep, but you can leave the key out of the vehicle and keep driving it.
So some Hyundai's with keyless start have the potential to be stolen if left unattended to warm up.


This is how every car built in the last 10 years with keyless start has operated for me. Once the engine is started you can remove the keys from the vehicle but still drive anywhere. But you just won't be able to restart the engine without the smart access key, obviously.
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
As soon as you touch the brake it stalls the engine without the key present and on, or the fob equivalent.

And you have to touch the brake to get it out of park.

This sounds good but I still hear about newer cars being stolen. Thieves have some kind of frequency snatching device that can trick the car computer to allow the engine to start and go without the fob. That's why my fobs are stored in a faraday pouch when at home.

My CX5 makes a lot of racket if I leave the engine running and while I walk away from the car with the fob. I guess this car didn't do that?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by buddylpal
Originally Posted by skyactiv
Some vehicles can be remote started 1000 miles away using your cellphone like some Hyundai's and I'm sure others.
If you have keyless start in some Hyundai's, you can start the vehicle, get out, it still runs but gives you a warning beep, but you can leave the key out of the vehicle and keep driving it.
So some Hyundai's with keyless start have the potential to be stolen if left unattended to warm up.


This is how every car built in the last 10 years with keyless start has operated for me. Once the engine is started you can remove the keys from the vehicle but still drive anywhere. But you just won't be able to restart the engine without the smart access key, obviously.


I learned that the hard way with a previous vehicle, an '08 Mitsubishi Lancer. I started the car, then realized I forgot my wallet in the house. I used the keys to unlock the front door, grabbed my wallet, then got in the car and drove to the store. When I got there and shut the car off, I reached in my pocket to lock the car... oh no... the keys are still in my front door. Thankfully the store was only about a mile from my house.
 
This is how people end up accidentally killing themselves. If this were left running in the garage, that could have been bad. It is also the reason I have Carbon Monoxide alarms installed in my house.

This could also be a function of the push button start. I've heard stories about that on Toyotas before. In fact I think there was a recall on the Volt to install auto shut off software, even though the deaths I read about involved the Prius. Toyota, at the time, pretty much said "your tough luck".

As far as remote start. The Mercedes shuts the engine off after remote start as soon as the outside door handle is touched.
 
Yeah just goes to show the cats cool down and quit working during extended idle. You see it in cop cars when they sit and idle in the median looking for speeders. Steam coming out of the exhaust
 
Originally Posted by motor_oil_madman
Yeah just goes to show the cats cool down and quit working during extended idle. You see it in cop cars when they sit and idle in the median looking for speeders. Steam coming out of the exhaust

Steam is an indication that the converter has quit working?
 
This is just another reason why I never bought into the hype of remote starters.
Nothing that wearing an additional layer of clothes (in winter) or parking in the shade (in summer) can't alleviate.
 
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