letting her idle (it's cold!)

[ehautama]

Greetings!

I am new to the forum and have spent a whole day it seems reading through it!

I live in Northern Michigan and we are in a cold snap. I have owned diesel pickups in the past and am very used to letting them idle while i run errands and such. Yesterday I let my TDI idle for two hours while I had an appointment.

It's been between 0 and 8F not including wind chill for the past several days.

Anybody out there do the idling thing? any concerns?


Eric

[golfTDI1]

Welcome to the glorious world of TDIs (and myturbodiesel.com) Eric!

There is NO NEED whatsoever to idle this car like that...all you're doing is wasting fuel, and putting unnecessary wear and tear on the engine. Also, diesels should not be idled in general, beyond a few minutes after driving to let the Turbo cool down because they burn least efficiently at idle with no load...not to mention its not good for DPF and other complex emission controls on the CR TDI. Also, this car does remarkably well cold starting in subzero weather. If anything, you may want to invest in a block heater...Google a product called Frostheater, very popular add on for TDIs, but even this is not necessary. Hope this helps.

[Jim W]

Eric,
No modern diesel engine should be idled at low speed 600 to 700 RPM's. One of the main reasons is the loading of un-burnt pollutants into the emission system. The DPF will plug earlier and a forced regeneration will be required by the dealer. Another issue is that you could have wetting of the cylinder walls. This is caused by un-burnt fuel when you idle for long periods of time. The wetting of the cylinder walls will cause fuel dilution of the oil and premature wear of the rings on the piston.

If idling is required than it should be idled at RPM's higher than 1100 RPM's with an exhaust brake installed and turned on. This will cause the engine to worker harder and heat up faster. The exhaust brake places a load on the engine and thus it will be at a higher operating temperature. This insures complete burning of the diesel fuel and less build up of soot in the emission system.

Jim W.

[amstel78]

I think the other two posters said it best; I would not and do not let my cars idle for extensive periods of time regardless of whether they're diesel or gasoline. I might let the OM617 5 cylinder diesel in the Benz 300D idle for about 10-15 minutes every weekend (if I don't bother to drive it around the block) during winter to keep the battery from dying, but that's about it. Anything longer and you're just wasting fuel and causing premature wear on engine and exhaust components.

[Frank M]

Originally Posted by ehautama

Greetings!

Anybody out there do the idling thing? any concerns?

Eric

I have heard the new diesels in trucks will not idle more than a certain period of time. They just shut off automatically. I was in a Ford service department one day and the customer was complaining about this and he was told about the new feature.

Also EPA rules for trucks are no idling more than 3 (?or something like this) minutes above 25°F then longer between 25° and -10°F. After -10° it can be idled indefinite. I am not exactly sure of my numbers but we get the point.

[2011GolfTDI]

The other problem is that it's illegal in some localities; e.g., in Prince George's County, Maryland, unattended vehicle idling will get you a $70 ticket and 1 point on your license.

[xeno555]

Originally Posted by 2011GolfTDI

The other problem is that it's illegal in some localities; e.g., in Prince George's County, Maryland, unattended vehicle idling will get you a $70 ticket and 1 point on your license.

Actually you'll be -1 for a vehicle in PG County...

[ehautama]

Thanks folks!

Our wind chill for those few days ranged from 10 to 30 below zero....I'll think about about it more during our next cold snap



Thanks again!!

[Conrad -JSW]

Originally Posted by ehautama

Thanks folks!

Our wind chill for those few days ranged from 10 to 30 below zero....I'll think about about it more during our next cold snap



Thanks again!!

You know that the wind chill has no effect on your car right? Other than cooling it down to the ambient temp faster. The wind can't make your car colder than the ambient temp.

[CJBCPA]

I think he was talking about idling to warm up the interior in 10-30 below (at least that's how I read it). Anyhow, I recall with my 2001 TDI, idling in the winter generated insufficient heat to warm the car up anyhow. Tried it once and after 20 30 minutes, the temp gauge was only partially up torwards normal operating temp. Fastest way to warm up the cabin was to drive it.