Sleeper
New Member
I'm gonna hate myself later for contributing to this madness.... But, That link you pointed out notsosolw, refers continuously to EXCESSIVE idling. Granted, A big diesel engine will idle after start up for a darned long time before it heats up, but a car, which has a power plant that is as different as night and day from an over the road truck, will benefit from warming up before being driven. If you let the internal parts expand to the size that they operate at before you load them, they will last longer. Period. Now, if you let your vehicle idle EXCESSIVELY, say more than 5-10 minutes, it will contaminate your oils faster. Period. When I'm towing and I come off the highway, I definitely do not shut down my diesel if I'm stopping for less than 20 minutes. If I were to shut down after coming off the highway, the outside of my motor would cool at a faster rate than my internals. Bad. Letting it idle continues to circulate coolant, letting the entire motor cool simultaneously. Good. Plus Many diesels have turbochargers on them that REQUIRE a short idle time before shutdown. If you are shortly going to be starting the motor again, Why start it cooling down, parts contracting, only to expand your parts again? Obviously excessive idling is bad, but most idling you see is not excessive. Blah Blah Blah. I think this you think that. Blah Blah.