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We park in a city lot, and didn’t go anywhere for 2 days. Worst part is it’s right across from a police department. Surprised they didn’t notice and say something. We live in a small town.
The police leave theirs running ALL the time. Starting a 12+ hour shift and they never shut them down because they might not restart and that’s a real pain waiting for maintenance to come jump start. So the police probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. Yours should be fine.
Didn’t stop an old classmate. He started it and drove away with the pump handle still in the filler hole. Tore the hose off the pump and drove home that way. People were shouting and pointing as he drove down the road and the dumbass thought they were appreciating his loud stereo. 🙄
And this is for the questions that don't have any answers
The midnight glancers, and the topless dancers
The can of freaks, cars packed with speakers
The G's with the forty's and the chicks with beepers
Worked with a guy who was a little odd as far as personality. But it made for some good jokes.
We were working one day near the road and he comes over the radio and says “hold up, I gotta call my wife and tell her I’m leaving her for that guy”.
I turn around to see the most atrocious automobile I have ever seen. It was like a mid 2000s Cadillac CTS base model with a 6 inch lift and some 30 inch wheels with rubber band tires. Had that stereo cranked too. AND, it was bright orange, like BRIGHT orange.
Between the joke and me turning around and seeing that, I busted out laughing. Homeboy in the Cadillac didn’t appreciate that and proceeded to floor it from a stop so that I could hear the god awful tin can exhaust system he had on that V6.
God I hate people who have the shittiest taste in car modifications yet they think they are the baddest motherfucker to ever walk the earth.
Unfortunately for all of us, there are few things more satisfying in life than flooring it with the top down blasting Sabotage.
It annoys me too when others do it but man... I fuckin get it.
I hate so much to admit when I say was Maybe 21 and High af that i too drove away with the nozzle still pumping, luckily I happened to look in my rear view and saw the nozzle laying on the ground just pouring out gas so I reversed its and put it back, was more upset it was still charging my credit card then anything else. Then my very oblivious but well off boss at the time, drove off in his bmw taking the entire thing with him like your friend. Made me feel ever so slightly better about my own stupidity. I bet this is more common than most of realize.
I know someone who used to work at a busy gas station. Twice a week someone would drive off with the hose. They would call the police to get the hose back and hook up a spare from the rotating pile of hoses that had been previously ripped out.
They only remove it for gas here for some reason in Norway. Nice perk of having diesel - especially when it's -100C out and you don't want to liquidly cool your hands.
I'm in Melbourne and carry a couple of pop rivets in my car, just slide one into the holes left by the pin they remove from behind the trigger and the pump will lock again. It's less conspicuous than the god ol tennis ball so you don't have to worry about over zealous franchise owners as much.
I have left a few behind though, probably convinced a few oblivious people that the pumps are falling to pieces.
I did this once. I was at a full service, couldn't see what was going on and I hear the guy smack the back of the car, so I assumed he was done. I turn the car on, and start to drive off and hear him yell so I stopped (thankfully before I detached the pump) I explained why I drove away and he got this sheepish look on his face and said "I'm scared of spiders".
It's really because the gas tank is part of the evaporative system and needs to be sealed while running. Can cause check engine light to come on but won't cause a problem with running.
Rented uhaul van and suddenly forgot to switch while filling with gas for a minute then turned off. When returning it already had check engine light - luckily manager nodded like yeah filled up while running and didn’t give me a hard time with bringing back the car with issues.
Rainier Oregon I saw Uhaul truck pull in. Well he pulled In started filling the truck Wasn’t paying attention ! I looked up then saw the green “diesel only” sign ! I hollered over said hey dumbass what are you doing? He just looked up , pulled out the gas nozzle out and switched over to diesel! I wonder how long that engine ran!
Yep. Any spark happening within a running car is internal and sealed off, or it's you getting in and out of the car building static.
If running a car at the pump was a fire hazard/dangerous you couldn't have *any* running cars at the gas station, period.
Look into the EVAP system. It's rather unlikely, but absolutely possible to become an issue. Especially if you "top off" your tank. There was actually a bunch of recent Jeeps that simply wouldn't start because the intake became too flooded with fuel vapors from people "topping off" the tank, you had to wait hours for the fuel to evaporate.
What state? It’s illegal in Tennessee to leave your engine running while fueling, just like leaving the pump unattended while fueling (at least that’s what the stickers on our pumps say).
People do it anyway and run in the store, I’m not talking like a lot of them-i live in Pennsylvania where it also states it’s illegal to do either. Then if I take the short drive to New Jersey you need to remember you’re not even allowed to pump your own gas.
I used my work truck as a mobile office, so even at a site it idled all day for power and keeping the cab at a tolerable temperature. Did that for years, also drove it 250k. Wish I would have put an hour meter in it, would be fun to brag about that number. Kept the truck after I left that job, still have it, almost 20 years old. Original engine and transmission
Depending on the model, there definitely will be an hour meter in a hidden mode on the odometer. Chevys you had to hold in the reset button for a while iirc. Or a scan tool
Til, just shy of 8000 hours with 281k miles. Most of that was accumulated in its first 5ish years, just use it as a backup and for occasional hauling stuff since. Went from 55k a year to maybe 2k, lol
I've seen this claim before stating that the police vehicle "may not restart" or so in some manner. I understand that having to respond and having an unreliable source of transport is not acceptable but what is it with the claim on this? Is this common?
Emergency vehicles in general have a super heavy load on the electrical system with their laptop, radios, lights, and other equipment that is added to them, and the laptop and radios often are left on all the time.
While they have a more powerful alternator and higher capacity battery than standard package vehicles to make up for this, it's still very possible to run down the battery pretty quickly when they are off. The simplest solution is to just never turn them off.
Ambulances and Fire Trucks get around this by having shore-power chargers - that is a built-in 120V charger that you plug in when you get back to the station. But at most police departments the officers rarely go back to the station between calls, so they don't bother putting that kind of equipment into them, and when you're out at a call, you can't just walk up to the closest building and plug in an extension cord.
So, you leave the vehicle on and idling. [They often have special idle control units added](https://www.havis.com/product/idlrt2_unv_cntrlmdl-42277-0/) to them that will run the throttle up to keep the battery charged, or even shut the vehicle down and restart it automatically as the battery needs charging.
Family are LEOs. Newer units are moving to LED lighting. The older incandescent and xenon lights are a heck of a draw on the battery. Then there are the radio and other devices. But still, the law enforcement can’t have a vehicle strand an officer because the vehicle won’t restart. If you then have another officer respond to jump start, now you have two officers out of service. Their patrol vehicles are rather mission critical. At any moment an officer may be required to respond to an emergency where response time is critically important.
Jump packs are like 100 dollars now, and would likely be even cheaper if a department ordered them in bulk. I get that time is critical, but they wouldn't need a second officer to come jump the vehicle.
Oh that makes a lot of sense. So high use of electricity while car is running, often parked = much less to start the vehicle with considering alternator is not used as much driving
My truck with PTS will shut itself off after 20 minutes of idling unless you press a button on the steering wheel when the message comes up at 19m30s... but after you do that it'll idle indefinitely.
This isn't really the police's job? I'm not sure I would expect the police to help me out unless I specifically requested it of them and it was something squarely within their job descriptions, and possibly not even then. Possibly they'd make the situation worse. Generally best to leave the police out of things unless absolutely necessary.
Just keep in mind that every hour idling is roughly equivalent to 60 miles driven, so your car just went for a 3000 mile trip without you. I would recommend getting your oil changed at least.
So you're saying that idling has exactly the same wear on the engine as driving at 60 mph?
Well, you could argue that it doesn't sit at it's optimal rpm-range for a very long time. Might cause carbon buildup, fuel dilution and what not. Might also argue that as long as the engine has oil, the difference in wear between 1000 rpm and 2500 rpm is absolutely negligible, and bonus that it doesn't have any cold-starts or heat cycles.
Is it advisable to let it idle for two days? Not really. Is the car made to handle it? Absolutely.
Maybe estimated 3000 miles is a tad stretched, but I guess I end up agreeing with you.
That was fun.
I would say idling is actually harder on the oil than cruising. It will be at operating temperature sure but the engine will be running rich because its idling. It may not be rich in the sense that my carbed pickup idles rich but it will still dilute the oil. Then some engines actually have oiling issues at idle if they do so for extended periods. The ram 5.7 is far more likely to eat a cam as a plow truck than it is as a long haul truck. I mainly just stating the fact that it is generally excepted that 1 hour of idle is roughly equivalent to 60 miles of driving. In any case an oil change is cheap insurance against fuel dilution.
My coworker did this once. Couldn't find his keys at the end of the shift, went out to the car, he left it running.
I also intentionally tried it in mine once, but it's new enough that it automatically shut off after 3 hours.
Yeah, it's not the end of the world. I frequently took 30 mins-1 hr naps in my car during my lunch break at work and would idle for AC or heat. Stopped because I wasn't any more rested during work and wasn't worth the gas.
As far as the experiment, though, it still seems silly.
People are oblivious to their surroundings. I jumped into a customers car last winter to pull it into my bay, it was running and in REVERSE! It was up against a curb so it didn’t go anywhere, but what in the actual fuck…
Modern engines, especially in small cars, are incredibly quiet at idle these days and some have auto stop-start which will shut off the engine for some time when stationary (until the battery needs topping up). Can totally see this happening in a moment of lapsed concentration.
Seen it before, was pouring down raining and a girl i worked with rushed inside to start her shift, I worked outside the store and could hear the hum of her engine going, went in to tell her, it was idling for maybe 5 hours with the doors locked before I noticed.
Oof lol. I started my car one morning before work around 4:30am to let it warm up. Work got called off so I went back to bed. Woke up and played games all day. About 6pm I go to grab something out of my car and notice I left it ran all day. Full tank of gas and it was almost empty.
I'm betting it was carbureted. Fuel injectors barely use anything when idling. I've tried to run my truck out of gas in prep of pulling the fuel tank, and went to bed with it running with what id call about a quarter tank and came back the next day to about what id also call a quarter tank.
Depends on the truck because they can have larger fuel tanks so a 1/4 tank on a pickup isn’t the same volume as a Prius. Our f150 has an extended range 36gal fuel tank as factory. So that makes a 1/4 tank in the trunk 2x the volume of gas compared to our sedans and suvs that hold 18gal.
I did this exact same thing! My downstairs neighbor knocks on my door and said she went to the store and came back and noticed my car was still on so she was concerned. I had been running for like 6 hours. Not 2 days though!
Lmao, this reminds me of the time I hot boxed my car and was looking around trying to figure out where the loud ass car speeding by was just to realize I had my foot on the gas the whole time, revving it in park... I don't drive high, for obvious reasons, but I do like to sit in my car and listen to music while smoking.
CHANGE THAT OIL! I used to work for a major diesel engine company as an engineer. I set the oil drain intervals for a few engine programs that you all pass on the roads every day. Idle time KILLS OIL. This, in turn, kills engines. Cut reference, 40% idle time, we cut the oil drain internal in half in some cases. 60% idle time, we cut it further. That oil is fucked. Go get that oil changed asap. Source: my years of looking at and studying oil degredation.
Could you explain why? The cooling system kept the oil at normal operating temperatures, and the engine was crawling at like 700 rpm. What am I missing that that oil experienced while idling that it *wouldn’t* experience on a multi-day road trip?
He may be correct. My years were spent with diesel. But still, I wouldn't fuck with it. Also, again, this oil is likely oxidized beyond its life. The bases have likley also broken down to acids, which happens over oil life's. This can eventually lead to the acids in the oil leaching materials out of components. We used to see lead leaching from bearings. It would show up as micropitting
Fuel dilution can definitely be an issue on gas cars, especially when they are left to warm up forever in the winter. Direct injection makes it even worse.
He's right about fuel dilution. However, we could technically evaporate this out with a highway drive. It's likely collected too much for me to be comfortable doing this. My bigger concern is that this oil has likely oxidized past its useful life. Oil will literally "break." Oxidation will take off. This oil has likely hit that point.
You got a source for that one?
Not saying you are lying, but I've never heard of that.
For reference the amount a piston swells under load versus idle is less than the difference in tolerance of modern engines compared to engines from say the 70's. While their oil had to be changed more often it was not 500 miles often.
While mileage is what most people go by, for stationary and engines that mostly idle, hours is a more important metric. An OLM should take this into consideration.
The general metric for gas vehicle motors is 1hr idle = 33 miles driven so at 48 hrs (call it 50 for easy math) 1650 miles is the equivalent which isn’t that much but does significantly shorten the current oils life.
Yeah if it was my vehicle I wouldn’t consider this something that immediately needs on oil change unless the calculated idle miles would make it due for one, vehicles idle for significantly longer on a regular basis (I.e. cop cars) and are just fine. If there’s any check engines lights those should be addressed immediately as it would be idling with an issue far longer than one would normally drive with an issue.
For someone that manages to leave their car idling for two days though, I’d understand telling them to change their oil now. Honestly if whoever is in charge of the vehicle maintenance decisions has to ask if the car that idled for two days needs an oil change then it’s probably a good idea to change the oil anyways.
Oxidation is a big contributor. Oxidation would be linear with no outside influences until it eventually breaks. Also, once oxidation has happened, it doesn't reverse ever. In diesel oil, we made great advancements with this lifespan in 2017 with fa4 and ck4 oils coming from cj4. Still, eventually, the oil will "break," and oxidation will skyrocket. Oxidation is directly related to lubricity. But yes, also fuel dilution. However, we can evaporate fuel out of our oil to some extent. I'm guessing this vehicle is well past 8% fuel dilution, which used to be my "give up and change it" point. That 8% was for large displacement line haul semis, we allowed less fuel dilution on our pickup trucks. A passenger car would allow even less with its like <5quart fill. There's still TBN, tan, and contaminates that have probably been collected but I haven't looked at oil data in a few years. I'll stop there
I’ve heard of stories when cars get stolen by the person running inside the gas station or store the thieves leave the car running for days and will legit fill up the car while the car is on. I think you should be okay OP but highly recommend getting an oil change asap even take it to a shop to get it looked at. What’s the info on car? Make model year that’ll help
Story time that probably no one will see.
20 years ago I worked second shift and came home at night to car running in apartment lot. When I went to bed an hour later it was still running so I thought someone forgot about it.
I called the police to tell them and hopefully they could find the owner. One cop came, then 2, then 3 &. 4. There were a couple passed out in it and I watch as they get arrested and a bag of drugs placed on hood.
Sorry to those people. Lol
As a mechanic years into the trade, you can usually say, "Yeah, I've seen/heard that happen before." I can safely say, I've never heard someone leave their car idling for two days by accident.
I'm in Oregon, and prices are considered decently expensive here but that much for an oil filter? I've never heard of it or seen it either. That sounds *close* to a supercar oil filter price 😂
On average, for any of my vehicles, I pay $8-$15 for OEM filters.
6 quarts of oil is about $35-$60 depending on brand
16 gallons of gas would be about $55-$60 lol
I wonder if it's a big city thing. LA, NY, Seattle kind of price maybe?
If the car is Gasoline Direct Injection, idling for 2 days straight might produce a noticeable amount of carbon buildup, but I'm not sure. Gasoline, and maybe check your battery voltage and charge if it's low.
We had a shitty Hummer H2 as a recovery vehicle for winter testing. It idled every day from 7am until 8pm. Had 280,000 miles on it and probably an ungodly number of idle hours. It still worked.
That’s what I was thinking.
but on the other hand I’m this may be something more like a past concussion or something like that with some lingering effects?
I only say that because that’s the case for me, I’m walking CTE 😂
Makes sense, the police in Toronto said to leave key fobs hanging at the door so thieves won’t break in the house to get them, leaving keys in the car, running is even safer
like the other people said I'd just change the oil, but also add in asking your wife if she turned the car off for at least the next 6 months or until she freaks out on you lmao
Nah man. Don’t freak out. With my job my vehicle is my office and at times sleeping quarters. I’ve had my own personal truck running for 23 hours out of the day 7 days a week for several weeks on end. Gas burners and diesels alike.
Tens of thousands of hours idling in rentals and various trucks. Summer might be an issue with overheating depending on the car. But that isn’t the case with current climate conditions.
Others mentioned changing the oil. #yawn. Averaging 5 mph id still only change the oil every 4500 miles.
For you haters I ran several tests with black stone to verify I wasn’t pushing oil changes beyond what I should be. I was well in the clear. Which is what the owner manuals generally say as well with severe duty conditions.
Once upon a time I read (or was told) not to leave the car running on idle because of the (much) reduced oil pressure/flow. This would have impact on not enough oil getting to some parts of the engine. Thus, when I'm idling for longer times I always rev it a little from time to time.
Put some fuel injector cleaner in it just to give it some TLC. Idle hours build deposits on valves and other places. But two days is kind of negligible over the course of a vehicles lifetime so I wouldn't worry about it. Police vehicles run thousands of idle hours over the course of their lifetime and they're fine too if properly maintained.
Considering the usual/average mileage that an engine hour is equivalent to is about 27-30 miles. 48 hours x 30 would be 1440 miles in run time. I would recommend an oil change after getting gas for it.
Engine is likely fine... Change the oil is probably the best advice.
The only damage that may have happened is the top end likely wasn't getting the proper amount of lubrication as it would at higher RPM. This varies by engine so there is no way to tell if yours is more or less prone to that issue or not. Generally cars idling for several minutes isn't a bad thing... But for 1.5+ days? Damn.
Might consider doing an oil change. Letting it idle can degrade the oil without putting miles on the odometer. Main reason you have to check the engine hours when at a police auction. They idle their cars almost 24/7 but the oil doesn’t get changed until the odometer says so. At least pull the dipstick, check the level, and give it a smell. If it smells like gas definitely change it
How old is your car and what kinda car is it. I noticed that a few others below said that they do it with police cars all the time. Well cop cars are driven a lot differently than the way normal citizens drive. There's a big difference between letting a car sit ideling for two straight days versus a cop car that does some ideling, then getting the crap beat out of it on the way to a call and then back to just "normal" driving and so on. I would check the oil for sure and most likely have it changed.
Ok put some fuel in it. Then cycle the key turn it on for ten seconds then off the do it again that will help prime the system the it should hopefully crank up
False that’s why police cars r a big risk buy it’s not good for Everthing under the hood cuz their is nowhere for that hot air to go and it’s a lot of unnecessary wear and tear that’s why cops get rid of it becuase they r starting to have problems
It'll be fine just put gas in it and if you want take it for a quick blast on the highway to "clear it out" after idling for so long but realistically you won't have any problems just think about police cars idling for like 12h a day every single day you'll be just fine.
I once went to the NHRA race in Sonoma. Parking was a pain and I was excited. For whatever reason I too left the car on, it was a push to start. Five hours later I was having a hard time finding my car and it wouldn’t show where I parked on my phone which seemed odd. Eventually I found it, when I walked up to it and realized I had left it on I was so pissed at myself. Other than it being very low on gas nothing happened to it mechanically, I asked a mechanic friend if I should be concerned and he said as long as the cooling system was functioning I shouldn’t worry. I was just glad no one stole it.
2 days straight is wild. I’d run a fuel cleaner, something that targets the injectors, and an oil change, just so i’m more at peace of mind knowing all that idle time didn’t leave any unwanted deposits.
I left a rental car running all night. My cars at home are not push button. They are old fashioned put in the key and start it.
The rental was push button, and an eco start stop type. With the engine not running when I got out, I didn't think to push the button to turn it off.
Next morning I go to the car and it is running and it had burned thru about an eighth of a tank of gas, lol.
I bought a car from a neighbor years ago because the wife killed herself by starting the car in the garage and the car was still running on more than a day after she apparently started the car... The only real issue was the paint on the hood was a little messed up from the heat generated in a closed garage... I ran fine for several years till I got rid of it. If the car starts up then I wouldn't expect any issues with it.
Not terribly out of the ordinary for some people. That's what I do. But also they said elsewhere that they live in town and park in a lot down the street. So even if they were outside, they wouldn't have seen it.
Op the only real damage you did was waste some money on the gas that burnt. Big whoop. I call those things stupid tax. And if that is your largest stupid tax liability for the month its been a damn good month.
Now on paper in a test lab outside of all real world conditions you shortened the life of your engine. But about .00001% so you absolutely never gonna notice it. It's no different in engine wear than a few extra trips that were unnecessary but it's not like you aren't gonna go out to dinner vs stay home because of the unnecessary wear it puts on your engine. Do that a half dozen times and you just equaled the wear you did to your bearings.
Thanks for posting on /r/MechanicAdvice! Please review the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/about/rules/). Asking about a second opinion (ie "Is the shop trying to fleece me?"), please read through CJM8515's [post on the subject.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/4qblei/fyi_the_shop_isnt_likely_trying_to_rip_you_off/) and remember to please post the year/make/model of the vehicle you are working on. **Post's about bodywork, accident damage, paint, dent/ding, questions it belongs in /r/Autobody r/AutoBodyRepair/ or /r/Diyautobody/ Tire questions check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/k9ll55/can_your_tire_be_repaired/**. If you dont have a question and you're just showing off it belongs in /r/Justrolledintotheshop Insurance/total loss questions go in r/insurance This is an automated reply *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MechanicAdvice) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can't just say "...left running for two days" without explaining or we will die of curiosity. She just forgot?? How did no one notice?
We park in a city lot, and didn’t go anywhere for 2 days. Worst part is it’s right across from a police department. Surprised they didn’t notice and say something. We live in a small town.
The police leave theirs running ALL the time. Starting a 12+ hour shift and they never shut them down because they might not restart and that’s a real pain waiting for maintenance to come jump start. So the police probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. Yours should be fine.
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The real reason for turning the engine off is actually so people don’t drive off with pump still in spout lol
Didn’t stop an old classmate. He started it and drove away with the pump handle still in the filler hole. Tore the hose off the pump and drove home that way. People were shouting and pointing as he drove down the road and the dumbass thought they were appreciating his loud stereo. 🙄
I don't think a single person outside of the vehicle appreciates a loud stereo
[удалено]
"Bawitdaba, da bang, da dang diggy diggy Diggy, said the boogie, said up jump the boogie"
And this is for the questions that don't have any answers The midnight glancers, and the topless dancers The can of freaks, cars packed with speakers The G's with the forty's and the chicks with beepers
My european mind cannot comprehend this
They wouldn't fit down most old european town streets.
I do while still being upset.
Worked with a guy who was a little odd as far as personality. But it made for some good jokes. We were working one day near the road and he comes over the radio and says “hold up, I gotta call my wife and tell her I’m leaving her for that guy”. I turn around to see the most atrocious automobile I have ever seen. It was like a mid 2000s Cadillac CTS base model with a 6 inch lift and some 30 inch wheels with rubber band tires. Had that stereo cranked too. AND, it was bright orange, like BRIGHT orange. Between the joke and me turning around and seeing that, I busted out laughing. Homeboy in the Cadillac didn’t appreciate that and proceeded to floor it from a stop so that I could hear the god awful tin can exhaust system he had on that V6. God I hate people who have the shittiest taste in car modifications yet they think they are the baddest motherfucker to ever walk the earth.
Lol, that is the epitome of shitboxes
I don’t think anyone inside does either.
Unfortunately for all of us, there are few things more satisfying in life than flooring it with the top down blasting Sabotage. It annoys me too when others do it but man... I fuckin get it.
I used to deliver pizza in a 76 MG midget, top down blasting Panama thru some oversized speakers was the best job in the world
Is your middle name Tiberius?
Bro, me at 4am, in 4 wheel drive,blasting through some snowy ass neighborhood, stereo cranked, hammering out driveways.in the zone
I appreciate knowing they’ll be living with tinnitus and hearing loss.
Girl in high school did this twice in a week.
I hate so much to admit when I say was Maybe 21 and High af that i too drove away with the nozzle still pumping, luckily I happened to look in my rear view and saw the nozzle laying on the ground just pouring out gas so I reversed its and put it back, was more upset it was still charging my credit card then anything else. Then my very oblivious but well off boss at the time, drove off in his bmw taking the entire thing with him like your friend. Made me feel ever so slightly better about my own stupidity. I bet this is more common than most of realize.
Worked at a gas station. It's common, and the reason why the pumps hoses are break away, really easily to fix.
I work in a gas station. Happens a few times a month. They're made to detach when that happens for safety.
I know someone who used to work at a busy gas station. Twice a week someone would drive off with the hose. They would call the police to get the hose back and hook up a spare from the rotating pile of hoses that had been previously ripped out.
In the UK, you have to keep holding the pump.
I put my fuel cap in the handle if it’s cold out so I don’t have to hold it
Yeah they've stopped letting you lock the pump on here in Perth Australia gor ages too. Tennis ball fixes it
Watch for legislation making tennis balls illegal in the passenger cabin…
They only remove it for gas here for some reason in Norway. Nice perk of having diesel - especially when it's -100C out and you don't want to liquidly cool your hands.
I'm in Melbourne and carry a couple of pop rivets in my car, just slide one into the holes left by the pin they remove from behind the trigger and the pump will lock again. It's less conspicuous than the god ol tennis ball so you don't have to worry about over zealous franchise owners as much. I have left a few behind though, probably convinced a few oblivious people that the pumps are falling to pieces.
Thats a good solution and definitely much less visible for the Karen's that see you doing it. Appreciate the heads up
I did this once. I was at a full service, couldn't see what was going on and I hear the guy smack the back of the car, so I assumed he was done. I turn the car on, and start to drive off and hear him yell so I stopped (thankfully before I detached the pump) I explained why I drove away and he got this sheepish look on his face and said "I'm scared of spiders".
It's really because the gas tank is part of the evaporative system and needs to be sealed while running. Can cause check engine light to come on but won't cause a problem with running.
Rented uhaul van and suddenly forgot to switch while filling with gas for a minute then turned off. When returning it already had check engine light - luckily manager nodded like yeah filled up while running and didn’t give me a hard time with bringing back the car with issues.
Rainier Oregon I saw Uhaul truck pull in. Well he pulled In started filling the truck Wasn’t paying attention ! I looked up then saw the green “diesel only” sign ! I hollered over said hey dumbass what are you doing? He just looked up , pulled out the gas nozzle out and switched over to diesel! I wonder how long that engine ran!
If it was just a few gallons you wouldn't be able to tell it and no damage.
Yep. Any spark happening within a running car is internal and sealed off, or it's you getting in and out of the car building static. If running a car at the pump was a fire hazard/dangerous you couldn't have *any* running cars at the gas station, period.
Look into the EVAP system. It's rather unlikely, but absolutely possible to become an issue. Especially if you "top off" your tank. There was actually a bunch of recent Jeeps that simply wouldn't start because the intake became too flooded with fuel vapors from people "topping off" the tank, you had to wait hours for the fuel to evaporate.
Or just floor the accelerator and crank it.
What state? It’s illegal in Tennessee to leave your engine running while fueling, just like leaving the pump unattended while fueling (at least that’s what the stickers on our pumps say).
People do it anyway and run in the store, I’m not talking like a lot of them-i live in Pennsylvania where it also states it’s illegal to do either. Then if I take the short drive to New Jersey you need to remember you’re not even allowed to pump your own gas.
Wait what, so every gas station in New Jersey has employees doing it for you? Do you tip them?
No it is not expected that you tip them. They actually get shocked if you do. But yes every gas station has employees by the pumps.
That’s crazy to me, so ALL gas stations have employees outside 24/7? Cant imagine what a graveyard shift is like just standing there lol
There are not a lot of 24/7 gas stations in jersey and they either stay inside or in a small building on the gas islands while there are no cars.
I bet you're afraid to take the tags off of your mattress too, aren't you?
I used my work truck as a mobile office, so even at a site it idled all day for power and keeping the cab at a tolerable temperature. Did that for years, also drove it 250k. Wish I would have put an hour meter in it, would be fun to brag about that number. Kept the truck after I left that job, still have it, almost 20 years old. Original engine and transmission
Depending on the model, there definitely will be an hour meter in a hidden mode on the odometer. Chevys you had to hold in the reset button for a while iirc. Or a scan tool
Til, just shy of 8000 hours with 281k miles. Most of that was accumulated in its first 5ish years, just use it as a backup and for occasional hauling stuff since. Went from 55k a year to maybe 2k, lol
I've seen this claim before stating that the police vehicle "may not restart" or so in some manner. I understand that having to respond and having an unreliable source of transport is not acceptable but what is it with the claim on this? Is this common?
Emergency vehicles in general have a super heavy load on the electrical system with their laptop, radios, lights, and other equipment that is added to them, and the laptop and radios often are left on all the time. While they have a more powerful alternator and higher capacity battery than standard package vehicles to make up for this, it's still very possible to run down the battery pretty quickly when they are off. The simplest solution is to just never turn them off. Ambulances and Fire Trucks get around this by having shore-power chargers - that is a built-in 120V charger that you plug in when you get back to the station. But at most police departments the officers rarely go back to the station between calls, so they don't bother putting that kind of equipment into them, and when you're out at a call, you can't just walk up to the closest building and plug in an extension cord. So, you leave the vehicle on and idling. [They often have special idle control units added](https://www.havis.com/product/idlrt2_unv_cntrlmdl-42277-0/) to them that will run the throttle up to keep the battery charged, or even shut the vehicle down and restart it automatically as the battery needs charging.
Family are LEOs. Newer units are moving to LED lighting. The older incandescent and xenon lights are a heck of a draw on the battery. Then there are the radio and other devices. But still, the law enforcement can’t have a vehicle strand an officer because the vehicle won’t restart. If you then have another officer respond to jump start, now you have two officers out of service. Their patrol vehicles are rather mission critical. At any moment an officer may be required to respond to an emergency where response time is critically important.
Jump packs are like 100 dollars now, and would likely be even cheaper if a department ordered them in bulk. I get that time is critical, but they wouldn't need a second officer to come jump the vehicle.
police vehicles are also modified to idle for extended periods of times with things like larger oil coolers and such
Is this the reason? Why wouldn’t their expensive police cars start up? I figured it was a speed off in case of emergency thing
Electric draw used to be huge but it is getting better now. Still the electronics are a pretty big draw.
Oh that makes a lot of sense. So high use of electricity while car is running, often parked = much less to start the vehicle with considering alternator is not used as much driving
I’ve done the same for years too. Apparently folks in cold climates do it too.
Wait, this was outside in a public street not in a driveway or garage? Was the key in it?
It was in an outside city lot. It’s a push to start.
My truck with PTS will shut itself off after 20 minutes of idling unless you press a button on the steering wheel when the message comes up at 19m30s... but after you do that it'll idle indefinitely.
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How about the key? Keyless go or traditional key? Doesn't the car beep at you for simply opening the door when the engine is on?
This isn't really the police's job? I'm not sure I would expect the police to help me out unless I specifically requested it of them and it was something squarely within their job descriptions, and possibly not even then. Possibly they'd make the situation worse. Generally best to leave the police out of things unless absolutely necessary.
Just keep in mind that every hour idling is roughly equivalent to 60 miles driven, so your car just went for a 3000 mile trip without you. I would recommend getting your oil changed at least.
So you're saying that idling has exactly the same wear on the engine as driving at 60 mph? Well, you could argue that it doesn't sit at it's optimal rpm-range for a very long time. Might cause carbon buildup, fuel dilution and what not. Might also argue that as long as the engine has oil, the difference in wear between 1000 rpm and 2500 rpm is absolutely negligible, and bonus that it doesn't have any cold-starts or heat cycles. Is it advisable to let it idle for two days? Not really. Is the car made to handle it? Absolutely. Maybe estimated 3000 miles is a tad stretched, but I guess I end up agreeing with you. That was fun.
I would say idling is actually harder on the oil than cruising. It will be at operating temperature sure but the engine will be running rich because its idling. It may not be rich in the sense that my carbed pickup idles rich but it will still dilute the oil. Then some engines actually have oiling issues at idle if they do so for extended periods. The ram 5.7 is far more likely to eat a cam as a plow truck than it is as a long haul truck. I mainly just stating the fact that it is generally excepted that 1 hour of idle is roughly equivalent to 60 miles of driving. In any case an oil change is cheap insurance against fuel dilution.
One of my car maintenance manuals shows a picture of a main engine bearing with bad wear, the picture is titled "wear due to excessive idling"
My coworker did this once. Couldn't find his keys at the end of the shift, went out to the car, he left it running. I also intentionally tried it in mine once, but it's new enough that it automatically shut off after 3 hours.
You intentionally wasted 3 hours of gas and engine wear to test out a feature that was probably described in the owners manual or on Google?
3 hours idling is like half a gallon and the equivalent engine wear of driving 10 miles...
Yeah, it's not the end of the world. I frequently took 30 mins-1 hr naps in my car during my lunch break at work and would idle for AC or heat. Stopped because I wasn't any more rested during work and wasn't worth the gas. As far as the experiment, though, it still seems silly.
Silly enough I don't believe it because wtf exactly was he trying to figure out? If it would fuck his car up? Who would do that?? Who knows lol
That user took one for the team
People are oblivious to their surroundings. I jumped into a customers car last winter to pull it into my bay, it was running and in REVERSE! It was up against a curb so it didn’t go anywhere, but what in the actual fuck…
Guess she forgot to press the off switch when exiting the vehicle lol
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Modern engines, especially in small cars, are incredibly quiet at idle these days and some have auto stop-start which will shut off the engine for some time when stationary (until the battery needs topping up). Can totally see this happening in a moment of lapsed concentration.
Not diagnosing anyone, but ADHD is definitely one way this could happen, from personal experience.
Seen it before, was pouring down raining and a girl i worked with rushed inside to start her shift, I worked outside the store and could hear the hum of her engine going, went in to tell her, it was idling for maybe 5 hours with the doors locked before I noticed.
Oof lol. I started my car one morning before work around 4:30am to let it warm up. Work got called off so I went back to bed. Woke up and played games all day. About 6pm I go to grab something out of my car and notice I left it ran all day. Full tank of gas and it was almost empty.
fuck sake moment
Yea lol, had the heat on full blast and everything.
0 mpg
Bet that shit was toasty though
Pretty sure I didn't have to warm it up the next morning
Fuck sakes Ricky!
I'm betting it was carbureted. Fuel injectors barely use anything when idling. I've tried to run my truck out of gas in prep of pulling the fuel tank, and went to bed with it running with what id call about a quarter tank and came back the next day to about what id also call a quarter tank.
Depends on the truck because they can have larger fuel tanks so a 1/4 tank on a pickup isn’t the same volume as a Prius. Our f150 has an extended range 36gal fuel tank as factory. So that makes a 1/4 tank in the trunk 2x the volume of gas compared to our sedans and suvs that hold 18gal.
I did this exact same thing! My downstairs neighbor knocks on my door and said she went to the store and came back and noticed my car was still on so she was concerned. I had been running for like 6 hours. Not 2 days though!
I did that but left my dog in the car. Felt so bad but it was cold and she’s a good girl still.
No, just put gas on it, might need to jump start it if lights were left on.
I don’t think putting gas ON it would be very beneficial, unless they want a unique paint job
Look out! It’s the preposition police! J/K
Mind you put the gas down the right hole too
My wife gives me crap all the time because I say "I'm gonna put gas on". Old habbits die hard. Lol
⛽🚘🔥😏💲🤫🤷🏼♂️
Change the oil sooner too.
If it was running it won't need a jump as the engine would have charged the battery
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Lmao, this reminds me of the time I hot boxed my car and was looking around trying to figure out where the loud ass car speeding by was just to realize I had my foot on the gas the whole time, revving it in park... I don't drive high, for obvious reasons, but I do like to sit in my car and listen to music while smoking.
...I laughed !
I work in the Arctic. We leave our trucks running for MONTHS.
Trucks that get sold with less than 60k miles becuase the engines are worn out might not be the best comparison.
Don’t let the wife run it for months.
Our Diesel\* trucks. Most people who let gas trucks idle all day in the oilfield replace multiple engines.
Every idle hr is supposed to equal 30 miles of driving so I would adjust oil change accordingly.
Is that the equivalent of 24 hours of driving 60 mph when left on idle for 2 days (48 hours)? For a total of 1,440 miles
Bet his oil smells like gas too definitely change it!
Some guy in Brooklyn did this. It was a 2018 jeep something. I watched it go down half a tank. Those keyless ignitions leaves room for user error.
CHANGE THAT OIL! I used to work for a major diesel engine company as an engineer. I set the oil drain intervals for a few engine programs that you all pass on the roads every day. Idle time KILLS OIL. This, in turn, kills engines. Cut reference, 40% idle time, we cut the oil drain internal in half in some cases. 60% idle time, we cut it further. That oil is fucked. Go get that oil changed asap. Source: my years of looking at and studying oil degredation.
Could you explain why? The cooling system kept the oil at normal operating temperatures, and the engine was crawling at like 700 rpm. What am I missing that that oil experienced while idling that it *wouldn’t* experience on a multi-day road trip?
Fuel dilution
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It's a gas car not a diesel; that's not really a problem as gasoline combustion temperatures are significantly higher.
He may be correct. My years were spent with diesel. But still, I wouldn't fuck with it. Also, again, this oil is likely oxidized beyond its life. The bases have likley also broken down to acids, which happens over oil life's. This can eventually lead to the acids in the oil leaching materials out of components. We used to see lead leaching from bearings. It would show up as micropitting
Fuel dilution can definitely be an issue on gas cars, especially when they are left to warm up forever in the winter. Direct injection makes it even worse.
Can confirm. Long interval cars that I do service on the oil smells like petrol/gas. And it flows like water.
He's right about fuel dilution. However, we could technically evaporate this out with a highway drive. It's likely collected too much for me to be comfortable doing this. My bigger concern is that this oil has likely oxidized past its useful life. Oil will literally "break." Oxidation will take off. This oil has likely hit that point.
You got a source for that one? Not saying you are lying, but I've never heard of that. For reference the amount a piston swells under load versus idle is less than the difference in tolerance of modern engines compared to engines from say the 70's. While their oil had to be changed more often it was not 500 miles often.
While mileage is what most people go by, for stationary and engines that mostly idle, hours is a more important metric. An OLM should take this into consideration.
The general metric for gas vehicle motors is 1hr idle = 33 miles driven so at 48 hrs (call it 50 for easy math) 1650 miles is the equivalent which isn’t that much but does significantly shorten the current oils life.
This is why I’m asking. I agree with your logic, yet as per your math that would not warrant an oil change “immediately,” as others are suggesting
Yeah if it was my vehicle I wouldn’t consider this something that immediately needs on oil change unless the calculated idle miles would make it due for one, vehicles idle for significantly longer on a regular basis (I.e. cop cars) and are just fine. If there’s any check engines lights those should be addressed immediately as it would be idling with an issue far longer than one would normally drive with an issue. For someone that manages to leave their car idling for two days though, I’d understand telling them to change their oil now. Honestly if whoever is in charge of the vehicle maintenance decisions has to ask if the car that idled for two days needs an oil change then it’s probably a good idea to change the oil anyways.
Oxidation is a big contributor. Oxidation would be linear with no outside influences until it eventually breaks. Also, once oxidation has happened, it doesn't reverse ever. In diesel oil, we made great advancements with this lifespan in 2017 with fa4 and ck4 oils coming from cj4. Still, eventually, the oil will "break," and oxidation will skyrocket. Oxidation is directly related to lubricity. But yes, also fuel dilution. However, we can evaporate fuel out of our oil to some extent. I'm guessing this vehicle is well past 8% fuel dilution, which used to be my "give up and change it" point. That 8% was for large displacement line haul semis, we allowed less fuel dilution on our pickup trucks. A passenger car would allow even less with its like <5quart fill. There's still TBN, tan, and contaminates that have probably been collected but I haven't looked at oil data in a few years. I'll stop there
Also curious
Italian tune up.
Hahhahaha wonder what’s Shania Twain’s doing today
You can tell that by the way that it is.
I’ve heard of stories when cars get stolen by the person running inside the gas station or store the thieves leave the car running for days and will legit fill up the car while the car is on. I think you should be okay OP but highly recommend getting an oil change asap even take it to a shop to get it looked at. What’s the info on car? Make model year that’ll help
Story time that probably no one will see. 20 years ago I worked second shift and came home at night to car running in apartment lot. When I went to bed an hour later it was still running so I thought someone forgot about it. I called the police to tell them and hopefully they could find the owner. One cop came, then 2, then 3 &. 4. There were a couple passed out in it and I watch as they get arrested and a bag of drugs placed on hood. Sorry to those people. Lol
Change the oil and move on. 2 day idle is not going to do any long term damage . Idle is not good for an engine but those that do it daily
Every hour idling is 25-30 miles of drive time, just factor that in for your next oil change.
Change the oil- that is very hard on the motor
As a mechanic years into the trade, you can usually say, "Yeah, I've seen/heard that happen before." I can safely say, I've never heard someone leave their car idling for two days by accident.
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Might kill the horse...
Dude change the oil. That will probably about cover it. Damn that’s a major fuck up
Not really if its just a oil change and more gas. Hell what 30-60 for a filter, 80 for oil, 100 for gas and your good.
I've never paid more than $10usd for an oil filter. Where are you spending $30 on a filter?
I'm in Oregon, and prices are considered decently expensive here but that much for an oil filter? I've never heard of it or seen it either. That sounds *close* to a supercar oil filter price 😂 On average, for any of my vehicles, I pay $8-$15 for OEM filters. 6 quarts of oil is about $35-$60 depending on brand 16 gallons of gas would be about $55-$60 lol I wonder if it's a big city thing. LA, NY, Seattle kind of price maybe?
Check rockauto and order some in bulk to save some shipping.
I'd definitely change the oil ASAP
You had one job...
But he was idle and didn't do it
If the car is Gasoline Direct Injection, idling for 2 days straight might produce a noticeable amount of carbon buildup, but I'm not sure. Gasoline, and maybe check your battery voltage and charge if it's low.
We had a shitty Hummer H2 as a recovery vehicle for winter testing. It idled every day from 7am until 8pm. Had 280,000 miles on it and probably an ungodly number of idle hours. It still worked.
A Hummer? That's rare.
ADHD enters the chat....
That’s what I was thinking. but on the other hand I’m this may be something more like a past concussion or something like that with some lingering effects? I only say that because that’s the case for me, I’m walking CTE 😂
Makes sense, the police in Toronto said to leave key fobs hanging at the door so thieves won’t break in the house to get them, leaving keys in the car, running is even safer
straight pipe the car you will never know its not running xD
Well. You know, people go on road trips barely stopping for weeks.
I can never understand the mentality to let this happen, she must be in lala land
Oh noo!!! what a terrible mistake... So anyway I just filled it up with gas and started driving.
bruhhhhh no problems but what the heck
That’s what I said, literally freaking out inside thinking she just ruined our car! We shall see.
wouldn't ruin anything. 48 hours of idling is a single day's worth in NYC or LA traffic
like the other people said I'd just change the oil, but also add in asking your wife if she turned the car off for at least the next 6 months or until she freaks out on you lmao
Nah man. Don’t freak out. With my job my vehicle is my office and at times sleeping quarters. I’ve had my own personal truck running for 23 hours out of the day 7 days a week for several weeks on end. Gas burners and diesels alike. Tens of thousands of hours idling in rentals and various trucks. Summer might be an issue with overheating depending on the car. But that isn’t the case with current climate conditions. Others mentioned changing the oil. #yawn. Averaging 5 mph id still only change the oil every 4500 miles. For you haters I ran several tests with black stone to verify I wasn’t pushing oil changes beyond what I should be. I was well in the clear. Which is what the owner manuals generally say as well with severe duty conditions.
Once upon a time I read (or was told) not to leave the car running on idle because of the (much) reduced oil pressure/flow. This would have impact on not enough oil getting to some parts of the engine. Thus, when I'm idling for longer times I always rev it a little from time to time.
Put some fuel injector cleaner in it just to give it some TLC. Idle hours build deposits on valves and other places. But two days is kind of negligible over the course of a vehicles lifetime so I wouldn't worry about it. Police vehicles run thousands of idle hours over the course of their lifetime and they're fine too if properly maintained.
how is no one asking what kind of car is it? Please do tell
That’s gonna cost you a catalytic converter pretty soon
Why is this? Interested. Please explain.
Considering the usual/average mileage that an engine hour is equivalent to is about 27-30 miles. 48 hours x 30 would be 1440 miles in run time. I would recommend an oil change after getting gas for it.
Engine is likely fine... Change the oil is probably the best advice. The only damage that may have happened is the top end likely wasn't getting the proper amount of lubrication as it would at higher RPM. This varies by engine so there is no way to tell if yours is more or less prone to that issue or not. Generally cars idling for several minutes isn't a bad thing... But for 1.5+ days? Damn.
Not really a problem for the car, but you might want to have a talk with the wife...
Might consider doing an oil change. Letting it idle can degrade the oil without putting miles on the odometer. Main reason you have to check the engine hours when at a police auction. They idle their cars almost 24/7 but the oil doesn’t get changed until the odometer says so. At least pull the dipstick, check the level, and give it a smell. If it smells like gas definitely change it
take away your wifes keys
How old is your car and what kinda car is it. I noticed that a few others below said that they do it with police cars all the time. Well cop cars are driven a lot differently than the way normal citizens drive. There's a big difference between letting a car sit ideling for two straight days versus a cop car that does some ideling, then getting the crap beat out of it on the way to a call and then back to just "normal" driving and so on. I would check the oil for sure and most likely have it changed.
Ok put some fuel in it. Then cycle the key turn it on for ten seconds then off the do it again that will help prime the system the it should hopefully crank up
fucking ground her. for like a month.
False that’s why police cars r a big risk buy it’s not good for Everthing under the hood cuz their is nowhere for that hot air to go and it’s a lot of unnecessary wear and tear that’s why cops get rid of it becuase they r starting to have problems
Turn it off…
It'll be fine just put gas in it and if you want take it for a quick blast on the highway to "clear it out" after idling for so long but realistically you won't have any problems just think about police cars idling for like 12h a day every single day you'll be just fine.
I once went to the NHRA race in Sonoma. Parking was a pain and I was excited. For whatever reason I too left the car on, it was a push to start. Five hours later I was having a hard time finding my car and it wouldn’t show where I parked on my phone which seemed odd. Eventually I found it, when I walked up to it and realized I had left it on I was so pissed at myself. Other than it being very low on gas nothing happened to it mechanically, I asked a mechanic friend if I should be concerned and he said as long as the cooling system was functioning I shouldn’t worry. I was just glad no one stole it.
2 days straight is wild. I’d run a fuel cleaner, something that targets the injectors, and an oil change, just so i’m more at peace of mind knowing all that idle time didn’t leave any unwanted deposits.
How does noone find out that the car is running for 2 days ? no matter where I park my car I will always hear it from my house ..
I left a rental car running all night. My cars at home are not push button. They are old fashioned put in the key and start it. The rental was push button, and an eco start stop type. With the engine not running when I got out, I didn't think to push the button to turn it off. Next morning I go to the car and it is running and it had burned thru about an eighth of a tank of gas, lol.
I bought a car from a neighbor years ago because the wife killed herself by starting the car in the garage and the car was still running on more than a day after she apparently started the car... The only real issue was the paint on the hood was a little messed up from the heat generated in a closed garage... I ran fine for several years till I got rid of it. If the car starts up then I wouldn't expect any issues with it.
No one went outside for two days?
We park 2 blocks away from our home.
Not terribly out of the ordinary for some people. That's what I do. But also they said elsewhere that they live in town and park in a lot down the street. So even if they were outside, they wouldn't have seen it.
Op the only real damage you did was waste some money on the gas that burnt. Big whoop. I call those things stupid tax. And if that is your largest stupid tax liability for the month its been a damn good month. Now on paper in a test lab outside of all real world conditions you shortened the life of your engine. But about .00001% so you absolutely never gonna notice it. It's no different in engine wear than a few extra trips that were unnecessary but it's not like you aren't gonna go out to dinner vs stay home because of the unnecessary wear it puts on your engine. Do that a half dozen times and you just equaled the wear you did to your bearings.
Lucky thing it wasn’t inside a building with people. Or the battery wouldn’t be the only thing that was dead.