[tonyfisk]

I'm unsure as to which of us is nuts, but...

During frosty weather, the bloke opposite is in the habit of following this process...

1. Go out to his and wife's cars, parked on public road
2. Start both cars.
3. Lock cars
4. Go indoors (OPTIONALLY : stand in street having a shouted conversation with a passing relative, then go indoors)
5. Leave cars idling for long enough for engine heat to have dispersed all frost on car
6. Come back outside
7. Unlock cars
8. Switch off engines
9. Lock cars
10. Go back indoors

I am uncertain about the benefits of this process - I am guessing that its purpose is to defrost the car without any need of manual effort, use of chemicals, or risk to paintwork.

The negative impact I think is obvious - fuel burn, pollution, engine wear, fume & noise nuisance to neighbours. But also I thought that running an engine in an unattended car on a public road was an offence anyway (locked or not) - am I mistaken?

Just in case you were wondering, I :-
1. scrape/clear the screen,
2. start the engine
3. drive off gently...end of.

 

[aljshep]

I am of the opinion that running a cold engine causes excessive engine wear and so never use the car unless I am making a return journey of at least seven miles or more, in order to have as few cold starts as possible. Like you, I clear the car, start up and drive off slowly.

 

[mikeloadsasaabs]

I'm unsure as to which of us is nuts, but...

During frosty weather, the bloke opposite is in the habit of following this process...

1. Go out to his and wife's cars, parked on public road
2. Start both cars.
3. Lock cars
4. Go indoors (OPTIONALLY : stand in street having a shouted conversation with a passing relative, then go indoors)
5. Leave cars idling for long enough for engine heat to have dispersed all frost on car
6. Come back outside
7. Unlock cars
8. Switch off engines
9. Lock cars
10. Go back indoors

I am uncertain about the benefits of this process - I am guessing that its purpose is to defrost the car without any need of manual effort, use of chemicals, or risk to paintwork.

The negative impact I think is obvious - fuel burn, pollution, engine wear, fume & noise nuisance to neighbours. But also I thought that running an engine in an unattended car on a public road was an offence anyway (locked or not) - am I mistaken?

Just in case you were wondering, I :-
1. scrape/clear the screen,
2. start the engine
3. drive off gently...end of.[/b]

Can't comment on your mental state CitTone :grin: but he is! And yes, it's definitely an offence to leave a vehicle unattended with the engine running whether locked or unlocked. Quite frankly he wants a good talking to! My guess he's perhaps older (70s?), sounds like something my dad would do!

 

[butch_mz]

Yes, he commits the offence of 'quitting'. Rarely used as, thankfully, there are not that many people out there that stupid. What normally happens though is the car is usually stolen, locked or unlocked.

I'm unsure as to which of us is nuts, but...

During frosty weather, the bloke opposite is in the habit of following this process...

1. Go out to his and wife's cars, parked on public road
2. Start both cars.
3. Lock cars
4. Go indoors (OPTIONALLY : stand in street having a shouted conversation with a passing relative, then go indoors)
5. Leave cars idling for long enough for engine heat to have dispersed all frost on car
6. Come back outside
7. Unlock cars
8. Switch off engines
9. Lock cars
10. Go back indoors

I am uncertain about the benefits of this process - I am guessing that its purpose is to defrost the car without any need of manual effort, use of chemicals, or risk to paintwork.

The negative impact I think is obvious - fuel burn, pollution, engine wear, fume & noise nuisance to neighbours. But also I thought that running an engine in an unattended car on a public road was an offence anyway (locked or not) - am I mistaken?

Just in case you were wondering, I :-
1. scrape/clear the screen,
2. start the engine
3. drive off gently...end of.[/b]

 

[quinophex]

Sounds a bit odd if he doesn't then go and drive off somewhere, I'd never leave a car unattended with an engine running *ever*. It's too dangerous, someone just had to drive into the car and you'll have fun explaining it... I will run the engine in our car in the parking space while de-icing so, hand brake on and locked in park and have left cars with the engine running in the workshop while people have been there to attend to them. Running the engine static won't really do any harm... just can't see the point of doing it to defrost the car if you're not going to go for a drive.

 

[mark e]

I don't recall ever having seen any mechanical reason not to leave the engine running from cold for a while but there are chemical ones- during the warm up phase the car is running rich so there's all the corrosion problems associated with that plus the cat likes to be warmed up as quickly as possible to prolong its life.

Personally I start the car, then walk round it to scrape it, then drive off. I think that short period gets enough "warmth" into the oil and other parts to reduce the friction wear during the warm up period. It also means you get air of an adequate temperature to demist the screen that little bit quicker.

 

[tonyfisk]

My guess he's perhaps older (70s?), sounds like something my dad would do![/b]

Mid 40s. However, we are talking here about someone who has two Mercs, one an SL, neither ever driven at anything much above walking pace, washed religiously (even if it is raining).

I could add more crimes against logic (or neighbourliness) to this, but it will look too much like a rant.

 

[SuperSwede66]

Personally I start the car, then walk round it to scrape it, then drive off. I think that short period gets enough "warmth" into the oil and other parts to reduce the friction wear during the warm up period. It also means you get air of an adequate temperature to demist the screen that little bit quicker.[/b]

Ditto.

While walking my son to school every morning I'm amazed at the number of cars sitting on the drive (and sometimes even on the road) idling away on their own.

 

[quinophex]

Mid 40s. However, we are talking here about someone who has two Mercs, one an SL, neither ever driven at anything much above walking pace, washed religiously (even if it is raining).[/b]

Oh, our neighbours do that, car washed twice a week even with this weather on our country roads which means it will be dirty after the first journey out... Some boring Ford people carrier of some kind, I could almost accept it if it was something nice... They once moaned at me as my car wasn't cleaned "very often" which at the time was about once a month, that resulted in me deciding to wash the car as little as possible.

 

[Tytalus]

It may be typical Merc mentality:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-50...tside-home.html

Just because the car has the option, doesn't mean it's legal. Crikey, it's like saying: "my car can do 170mph, therefore it must be OK"...

Running an engine from cold causes wear and tear, it's unavoidable. Letting it warm up while scraping and clearing isn't very 'green' (0 mpg), but it may mean that there is a little less wear and tear when you do drive off (oil hotter, better fitting cylinders, warmer cab to heat you up after scrapping).

However, starting the car, warming it up and then not driving it doesn't appear to make any sense, unless it's going to be left for months at a time.

What an odd couple...

 

[quinophex]

That feature is now available on the new 9-5 I believe, although if it's available in the UK or not I don't know... Even so, using it on your driveway or private car park on the way down to the car fair enough... not when parked on the road, best of all I can see that the Police were just trying to give him advice and so he mouthed off at them and then got a £30 fine.

 

[NedLudd]

Letting it warm up while scraping and clearing ... may mean that there is a little less wear and tear when you do drive off (oil hotter, better fitting cylinders)[/b]

The 9-5 handbooks explicitly advise against prolonged idling as warm up. My current 04 Aero one, at 'Starting the engine', states:

"Drive away as soon as the oil warning light has been extinguished to enable the engine to attain its normal temperature as quickly as possible", adding by way of estimate, "Let the engine idle for about 10 seconds."

ISTR that my old LPT manual had even more explicit advice to drive off rather than idling in order to warm the oil.

 

[Geoff.1951]

I could add more crimes against logic (or neighbourliness) to this, but it will look too much like a rant.[/b]

Aww, come on! Never mind the season of goodwill - tell us more.

 

[Tytalus]

The 9-5 handbooks explicitly advise against prolonged idling as warm up. My current 04 Aero one, at 'Starting the engine', states:

"Drive away as soon as the oil warning light has been extinguished to enable the engine to attain its normal temperature as quickly as possible", adding by way of estimate, "Let the engine idle for about 10 seconds."

ISTR that my old LPT manual had even more explicit advice to drive off rather than idling in order to warm the oil.[/b]

My old Cortina one said pretty much the same thing and in an ideal world would probably be true. But as it takes an age to get oil properly up to temperature I would hazard a guess that most people drive the engine a little harder than 'ideal' when getting to work/shops/mates. So a little heat in the engine before you pull away (only while you scrape a window, not have a cuppa!) would, IMHO, be a little better for the engine. For example; it took a good 8 miles in the MGF before the Oil was getting near to normal running temp, though the water was there in about 2. It has been the only car I've had with an Oil temperature gauge, so I don't know if this is typical, and my Prius doesn't even have a water temperature gauge!

I must admit that many MGF/TF owners go even further than that and let their cars heat up before driving off to try and avoid HGF, but there is a thread on one forum that came to a convincing conclusion that this, like the manuals say, won't do you any favours and may do more harm than any good. I suppose it's like 'don't over-rev an engine, but don't labour one either'; you have to balance it out.

BTW - I'm another vote for more on your neighbours!

 

[alan6]

My Alfa had an oil temp gauge and I found that when towing in summer the oil was hotter than the water.

I always start the engine then clear the windows, it's a habit I got into in my early driving days when I had cars that were borderline at starting in cold weather, there was no point in clearing the windows of the car if it wasn't going to start that day.

 

[tonyfisk]

Aww, come on! Never mind the season of goodwill - tell us more.[/b]

Wellll.......he has fitted furry antlers to the Merc estate..

And he was washing it today in the rain, while the ice around was turning to black slush...

And they have spaniels that never seem to be taken walkies, but appear to have been trained to bark at anything that moves. Or stands still. Or isn't there at all.

And their "class" cars are parked by a pile of builders' materials, some old car batteries and their wheelie bins. Their bins are always in the street - they don't like them in their front garden. They just move them from the pavement to the outside of the cars on collection days.

I could continue...

 

[tonyfisk]

He's just washed his van for the second time in two days. He must have driven through a puddle or something.

 

[Tytalus]

:crazy:

 

[sgould]

We had a neighbour who would hose his car down in the drive every evening when he came home, and then chamois it off before putting it in the garage. Polish went on every Sunday morning after a "proper wash" with a shampoo.

It was a black car and after a month it was so scratched.....

 

[tonyfisk]

He's just parked the estate the other way around, and I note that it has a big red furry nose on the front as well as brown furry antlers.

And a giant poppy. Now that is forward-planning!