Car's not moved for weeks, will idling it do harm or good?

[BEERBOY123]

Sorry, couldn't decide if this was technical help or general chat.

Essentially, I've not had a chance, due to weather and work, to drive my E30 for about two weeks. In that time it's been sat in a cold garage. I still can't drive it today as there is ice, slush and grit/salt all over the place.

Would it be ok to just start it up and idle for twenty minutes or so, or is that a bad idea? I don't want him to seize up etc.

Thanks

[gooner1]

Personally, i would,nt do it on a regular basis, but can,t see it doing too much harm
the one time. Stbc.

[e30den]

Sorry, couldn't decide if this was technical help or general chat.

Essentially, I've not had a chance, due to weather and work, to drive my E30 for about two weeks. In that time it's been sat in a cold garage. I still can't drive it today as there is ice, slush and grit/salt all over the place.

Would it be ok to just start it up and idle for twenty minutes or so, or is that a bad idea? I don't want him to seize up etc.

Thanks

you have nothing to fear if your battery is ok.

[Morat]

Frankly I'd leave it. If you are worried about the battery just unhook it, or remove and charge it. An E30 isn't going to mind being left sitting for a month and you may as well save on the number of cold starts it does.

[davpkav]

Ditto Morat. The problem you will have if the freezing weather keeps up is the condensation on the engine etc will freeze and cause lots of problems so if I were you I would not start it up.


Regards


David

[E30316]

This time of year i always fast idle mine at 2000 rpm for 20 mins till its up to normal temprature and its never caused any problems in the 10 years i have been doing it.

[Ranchero]

How is switching it on and idling it for a bit going to do it any harm. It's a car isn't it? Not a thoroughbred racehorse...or a woman.

[Morat]

It's extra wear for no gain, why bother?

[e301988325i]

A car's engine suffers the most wear at idle because the slower movements struggle to build what's known as a 'hydrodynamic wedge' which keeps metal away from metal. This is especially true with the top end doing half the revolutions of the bottom end.

[bss325i]

How is switching it on and idling it for a bit going to do it any harm. It's a car isn't it? Not a thoroughbred racehorse...or a woman.

More fuel is being injected when cold and can potential cause bore wash and there fore bore ware.

Oil pressure is also lower the lower the engine speed. Cold oil is also thicker so low pressure combined with with this will mean premature wear.

[georgen]

As above..

Remove the battery, move the car forward / back half a wheel turn every week to avoid flat spots on the tyres, and don't start her up and let her idle. Most engine damage occours under idle, so you'll be doing the car no good at all. Your car will be fine for months without starting the engine..

[Brianmoooore]

All this doesn't just apply to cars in storage - it applies to cars in daily use as well!
The best way to warm up an engine is to fire it up, and then drive it. Don't let a cold engine sit idling for any length of time.

[Rich_W]

You mean i I follow the above advice my engine will last forever?

The amount of engine wear is very minimal. Those lovely people at the manufacturers account for that when they designed the engine. So long as your oil pump is working and you're oil is ok you'll be fine!

[Brianmoooore]

You mean i I follow the above advice my engine will last forever?

Worked for the Mobil 1 million miler! Manufacturers design their engines for an "acceptable" life. What is "acceptable" varies greatly between makes (or possibly countries.) Would you but a French car with 100,000 miles + ?
Whatever make of engine it is, its life will be greatly shortened by frequent cold starts, and the damage made worse by prolonged cold idling.

[gareth]

regardless of what life expectancy they are designed for, engines DO wear more when cold for various reasons. it's pointless running it for no reason.

If engines were designed 'perfectly', they wouldnt wear out at all. unfortunately, the laws of physics don't give a toss about that! they will and do wear out and cold starts are potentially as damaging as a 6000RPM spanking

incidentally, BMW recommend that if you need to idle the car for it to warm up (snowy conditions etc) that it's held at a high idle to prevent damage from low engine revs / low oil pressure.

[BEERBOY123]

Oh, interesting. Thanks, didn't know that. So wait until the neighbours are out and sit with my slipper on the pedal for a bit?

[Rich_W]

Firstly, it doesn't matter! Engines wear out. And 99% of failures that tend to occur have next to bugger all to do with repeated cold starts or letting a car idle for too long. You think a piston through the side of the block was a result of that? You think a crank shearing was due to that? A cambelt snapping? A valve spring failing? No engine on this site is so finely made that they are immune from simple metal fatigue. You heat cycle metal and eventually it will fail and no amount of "perfect" lubrication will save that. Yes you can minimize the effects of metal on metal but even that comes down to manufacturing tolerances. Doing everything perfectly wont stop something unforseen killing your engine. So stop worrying about doing everything "by the book" and just be sensible and realise that you have less control over failure than you'd like to believe.

Secondly that Mobil 1 E30 is as far removed from any normal engine as you can get!

Thirdly, Yes Id buy a French Diesel with over 100K on the clock.

[BEERBOY123]

I'd buy old French, but anything recent will be very unreliable, both anecdotally (friend's Laguna breaking down every 5 mins) and if you look at the stats.

Old French, no worries (relatively), but then again how many Renault 25s do you see on the roads compared to E30s/other older BMs?

Not many!

[bss325i]

But it does matter because prolonged idling and over frequent cold starts accelerate the ware on an engine which can cause it to fail. Think worn bearings (which incidently can cause a rod to be thrown out the side of the block!), worn rings, rattling camshafts and valve gear.

Remind me not to buy a car from you!

Oh and i wouldn't by any french turd period!

[gareth]

Firstly, it doesn't matter! Engines wear out. And 99% of failures that tend to occur have next to bugger all to do with repeated cold starts or letting a car idle for too long. You think a piston through the side of the block was a result of that?

engines generally run within the elastic limits of the materials used, designed this way so metal fatigue will not occur. repeated cold starts can lead to bearing wear which in tirn leads to increased friction, uneven stress distribution and mainly impact loadings from the increased clearances from the worn bearings. this impact loading is the most common cause of an engine throwing a rod when running within it's designed operating conditions (eg, rev limit) as it will destroy the bearing further and remove the ability for the bearing to maintain proper lubrication. the impact loadings will also over stress the components which will then lead to fatigue in parts such as the conrod and rod bolts.

all pretty basic stuff really, and common sense.

engines don't simply throw rods out of the block for no reason.

[Brianmoooore]

Secondly that Mobil 1 E30 is as far removed from any normal engine as you can get!

AFAIK, the engine was absolutely normal - the difference was the lack of cold running.

Thirdly, Yes Id buy a French Diesel with over 100K on the clock.

One of the reasons diesel engines tend to last longer, is the lack of cold start enrichment, causing bore wear and contaminating the oil.

[Jesus325iTouring]

Would you but a French car with 100,000 miles + ?

Yes,my 5 engine has a minimum of 100,000 on it,the exact mileage is unknown as I've changed the original 95,000 mile dash board and have also had great lengths of time with no speedo.
I've done circa 40,000 miles in,it's had one oil change,the tappets have been adjusted once and it's had one head gasket (second hand!)as it had rusted through the 1st and 2nd cylinder,it's been run with no water in for more times than I care to remember with ill effects
It still runs sweet as nut,believe it or not,always starts and is nice and quiet.
I think it's an incredibly tough engine for a wheezing 1.1 that I do nothing more than abuse,by that I mean lack of maintainence,I don't thrash it everywhere.

It'll take more abuse and bad maintainence than any M20.

[Rich_W]

But we are talking in such tiny percentages. Starting your car 20 times a week compared to letting it idle for 10mins once a month. I can't imagine there's very much in it. And I doubt that it will increase/decrease service life by anything substatial.

More important is regular oil changes. (and even that 60K on 1 oil change car thread elsewhere proves how well made modern engines are)

Yes, I let the oil warm up before caining it. But that's because it helps the car go faster. But I don't kid myself that the engine will NEVER fail. I don't kid myself that taking it to the rev limit or running it to it's VMAX are doing no harm at all because I didn't let it idle for long periods.


Brian, that Mobil 1 car. Who REALLY cares that it did the mileage it did? It's irrelevant as a idea. No road car that ever gets driven (on the road) would do that. I'm a great exponent of "its a car" use the damn thing to drive about Those cars you see from time to time. Low mielage. Exactly how they came from the factory. What a waste!

Would you want a pair of shoes that last forever?

[Blitz]

I usually take the car around the block at low speeds till it warms up, then put it back in the garage. I do this at least 4 times a month.

[Ace 325i]

I start up my car every other day for atleast 30 mins - let her warm up etc...no problems?

Should i stop doing this?

[georgen]

I start up my car every other day for atleast 30 mins - let her warm up etc...no problems?

Should i stop doing this?

Yes. Read my post above...

There is no benefit in letting a car warm up under idle conditions.

[brewer]

Mine was left in a feild for 3 years in the eliments was in a bad state when i brought it took it to my work shop put jump leads on it and started straight away you shouldnt have any problems at all.

[pac1982]

Mate of mine blew his head gasket by leaving it on idle, he did do it for ages though when he was pilling out of his face at a rave and fell sleep in his car

[bss325i]

Mate of mine blew his head gasket by leaving it on idle, he did do it for ages though when he was pilling out of his face at a rave and fell sleep in his car

There must have been something wrong with the cooling system or something failed.

[Brianmoooore]

Green one in my sig. spent over two years in a yard with the tailgate partly open.
I checked the fluids, put a battery on it, inflated a couple of tyres and drove it 100 miles home. The seized clutch wasn't a great problem, but the waves inside were, especially when braking caused the water in the spare wheel well to slop out.
Engine, and car in general, was fine when I'd freed up the clutch and dried things out. Only after effects of the water was that the seat fabric wore out very quickly.

[Rich_W]

Mate of mine blew his head gasket by leaving it on idle, he did do it for ages though when he was pilling out of his face at a rave and fell sleep in his car

There must have been something wrong with the cooling system or something failed.

Exactly! Cars are fairly tough things. Leaving them to sit doesn't kill them too badly. Letting them idle once a week aint likely to either!

Just don't worry about it. Far better to worry about depreciation

[gareth]

E30's aren't going to depreciate much more now.
owning a M3, yours must have increased in value a fair bit while you've owned it? sure beats spending £6-10k on a newish car and watcing the value fall monthly

[Rich_W]

Don't know, lots are for sale for more than I paid for mine 5 years ago. It's silly though. If I'd put the money somewhere for 5 years. I would be better off. That's not why I did it though. Maybe its worth 2-5K more than I paid. But even then I've spent (estimated) 3-4K on the thing in the mean time. So it's not exactly a sure thing.


This advert for me takes the cake for stupid over optimistic pricing!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1392336.htm

Half the advert reads like a wanky "buyers guide" Phrases like "never knowingly driven in the wet" are just retarded. If it was that well looked after the scuttle wouldnt have rotted would it! The resto was featured on a couple sites and the guy did the work himself in his garage. So it's not even an "original" car. It's had paint and it's possibly had the wheels refurbed too. And to top it all off it had a new engine. Not exactly signs of a car that was "used regularly, but sparingly" Similalrly stuff like "once the gearbox is warmed up" erm my box if fine from cold? (It can be a bit stubborn at sub zero temps. But i'll live with that! But doesnt need to be at operating temps to change gear!) So why isnt this remarkable example of the car?

Seats are clearly not original design. Who has seats retrimmed for the hell of it? Rear headrests? Where did they come from a Capri?

Saying that, none of these things are terrible. But if I had £35K to spunk on a SportEvo. I'd want one a damn site better than that! If this was up for nearer 18K he would probably have got the "anticipate significant interest in this car from Euro zone collectors"

[gareth]

those are indeed fishnet Recaro headrests! Proper Recaro though... but as you say, from a capri / mk2 RS2000

that is a lot of doller for a car that's been meddled with.

[bss325i]

Don't know, lots are for sale for more than I paid for mine 5 years ago. It's silly though. If I'd put the money somewhere for 5 years. I would be better off. That's not why I did it though. Maybe its worth 2-5K more than I paid. But even then I've spent (estimated) 3-4K on the thing in the mean time. So it's not exactly a sure thing.


This advert for me takes the cake for stupid over optimistic pricing!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1392336.htm

Half the advert reads like a wanky "buyers guide" Phrases like "never knowingly driven in the wet" are just retarded. If it was that well looked after the scuttle wouldnt have rotted would it! The resto was featured on a couple sites and the guy did the work himself in his garage. So it's not even an "original" car. It's had paint and it's possibly had the wheels refurbed too. And to top it all off it had a new engine. Not exactly signs of a car that was "used regularly, but sparingly" Similalrly stuff like "once the gearbox is warmed up" erm my box if fine from cold? (It can be a bit stubborn at sub zero temps. But i'll live with that! But doesnt need to be at operating temps to change gear!) So why isnt this remarkable example of the car?

Seats are clearly not original design. Who has seats retrimmed for the hell of it? Rear headrests? Where did they come from a Capri?

Saying that, none of these things are terrible. But if I had £35K to spunk on a SportEvo. I'd want one a damn site better than that! If this was up for nearer 18K he would probably have got the "anticipate significant interest in this car from Euro zone collectors"

That be this car

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=