is it possible to damage an engine from idling too long?

[honda hoe]

say... 2 hours or longer?

[the mileage man]

nope,unless your car is over heating.

[pablo_tt]

2 hours, standing still, no air to aid in cooling the engine. It might be possible


This wouldn't happen to be a turbo charged boxer engine by chance?

[turbosingh]

Yes it is possible if while idiling yuh adding red sand in the engine like my cuz did with he Qg18

[cinco]

u can heat soak a turbocharged engine idling for too long but the cooling system should keep that in check

[kurpal_v2]

Yes it is possible if while idiling yuh adding red sand in the engine like my cuz did with he Qg18

[honda hoe]

2 hours, standing still, no air to aid in cooling the engine. It might be possible


This wouldn't happen to be a turbo charged boxer engine by chance?

nope. evo 7 engine

apparently the guy fell asleep in his car for approx 2 hrs with the a/c on

heard a loud explosion

when he woke up there was smoke all around the car and the engine was knocking

when the block was scrapped it turned out to be a spun bearing

opinion is the the car was idling so long that the gas diluted the oil in the cylinder and the bearing wasn't lubricated properly

i just never heard anything like that before and was wondering how plausible it was....

[saltydog]

the guys fans must not have been working and it overheated till destruction

[16 cycles]

lots of heavy equipment have engines idling for more than 2 hours in one place....no trouble...

[Allergic2BunnyEars]

The only thing I have heard with respect to idling is when breaking in a new engine. Idling doesn't help seat rings and causes glazing leading to engine problems long term. Your friend in the Evo would probably have blown that stuff out while zorcing on the highway anyway.

[cinco]

cud have fell asleep with his foot on the X

[skylinechild]

Yes it is possible if while idiling yuh adding red sand in the engine like my cuz did with he Qg18

Experiment: to determine how much sand can damage my QG18

apparatus: 1 fully functional QG18 engine, a 1Kg bag of fine red sand and funnel ( optional)

method: 1. shake sand bag vigorously to remove any lumps in the sand before opening
2. weigh the bag to establish an accurate weight
3. turn on engine and allow to idle, reaching normal operating temperature
4. remove oil cap and slowly add sand to the engine.
5. repeat step 4 until engine sounds stuffy, suddenly cuts off or all sand is finished
6.weigh the remaining sand and minus it from the beginning weight.

observations: while adding sand the engine begins to sound differently and sputters and finally cuts off.

conclusion: it took ____Kg of sand to stop my QG18 from being fully functional....

note: the same engine under different configurations may require different amounts of sand so it may take more sand than necessary.

[pablo_tt]

2 hours, standing still, no air to aid in cooling the engine. It might be possible


This wouldn't happen to be a turbo charged boxer engine by chance?

nope. evo 7 engine

apparently the guy fell asleep in his car for approx 2 hrs with the a/c on

heard a loud explosion

when he woke up there was smoke all around the car and the engine was knocking

when the block was scrapped it turned out to be a spun bearing

opinion is the the car was idling so long that the gas diluted the oil in the cylinder and the bearing wasn't lubricated properly

i just never heard anything like that before and was wondering how plausible it was....

Which is why I do not play around with boosted engines at all.

http://www.dadacanada.com/idling-facts- ... ml?start=5

[rollingstock]

lol @ thinking the idling caused that, could be the fact that the engine was treated like sheit before?

[EXODUS]

There is a problem with letting a car idle for too long. It can damage the catalytic converter which can cost £1000 to replace.

The problem comes with the throttle plate. This is effectively a valve that opens and shuts in the intake manifold and regulates the air flow. It is attached to the accelerator/gas pedal and when the pedal is pressed, the throttle plate opens proportionally. When you floor it, the throttle plate opens 100%. However when you don't touch the pedal i.e. let the engine idle, the throttle plate almost closes- but not quite (or the engine will stall). It is only about 3% open. Under these conditions the engine has to act as a pump, effectively forcing air through in order to run.

The lack of air means the engine will be using much more fuel to run (ever wondered why you use a lot of fuel while in a traffic jam?) and this richer mixture can clog up in the catalytic converter.

If you have to leave the engine idling for any length of time then take the car for a blast down the motorway/freeway and let the engine rev to 5500-6000rpm so the unburnt fuel deposits will be blown out of the system- you will see a cloud of black smoke coming from the exhaust. This is a good sign and will hopefully save you the cost of a new exhaust.

Apologies if this sounds a bit long winded. The chances are your car is okay. If you HAVE to let it idle for long peroids, just remeber to drive it hard afterwards. Happy christmas.
Source(s):
Automotive engineer.



Myth #2: Idling is good for your engine. Reality: Excessive idling can actually damage your engine components, including cylinders, spark plugs, and exhaust systems. Fuel is only partially combusted when idling because an engine does not operate at its peak temperature. This leads to the build up of fuel residues on cylinder walls that can damage engine components and increase fuel consumption.

Can idling damage my car’s engine?
You bet it can! Because the engine isn’t working at its peak operating temperature when it’s idling, the fuel doesn’t undergo complete combustion. This leaves fuel residues that can contaminate engine oil and damage engine parts. For example, fuel residues tend to deposit on spark plugs. As the amount of engine idling increases, the plugs’ average temperature drops, and they get dirty more quickly. This, in turn, can increase fuel consumption by four to five percent. It’s a vicious circle of wasted fuel and needless greenhouse gas emissions. Excessive idling can also let water condense in the vehicle’s exhaust. This can lead to corrosion and reduce the life of the exhaust system.

[rollingstock]

^ Thank you googlemetron, now post the source before people think you're intelligent or something.

[shotta 20]

It was only friday that i had my car idling in work (from 1:30pm-5pm) , cause the battery wasn't holding charge to re-start the engine to go home.

Battery replaced and car working fine..

[honda hoe]

guy says the car had no overheating issues

[uncle sam]

£1000 for a catalytic converter - steups

[W2J]

2 hours, standing still, no air to aid in cooling the engine. It might be possible


This wouldn't happen to be a turbo charged boxer engine by chance?

nope. evo 7 engine

apparently the guy fell asleep in his car for approx 2 hrs with the a/c on

heard a loud explosion

when he woke up there was smoke all around the car and the engine was knocking

when the block was scrapped it turned out to be a spun bearing

opinion is the the car was idling so long that the gas diluted the oil in the cylinder and the bearing wasn't lubricated properly

i just never heard anything like that before and was wondering how plausible it was....

rofl!!!!

[Dizzy28]

It was only friday that i had my car idling in work (from 1:30pm-5pm) , cause the battery wasn't holding charge to re-start the engine to go home.

Battery replaced and car working fine..

Thank goodness for subsidized fuel!!

[crazybalhead]

The stock temp gauge on a 7 does not move until the water temp is over 105 deg C.

The fans were most likely not working properly.

Been in traffic for more than two hours and this should not cause an engine to explode.

Hondahoe, serious??? Gas diluting the oil???? He was running spongebob piston rings?

[honda hoe]

CBH, daz what dem fellas was saying... cuz d man say the engine wasn't knocking before until after the explosion an smoke.. and that is why the bearing spin

as i said... i didn't think it was possible but me ain't no automotive engineer

[crazybalhead]

Geometron, the internet is great eh, but take dem thing with a grain a salt nah dan...

[EXODUS]

^ Thank you googlemetron, now post the source before people think you're intelligent or something.

yea well common sense eludes u and a few others... source is not relevant as many a site says idling isnt good for ur car ... u shud google " why idling is bad for your car" ... n list the sources for me since u ain't hav nuttin better to do DDD

[cinco]

like i said more than likely he fell asleep and his foot relaxed on the x

[rollingstock]

^ Thank you googlemetron, now post the source before people think you're intelligent or something.

yea well common sense eludes u and a few others... source is not relevant as many a site says idling isnt good for ur car ... u shud google " why idling is bad for your car" ... n list the sources for me since u ain't hav nuttin better to do DDD

Sorry but i've been working on engines long enough to form my own opinion.

Only adverse effect from idling too long is wasting of fuel and some carbon build up, if damage occurs the engine was in shiddy condition for that to happen.

[crazybalhead]

Also, who knows the condition and level of his oil? Pump failure? All kinda ting man.

[Sky]

^ Thank you googlemetron, now post the source before people think you're intelligent or something.

yea well common sense eludes u and a few others... source is not relevant as many a site says idling isnt good for ur car ... u shud google " why idling is bad for your car" ... n list the sources for me since u ain't hav nuttin better to do DDD

Catalytic converter?
Test pipe immc yes? I know men who dig that out for more airflow.

[biggy82]

2 hours, standing still, no air to aid in cooling the engine. It might be possible


This wouldn't happen to be a turbo charged boxer engine by chance?

nope. evo 7 engine

apparently the guy fell asleep in his car for approx 2 hrs with the a/c on

heard a loud explosion

when he woke up there was smoke all around the car and the engine was knocking

when the block was scrapped it turned out to be a spun bearing

opinion is the the car was idling so long that the gas diluted the oil in the cylinder and the bearing wasn't lubricated properly

i just never heard anything like that before and was wondering how plausible it was....