Vehicle idling - why do drivers do it?

[Mattym]

And it does add a good second to the takeoff time when the lights turn green.

I'm all for start/stop engine at the lights/in traffic jams etc, until you have to replace the battery- £180 for a small golf, can only imagine what it costs for a bigger car! I don't do it anymore at lights for that reason.

 

[MickiQ]

That's not advisable though. You can crack the windscreen.

No I'm pretty sure you can't, people have been saying that for years and I've been doing it for that long. I think the cracked windscreen is an urban myth. Water from the tap is only about 40C. Maybe if you live in Alaska and you tip boiling water over it in at 30 below you might but modern toughened glass on a cold East Midlands morning its nonsense

 

[weltweit]

Nevertheless I can certainly recall being warned about putting warm water on a cold windscreen. Perhaps the extremes exist elsewhere but I think if you had a fault in your windscreen pouring warm water over it could possibly cause a crack.

 

[ska invita]

regular long taxi queue outside kings x/st pancras station....all cabs stationary...all idling...

 

[maomao]

regular long taxi queue outside kings x/st pancras station....all cabs stationary...all idling...

The one inside Euston is the worst. The whole space is so fill of fumes that you can barely smell the cabbies urinating on their rear offside wheels.

 

[keybored]

That's not advisable though. You can crack the windscreen.

I used to do it with boiling water from the kettle if I was in a rush, never had a crack from it.

Indeed but British cold weather starting is nothing when you compare it to Canadian winter starting. I think I read somewhere that in Canada you plug your car in to an electric heater to keep the cylinder block from turning to Ice.

A friend who moved to Canada 20 odd years ago said (IIRC) her car could be started and then locked, so she could run the engine to melt the ice without the risk of the car being stolen. I don't think she was in the coldest parts of Canada.

 

[weltweit]

I used to do it with boiling water from the kettle if I was in a rush, never had a crack from it.


A friend who moved to Canada 20 odd years ago said (IIRC) her car could be started and then locked, so she could run the engine to melt the ice without the risk of the car being stolen. I don't think she was in the coldest parts of Canada.

I suppose if I had a second key I could do that here in the UK despite that it's illegal. Anyhow my idling whilst demisting the windows whilst scraping the outside, technique seems to work pretty well.

 

[keybored]

I'm all for start/stop engine at the lights/in traffic jams etc, until you have to replace the battery- £180 for a small golf, can only imagine what it costs for a bigger car! I don't do it anymore at lights for that reason.

My Passat has stop/start (which I think is great and refuse to disable) and takes a huge AGM battery, which died at the beginning of this year. I had to get one at short notice from Halfords for £130 but they can be had online for <£90 if you're able to wait a couple of days for delivery. Easy to swap yourself, if you don't have the tools to program your car the car will just "learn" it has a new battery anyway after a few journeys (at least for VWs).

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Mine is a manual the engine will restart when the clutch is pressed in the auto version it restarts when the accelerator is pressed.
It stops when the vehicle is in neutral and not moving, you don't need to be pressing any pedals. (It has an auto handbrake feature as well and that is brilliant)
Turning right across a flow of traffic I drop into neutral rather than sit there with my foot on the pedal. If I do that engine will stop when I release the pedal and I don't want it to. It will start again when I press the clutch to put it in gear but I just don't like that since it adds an extra element I consider unecessary.

Mine's automatic and the engine turns back on when you take you foot off the brake if it is in drive, if in park you can take your foot off the brake and the engine stays off until you touch the accelerator.

 

[keybored]

I suppose if I had a second key I could do that here in the UK despite that it's illegal. Anyhow my idling whilst demisting the windows whilst scraping the outside, technique seems to work pretty well.

I'll try this, I'd assumed locking it with the other key would turn on the immobiliser and shut the engine down.

But I think the better (environmentally) option might be to remember to cover the car with a light tarp the night before to reduce frost.

 

[Aladdin]

That's not advisable though. You can crack the windscreen.

Only if its hot water....surely?

 

[ska invita]

Theres a pub fact that says it uses more energy (petrol?) to turn the engine on and off again (standard key in the ignition fashion) - always wondered, is that true?

 

[souljacker]

No I'm pretty sure you can't, people have been saying that for years and I've been doing it for that long. I think the cracked windscreen is an urban myth. Water from the tap is only about 40C. Maybe if you live in Alaska and you tip boiling water over it in at 30 below you might but modern toughened glass on a cold East Midlands morning its nonsense

I think the problem is if you already have a small crack. Then even a slight change in temp will cause a bigger crack to form. That's what I was always told anyway.

The other thing is if you have a diesel that has a particulate filter, I was told by VW that you should always let your car warm up before driving so you should let it idle for 5 mins before driving away.

 

[Mattym]

My Passat has stop/start (which I think is great and refuse to disable) and takes a huge AGM battery, which died at the beginning of this year. I had to get one at short notice from Halfords for £130 but they can be had online for <£90 if you're able to wait a couple of days for delivery. Easy to swap yourself, if you don't have the tools to program your car the car will just "learn" it has a new battery anyway after a few journeys (at least for VWs).

Convenience costs.

 

[keybored]

I was told by VW that you should always let your car warm up before driving so you should let it idle for 5 mins before driving away.

That's probably the time it takes for their emission cheating program to switch off again.

 

[platinumsage]

I can start my Volvo’s engine using my phone from anywhere in the world. It’s useful to get the heated seats and steering wheel going on a cold day before I leave the house, although it occasionally surprises a passer by.

 

[two sheds]

My dad would have agreed. He used to switch the engine off when going downhill. Eco-driving before his time

This is of course illegal and not to be recommended.

 

[Saul Goodman]

No. That what hazard warning lights are for. When you turn them on they give you instant immunity to parking legislation.

A lot of cars also come with a reflective triangle in the boot, for those times when you're going to be more than 5 minutes.

 

[Saul Goodman]

I can start my Volvo’s engine using my phone from anywhere in the world. It’s useful to get the heated seats and steering wheel going on a cold day before I leave the house, although it occasionally surprises a passer by.

That'd be handy if you were in Tokyo and wanted the car warm when you got back to London.

 

[nottsgirl]

Because they’re cunts.

 

[spanglechick]

No I'm pretty sure you can't, people have been saying that for years and I've been doing it for that long. I think the cracked windscreen is an urban myth. Water from the tap is only about 40C. Maybe if you live in Alaska and you tip boiling water over it in at 30 below you might but modern toughened glass on a cold East Midlands morning its nonsense

I was also told it can freeze as a sheet of ice which you then have to scrape off. Has that ever happened?

Tbf, I also have to scrape ice off the inside of my windscreen (one of the doors has a bit of a gap after a mechanic bent the top open to unlock it when my ex licked the keys inside. It never quite bent back prpwrly, so on cold mornings there is dew inside and on frosty ones, a thin layer of frost/ice. When you scrape that off from the driver’s seat you essentially get covered in snow.

 

[MickiQ]

I was also told it can freeze as a sheet of ice which you then have to scrape off. Has that ever happened?

Tbf, I also have to scrape ice off the inside of my windscreen (one of the doors has a bit of a gap after a mechanic bent the top open to unlock it when my ex licked the keys inside. It never quite bent back prpwrly, so on cold mornings there is dew inside and on frosty ones, a thin layer of frost/ice. When you scrape that off from the driver’s seat you essentially get covered in snow.

Yes it has, Based entirely on personal experience I have discovered that if you tip warm water onto frost on a cold car then it will indeed freeze to ice which is a pain to get off (much harder than the initial frost in fact). Experience has taught me to fetch my water, lock the door (house) unlock and start the car and THEN tip the water. The first couple of times I tried it I used a kitchen jug and went back into the house to return it only to discover I faced even more work.
That's why I now use an old pop bottle which lives just outside the front door so I don't have to take it back inside the house and leave the car unattended.
I just tuck it behind one of the big planters that stands either side of the front door. It has disappeared once or twice, I don't know if it has blown away or been pinched. I can't imagine why anyone would want to nick an empty plastic pop bottle but nowt so strange as folk.
It's particularly easy with the current car which has heated front and rear windows, heated mirrors and a very powerful heater. The last winter was abnormal since I worked from home but previous winters whilst waiting for my car to get fully warm, I would often quickly scrape the top layer of ice off my wife's car.

 

[krtek a houby]

See it all the time near work and outside the convenience stores. Close to the station, so guessing that someone is coming off the train for lift.

 

[Winot]

Theres a pub fact that says it uses more energy (petrol?) to turn the engine on and off again (standard key in the ignition fashion) - always wondered, is that true?

Lots of myth buster pages about this sort of thing but can’t find any with sources.

Engine idling - London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Traffic is one of the major causes of air pollution. Reducing emissions from road transport is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve local air quality.

www.richmond.gov.uk

 

[farmerbarleymow]

No I'm pretty sure you can't, people have been saying that for years and I've been doing it for that long. I think the cracked windscreen is an urban myth. Water from the tap is only about 40C. Maybe if you live in Alaska and you tip boiling water over it in at 30 below you might but modern toughened glass on a cold East Midlands morning its nonsense

You could save on the energy required to heat the tap water by pissing on your windscreen instead.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Last year there was a bloke sat outside my house, with his engine running, playing a first person shooter type game on his ipad (I am high up and could see the screen) for over 5 HOURS!!!
I did think about going and having a word but I didn't have the guts and also thought maybe this is better than losing his shit with his family during lockdown.

I think that I would have 'accidentally' dropped a balloon full of paint on him, from your great height.

 

[Sasaferrato]

No I'm pretty sure you can't, people have been saying that for years and I've been doing it for that long. I think the cracked windscreen is an urban myth. Water from the tap is only about 40C. Maybe if you live in Alaska and you tip boiling water over it in at 30 below you might but modern toughened glass on a cold East Midlands morning its nonsense

It isn't. The reason I know this is because it happened to me. I had done it for ever on frosty mornings, then came the 'cracking' noise.

 

[ska invita]

Lots of myth buster pages about this sort of thing but can’t find any with sources.

Engine idling - London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

Traffic is one of the major causes of air pollution. Reducing emissions from road transport is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve local air quality.

www.richmond.gov.uk

"We are asking drivers to switch off engines when their vehicle is parked for more than 1 minute. This does not apply if you are stopped at traffic lights or a pedestrian crossing of any kind, or if your vehicle has broken down and it is necessary to run the engine to fix the problem."

im specifically thinking about traffic lights. I turn off the engine at certain slow traffic lights but not sure if its actually helping

 

[Sasaferrato]

"We are asking drivers to switch off engines when their vehicle is parked for more than 1 minute. This does not apply if you are stopped at traffic lights or a pedestrian crossing of any kind, or if your vehicle has broken down and it is necessary to run the engine to fix the problem."

im specifically thinking about traffic lights. I turn off the engine at certain slow traffic lights but not sure if its actually helping

What is a fact is that when you take off, in first gear you are doing circa 2-3000 revs. Every you take off, this happens. Why aren't the lights on roundabouts set so you can get right round? We have one where you stop and start three times going round.

 

[MickiQ]

You could save on the energy required to heat the tap water by pissing on your windscreen instead.

Don't think I could produce 2 ltrs of it in 1 go and if I saved it up it would be cold by the time I came to use it