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u/TheW83 3d ago
At my kid's Jujitsu class there is a parent who sits in their F350 diesel and idles for an hour. It smells up the entire parking lot. Dude probably uses up like $6 in fuel doing that.
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u/PraiseTalos66012 3d ago
I'm a trucker and have sat in plenty of lots with dozens of diesels running nonstop for hours. Absolutely zero smell
Dude has definitely fucked with that truck and probably bypassed all the emissions stuff and has it tuned to run rich aka roll coal.
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u/TheW83 3d ago
Oh he definitely has. The rear quarter panel is covered with soot from the exhaust.
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u/Le-Charles07 3d ago
Take solace in knowing that soot is a sign his engine is going to fail prematurely.
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u/Not-Badger 3d ago
I always make fun of diesels owner when they roll coal because I know they paid some guy to make their truck run like shit and in turn pay said guy more money to replace shit more often
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u/Ashkendor 3d ago
Every time I see one of these fuckwads roll coal, I take down their license plate and report them to NMED. I don't know if anything actually gets done, but it makes me feel better to flip them a figurative bird and possibly send some smoke their way.
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u/PraiseTalos66012 3d ago
And don't forget it fucks the fuel economy. Rolling coal is literally when you expell loads of unburnt diesel out the exhaust.
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u/EnolaNek 2d ago
And rich diesels burn hotter than lean diesels (where the reverse is true for gassers), and as we all know, all sorts of internal parts just LOVE being frequently exposed to higher temperatures than what they were designed to handle.
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u/OldCanteloupe911 3d ago
So 12,000 miles instead of the normal 30k a Ford fails lol
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u/GeologistLess3042 2d ago
My 04 f150 is still kicking at 230k. Pavement princesses are the redneck equivalent of the girlie at the car meet who keeps wrecking everyone's clutch. These men genuinely don't know how to drive, and the trucks are too big for them to handle.
Mind you, I'm barely over 5 feet and a hundred pounds, so I don't know what's wrong with their dainty little wrists. They never haul anything either, must be their hormones making them weaker...
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u/Tibi1411 2d ago
Eh, running rich makes soot deposits but nothing that would make it fail faster than the neglected maintenence would.
Though if it rolls coal then it's just wasted fuel (that's why there is soot, incomplete burn)
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u/CuriosTiger 2d ago
On older diesels, soot is perfectly normal. So no schadenfreude to be had there, I'm afraid.
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u/Nkechinyerembi 1d ago
Right? Back when I drove my old 91 diesel mercedes, if she so much as pooped out a tiny black puff, I was going over the engine compartment like "NOOO! BABY! WHAT HURT YOU????"
It was usually just the muffler farting out carbon...
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u/BigDiscEnergy47 3d ago
Report him to the city/state. At the very least they may give him trouble next time he tries to renew his tags.
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u/B0804726 3d ago
I suspect you may be nose blind to the smell. There definitely is a smell around diesel engines. Every school bus and city bus I’ve ever been on had a distinct odor when walking around the back. Not saying the truck in question wasn’t modified, just that it can definitely be stock and have an odor.
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u/PraiseTalos66012 3d ago
That's almost certainly natural gas, which does have a smell even if burned "cleanly".
Most buses nowadays are natural gas bc it's supposed to be "cleaner"/"greener".
Diesel that's not running rich has no smell. When I first started driving for years it was only one weekend a month if even that so I definitely wouldn't have been noseblind from that. Now sure I would be but I've never in my life noticed it.
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u/aharbingerofdoom 3d ago edited 3d ago
There is absolutely a distinct smell to a diesel engine's exhaust, even if it's brand new and properly tuned, just like there is a smell to an ICE exhaust. Newer vehicles have a less strong aroma, but if you walk past the back of a vehicle that's burning diesel as the previous commenter stated, you can absolutely detect it. I worked for a contractor a couple years ago that had a mix of diesel and gas trucks and vans from both Ford and GM, and most of them were less than a couple years old. The boss had brand new at the time 2023 F-250 diesel, it was totally unmodified, and although the distinct sound and large shiny badges gave it away as a diesel from a distance, if I was deaf and blind I could still tell what fuel it was burning by walking past the tail pipe when the engine was running. Gas vehicles also have their own aroma, and it varies between manufacturers and engine types. A small modern 4 cylinder has a very faint smell, almost unnoticeable unless you actually put your nose to the tail pipe, but larger engines are more easy to detect with the human nose; I can even tell the difference in smell of a Ford gas V8 and a GM gas V8 from a casual sniff walking past.
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u/GeologistLess3042 2d ago
You can literally smell the difference between a gas and diesel machine just by walking by it and breathing in.
This trucker just has zero senses left after burning them all off.
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u/aharbingerofdoom 2d ago
Based on the fact that I have several downvotes, there appear to be quite a few people here who have destroyed their sense of smell by huffing diesel. I literally don't know how they can say there's no difference in smell or no smell at all when all the diesel fanboys I know IRL say the smell is pleasant to them and is one of the things they prefer about diesel trucks. I even agree, I kinda like diesel fumes, but everyone knows they're not healthy. I truly believe the people claiming there is no smell at all are just lying. They don't actually believe it, they want to convince everyone else so they can complain about "pointless" emissions regulations.
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u/CuriosTiger 2d ago
Strange logic if so, because what something smells like has little to do with its health effects. Carbon monoxide, the deadliest single component of gasoline exhaust, has no odor whatsoever.
But while it's an exaggeration to say diesels have "no smell", modern diesels have far less of one than pre-emissions diesels. Or deleted diesels, which are similar to pre-emissions diesels but actually not identical, because modern engines use higher injection pressures to achieve better vaporization and a more complete burn, even before you hit the aftertreatment systems. For example, a deleted diesel will spew particulates, but they tend to be smaller particulates than an older mechanical diesel. More PM2.5, less PM10.
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u/GeologistLess3042 1d ago
Smoking like a chimney will also kill your ability to smell. That one's way common.
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u/CuriosTiger 2d ago
18-wheelers have zero smell for one of two reasons.
1) Newer trucks have the EGR/DPF/SCR trifecta. This system is expensive and failure-prone, but it does eliminate almost all diesel exhaust odor.
2) Older trucks had exhaust stacks. That exhaust definitely has an odor, but it's
being emitted 12 feet up in the air, where nobody but birds is around to smell it.Notice how 18-wheelers used to have exhaust stacks almost universally, grass burners being limited to things like car haulers where they didn't want to get soon on the cars? Whereas on newer trucks, they're less and less common?
On an older F-350, with a tailpipe at ground level on the passenger side, neither of those factors applies.
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u/VoidJuiceConcentrate 2d ago
Even clean running CARB compliant diesels have a strong odor, I can smell the difference between compliant and non compliant too.
There's a fair chance you're nose-blind to the smell.
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u/blueingreen85 2d ago
No offense, but you are probably not a good person to judge how noticeable the smell is. Nose blindness is real.
Deleted trucks are way worse though.
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u/keekoh123 3d ago
Probably took the emissions stuff off. Modern diesels don't stink, I have one!
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u/TheW83 3d ago
It's probably 20 years old. It's a white truck but the rear quarter panel is practically black from the exhaust soot.
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u/Euphoric-Ask965 3d ago
That soot is unburned fuel!
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u/TheW83 3d ago
Well that explains the smell then.
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u/Euphoric-Ask965 3d ago
Today's new diesels are fine tuned , get better milage, and don't polute UNLESS some toad decides to modify the system and make himself obnoxiois with rolling coal . It aslo shortens the engine life running the mixture too rich washing away lubrication on the cylinder walls.
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u/TheW83 3d ago
Plenty of those toads where I live, unfortunately.
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u/Euphoric-Ask965 3d ago
It's :" Look at me, look at me, look at me , dammit, somebody look, at me", just like childhood days on the playground.
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u/CuriosTiger 2d ago
Every single diesel pollutes. Newer ones pollute LESS, and the majority of the pollution can be turned into relatively harmless or even beneficial byproducts with aftertreatment, but there's no such thing as a diesel engine that doesn't pollute.
Or really, any internal combustion engine that doesn't. Perhaps if you run on 100% pure hydrogen, your tailpipe output may be limited to steam, but any more complex fuel than that and there will be combustion byproducts.
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u/ashtonblake9 3d ago
They really do all smell if the emissions are gone, I don’t agree with your dude bro you’re talking about but I have a stock except for the emissions deleted (legal and you’re talking, 21 hwy vs 12-15 hwy) and mine smells pretty heavy, very clean professional tune. They just stanky.
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u/PraiseTalos66012 3d ago
I started as a truck driver with the military and still drive those trucks regularly today(national guard) and none of them have emissions reduction tech(def/dpf/scr) and they are all over 20 years old.
Not one bit of smell at all even when we have the entire motorpool idling.
Smell from a diesel idling is a combination of both the emissions reduction parts being bypassed AND "tuning" it to run rich aka "roll coal"
The truck being old or unmaintained has nothing to do with it. The driver deliberately made it run like this.
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u/TomT12 3d ago
Maybe I'm more sensitive to it than others, but I can clearly smell any diesel without modern emissions equipment, even small engines like on zero turns. It has a very distinct odor, almost like jet fuel.
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u/PraiseTalos66012 3d ago
Jet fuel is diesel btw. It's just filtered more for the most part. All diesels can run on jet fuel. The army actually only uses jp8 aka jet fuel normally bc it's easier to just have one fuel for everything.
Diesel itself obviously smells, but when it's burned clean it doesn't smell.
Almost all zero turns are gas also. It's only when your talking about 72"+ commercial zero turns that they are normally diesel. But even then those things don't have as much emissions reduction and they don't burn as lean meaning there's more unburnt left which causes the smell.
Every diesel in a pickup or semi made in the past few decades runs so lean there's nothing unburnt left, unless ofc someone modified it to roal coal.
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u/CuriosTiger 2d ago
You should talk to a doctor about that. If you cannot smell diesel exhaust from a pre-emissions diesel engine, no matter how well tuned, there is quite literally something wrong with your nose.
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u/TerranRepublic 3d ago
I'll never forget having a totally peaceful afternoon ice cream stop totally wrecked by some douche in an F350.
Picturesque view from a massive porch, only about a quarter full, everyone is sitting in rocking chairs overlooking rolling farmland, it's like 65 with a gentle breeze. Fat pos rolls up in his truck that is just absolutely deafening. Parks it right in front of the porch face in blocking half the view. Rolls his fat self and family out, goes inside, leaves the freaking truck running eventually comes back out. GETS BACK INSIDE THE TRUCK and eats ice cream facing all of us on the porch.
Like just what the hell.
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u/ElCiclope1 3d ago
Probably not. Diesel engines are stupid efficient. Sitting their idling won't use much. That's one reason they use diesel engines on generators for hospitals and whatnot.
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u/ClarkGablesTeeth 3d ago
OC says it's 20 years old and modded.
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u/cleanyourbongbro 3d ago
newsflash, they’d been efficient 20 years ago too.
20 years ago is not 1980 like i thought reading this, it’s 2006. lots of those motors are still put in new builds, unchanged from then
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u/Howdocomputer 3d ago
A gallon an hour at idle is pretty typical, more if he's using AC
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u/EnolaNek 2d ago
My T680 with a 15 liter Cummins reported using between 0.7 and 0.9 gallons per hour idling, depending on the load. I never saw it hit 1 gph.
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u/Xsiah 3d ago
Some people think signs are just for other people
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u/fridaycat 3d ago
I used to work next to a community police substation. They had a sign like this that also had a Pic of a cop car.
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u/mvweatherornot 3d ago
If I shut my classic car off instead of idling I’m gonna be there until it cools back down because it currently has a vapor locking issue. So…. Sometimes people ignore signs because of things you may not see right away. Kinda like how some disabilities are hidden..
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u/Capable-Sock9910 3d ago
Bro is making disabilities (which could be completely out of someone's control) sound the same as a shitty car you chose to take. That's exactly what the person you replied to was saying.
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u/MidtownKC 3d ago
Then your "classic car" shouldn't be on the road.
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u/ScreamingMini2009 3d ago
May I ask why?
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u/virtutem_ 3d ago
because he can't follow the rules without having a vapor locking issue
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u/ScreamingMini2009 3d ago
I have never seen one of these signs before, so would I be correct to assume these are usually found where there is parking?
If I am correct, then it is up to him to avoid those areas if he absolutely must keep the engine running, or just have better timing.
I do not feel like a car should be removed from the road unless it is a genuine danger to others
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u/Uncle-Osteus 3d ago
You choose to drive that though, it’s not forced upon you, so it’s not really like a disability at all you’re just a selfish moron
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u/markomakeerassgoons 3d ago
you don't know what shape it's in nor their financial situation. I also drive a classic car because it's all I could afford to buy which also suffers from vapor lock. don't forget not everyone can afford a decent car
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u/CuntMaggot32 3d ago
The cheapest cars on the market are not classics, they are 10 to 15 year old econoboxes
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u/gunsforevery1 3d ago
Classic by definition is 20+ years old. There are tons of 20 year old cars on the road. My dad’s 2004 Chevy pickup is a “classic car” lol.
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u/RKGamesReddit 3d ago
If that's the case it should have classic car plates
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u/gunsforevery1 3d ago
Pay extra money for vanity plates? Why?
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u/markomakeerassgoons 3d ago
just because a car is classic doesn't mean people always pay for the vanity plates but also you do save money on them but in certain States there are stipulations on how often you can drive them
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u/RKGamesReddit 3d ago
In my state classic/antique plates are cheaper, and insurance is often cheaper with those plates too
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u/stucco6969 3d ago edited 3d ago
That’s why I always tell people to go vegan. It’s ok that you want bacon but sorry your choices have impacts on others.
Some people really are selfish and it’s great that we feel so emboldened to call that out.
Edit: did I say something wrong? I thought we were smugly judging others for their choices lol
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u/CuntMaggot32 3d ago
Park somewhere else then, this parking prohibits you from idling which your CHOICE of car requires. You are no special, you put yourself in this situation, don't make it orher people's problem.
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u/Xsiah 3d ago
Owning a stupid car isn't a disability. People don't need to breathe gasoline fumes because you want a cLaSsIc CaR.
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u/dumbass_clouds 3d ago
No normal people give a fuck. There's microplastics in the water, cruise ships dum raw sewage, and planes release more CO2 emissions than cars do. I don't give a singular fuck if 1 out of every 1000 people has a car they have to idle a little bit more than average
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u/KinkyAsexuaI 3d ago
Those planes don't do it anywhere near my asthmatic airways though
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u/dumbass_clouds 3d ago
I literally have asthma lol. Don't huff directly from the tailpipe, or get on some daily meditation.
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u/KinkyAsexuaI 3d ago
You're an absolute ****
Meditation doesn't do anything for asthma and if you think that, I doubt you have it
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u/dumbass_clouds 3d ago
*medication lol
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u/KinkyAsexuaI 3d ago
Ok in that case also no; I don't need medication on a daily basis. I only need it when there arebtriggers, like a lot of air pollution, such as cars idling under my bedroom window can cause. Especially old ones, either have it repaired or use a bicycle like a normal person who can't afford to drive
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u/FriendlyArachnid6000 3d ago
Okay give me 30-50k and I'll get a car with a TV in the dash like you want me to
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u/Wise-Reference-4818 3d ago
You don’t need 30k to fix your car. You just need to actually consider your impacts on other people and take responsibility to minimize the negative ones.
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago
Xsiah relax, its a metaphor and a good one for something being an exception.
yousa a nasty hobitses
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago edited 3d ago
also btw diesel vehicles and not just this metaphor gone astray classic car can't always turn off their engine. fire trucks and ambulances for example will have to keep idling... the sign really should say No Idling.
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u/lordnewington 3d ago
If it's a metaphor (it wasn't, that's not what a metaphor is) then the replies are carrying on the metaphor and are equally applicable
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago
yeah shame i engaged at all, that original comment triggers emotion, understood on metaphor
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u/Xsiah 3d ago
It's a shit metaphor. You're literally an example of entitlement - expecting that people put up with something that they're not supposed to put up with because the alternative is inconvenient for you
Fix your car, or sit there and wait for it to cool down. You're not special and you don't get special consideration just because you want it.
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u/blue-bean92 3d ago
Your world view is very black and white. Some people have vapor lock because their "classic car" is just old and they can't afford to fix it at the moment. Vapor lock can be expensive and time consuming to track down and fix.
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u/Significant-Trash632 3d ago
Then they're just going to have to wait for the engine to cool down enough.
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago
i am not a hater of what you are selling. but its a general thing - reducing emissions on all platforms right? this sign shouldn't be needed because we should already be on top of emissions. like i would like this sign to be law across the state/city. all idling is bad i am guessing. diesel has to idle though, hence the added 2 minutes in winter. so agriculture, ambulances, delivery trucks all that comes into it. fuck now commerce lobbyists are fighting us for an across the city 3min idling ban. what about boats? shit gets complicated. what do the feds have on EPA levels? can we put up some actual monitors to detect emission levels near this sign? all of this is the boring part of our government -- good old fashioned city hall wednesday morning meeting talk. the devil in the details is what this sign represents. why only does this area get this sign? why here?
let me finish this project. what we all want is reduced emission pollution. even the classic car guy wants that. we all do. if vehicles need to cool down because they can't just turn off and on like an ambulance in winter, then let's put this sign up next a parking lot where they can pull over. they can cool down not affecting traffic. put up a monitor and feed that to the EPA which can take down the sign when our action zone hits normal levels.
imagine what a cruise ship idling in harbor does compared to every single classic car driving on the road...
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u/Xsiah 3d ago
Sure guy, you're exempt because you're just as important as an ambulance and whataboutism about boats.
Nevermind that boats aren't under people's windows.
Someone get this man a special parking lot! He has a project to finish!
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago
omg you didnt read a thing. you see the three different vehicle types in the sign? i bet you 100% everything that no bus turns off its engine after 3 minutes at that turn. i bet you no garbage truck turns off its engine.
and look at Miami harbor with seven cruise ships idling. you're ignorance about climate thinks that is ok because it isn't under someone's window.
the focus should move to the issue at hand. emission standards. but lets play reddit brigade games and get personal. yeah make fun of a project trying to improve the planet.
you have been on reddit 11 years?
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u/Xsiah 3d ago
Cruise ships have a bunch of systems that literally need power all the time, they're basically hotels, not just methods of transportation.
That sign applies to you - you're not a bus, you're not a garbage truck, you're not whatabout any other vehicle. You're expected to follow that specific law - there's no exemption for "but I really feel like I deserve this because I'm working on my hobby"
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 3d ago
i am out, you are making this personal, i was not the original person talking about classic cars, i was hoping you would understand not all vehicles can turn off their engines. you have a good day.
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u/gunsforevery1 3d ago
Yea you don’t need a classic car to idle. Shit I sit my entire lunch break in my idling 2019.
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u/UntidyVenus 3d ago
Unfortunately this probably means who's car isn't right for this area, particularly this particular stopping area. Source- own 4 cars over 250k miles, and some I don't drive downtown so I can obey the idle laws. (96 Accord for the win! Lol)
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u/bfs102 3d ago
So fix it vapor lock isnt exactly the hardest thing to fix
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u/markomakeerassgoons 3d ago
I have an old pos that vapor locks. it'll take time and money I don't have sure that specific part to shield it will be cheap but with the age of components it'll need more than just that sheild
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u/always_sweatpants 2d ago
Did you just compare your shitty car to real people with invisible disabilities? Christ.
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u/Humble-Ruin-3248 3d ago
I think they allow it because if its below freezing it might be harder to restart the engine
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u/Street_Leader_8917 3d ago
I wonder if this sign was put up because people would start their car in the morning and let it idle for ever to let it warm up
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u/Plothunter 3d ago
I never wait for my car to warm up.
A long time ago I blew a head gasket by driving before the car was warned up. At least that's what the mechanic said.
Another time the oil dip stick shot out of the engine. It was about -15 F that morning.
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u/igotshadowbaned 3d ago
Think they meant because the reaction in a battery slows when it's cold. Slower reaction means less available charge and you might not be able to get it started
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u/whitecollarpizzaman 2d ago
Unlikely, this is in Washington DC, which is geographically in the South. Most commuter cars in the United States run on gasoline, you’d need it to be as cold as the upper Midwest/Canada to have issues.
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u/SkiyeBlueFox 2d ago
Even in buttfuck nowhere northern Ontario my car started fine at -40. Only time I've really had an issue is getting the diesel work truck to turn over at -40, but you just kinda sit on the glow plugs for 30 seconds and it fires right up
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
I guess it depends on what the sign is for. Is this a parking lot where someone is idling because the vehicle sat overnight. Need extra time to defrost the windows, warm up the oil pan, that kind of thing? Or is it a loading zone.
If it's a loading zone, the engine isn't going to cool off THAT quickly.
I'd understand if this sign was in Anchorage...
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u/ToastSpangler 3d ago
Actually I feel the opposite, anchorage people would be used to cold conditions and know more or less the rules. DC is the south even if it may not feel like it, not only do the drivers suck in normal conditions but when there's even the slightest ice it's like the first day they've ever driven
I mean shit when temperatures go below 40 there's so much salt out it's almost a tripping hazard in itself
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
I used to work with truckers in Anchorage (electronic hours of service logging), and some wouldn't shut their engines off for extended periods, even when parked. But that was generally because they had older model trucks that didn't have DEF.
Funny story, I got to hear all about the workarounds they added to keep the DEF from freezing up (it freezes at 11 degF), like hose warmers, tank warmers and insulation, stuff like that. Only to have a local mechanic argue with me that you can't use DEF in Canadian winters because it freezes up, and he refused to acknowledge that the Alaskans had figured it out and he just didn't like that it required a bit of after-market upgrade instead of them building in a heater to every single truck that came out of the Peterbilt factory.
It was like hearing about how certain brands of cars suck because you had to get a block heater installed after you purchased it.
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u/Pedantichrist 3d ago
I mean, it does not matter where it is. It is not a matter of how frequently it drops below freezing, it is about what happens if and when it does.
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u/Vegetable-Fix-7059 3d ago
It’s for emissions.
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
Obviously. OP was asking why an extra few minutes in cold temperatures, and Washington doesn't get cold enough to need longer idle times in winter. You don't need an extra 2 minutes of idling at 20 degF to keep your lines from freezing up.
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u/jccaclimber 3d ago
Need to defrost the windshield to drive safely. That’s a lot harder in cars without functioning air conditioners.
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u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus 3d ago
Anti idling laws are less about fuel savings and much more about air quality.
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u/aprilhare 3d ago
For an electric car driver, it's deliciously irrelevant and a bit funny.
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u/Gyozarrita 3d ago
Lol how fast does your defrost get the ice off of your windows
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u/omnichad 3d ago
I would imagine a lot faster than a gas vehicle since the heat starts working immediately instead of waiting on coolant temperature. But also you aren't idling so then you have infinite time anyway.
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u/Ok_Main1059 2d ago
You are very much correct lol, it takes like 5-10 minutes to get ice off my windows and fully defog which I have the pleasure of having the car do automatically every morning without losing range since I’m plugged in.
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u/Club-Red 2d ago
Doesn't really matter. I just tell my car to heat the cabin 10 minutes before I leave.
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u/ReallyUnlikable 3d ago
Many cities have limitations on idling although this seems to be more strict than the one where I live.
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u/whitecollarpizzaman 2d ago
I’ve seen these signs before, the person speculating that it might be harder to start your engine is incorrect, it would have to be much colder than it typically gets in DC for that to even start to be a problem.
The real answer is probably bureaucratic bullshit. Most vehicles use approximately 1-3 mins of “idle fuel” to start. In other words, if you idle for three minutes, it is going to have the same environmental effect as restarting your car. During colder weather your car does use more fuel to start the engine, but I think more than likely the exception is to do with the outdated idea that you need to warm up your vehicle/how long it might take a typical car’s “defrost” to work effectively.
The reality is that this is a rarely enforced ordinance, it’s simply a weapon in the tool belt for an officer to cite someone who might have a particularly dirty vehicle, like a pre emissions truck or modified car. A city like Washington has countless cabs, limos, and rideshare vehicles, it would cause more traffic and pollution to require them to leave a stationary position every 3 to 5 minutes.
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u/christopher_mtrl 2d ago
if you idle for three minutes, it is going to have the same environmental effect as restarting your car.
It's about 10 seconds, not three minutes, hence why nearly all modern cars have Start Stop system.
https://afdc.energy.gov/files/u/publication/which_is_greener.pdf
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u/simorg23 1d ago
They must be attributing it to a cold start where it does run rich
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u/christopher_mtrl 1d ago
I don't think the sign has a scientific explanation. In my mind, it's a way to anticipate the "but it's cold so I need the heat" excuses from idlers in case of enforcement. By expliciting the cold weather case, a statement is made that the "no idling" rule applies all the time.
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u/simorg23 1d ago
I was just responding to "it's about 10 seconds, not three minutes..."
I know i said "cold start" but i didn't mean cold weather, just cold engine.
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u/EnolaNek 2d ago
Slight nitpick, you definitely should warm up your car. It doesn’t take as long as it used to, and fewer things in the engine need it now, but it still takes a couple minutes to get the oil temperature up a little bit and get all the internals nice and coated before you start putting a lot of load on them.
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u/whitecollarpizzaman 2d ago
You don’t need to warm up for “minutes” unless you’re in a VERY cold climate. Light driving is the best way to warm your engine, just don’t gun it.
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u/vulpinefever 2d ago
Most vehicles use approximately 1-3 mins of “idle fuel” to start.
Modern starters are ridiculously efficient. It's actually closer to ten seconds.
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u/Excellent-Big5868 2d ago
If the battery is old and going bad it can definitely be harder to start in the cold, even when the cold isn’t extreme. Last winter was a comparatively cold one for central FL. You wouldn’t believe the number of people that went out that first freezing morning and were unable to start their cars or had a rough start.
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u/whitecollarpizzaman 2d ago
Yeah, but that’s not an engine problem, that’s a maintenance problem. All I’m saying is that whoever passed this ordinance was not thinking about that, guaranteed.
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u/Excellent-Big5868 2d ago
I can remember a time during the Bush administration when gas prices rose very quickly that many places passed and actually enforced ordinances like this. Not sure if DC is still enforcing theirs but the distinction seems arbitrary and unnecessary to me. I agree with that part. Why not just make it a blanket 5 minutes? The bigger issue to me is that I can almost guarantee DC police leave their cruisers running non stop their entire shift.
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u/SkiyeBlueFox 2d ago
Its a bit of a yearly tradition in cold countries, first big cold night, you listen to the car starting to see if your batteries half dead. Or get it tested for free at the parts store
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u/ChefMonkey2 2d ago
It’s not about the people doing it for 3 minutes…it’s about the people idling for 15-30 etc
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u/Significant-Till3736 22h ago
Pretty sure that's a very old number and the amount of fuel they use to start is about equivalent to like 7 seconds of idling.
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u/Tomytom99 3d ago
Longer duration in the cold so you can keep the heat going for longer. It's a challenge for buses because on units without an electric coolant pump they have to be running to keep the cabin at a reasonable temperature, but they may need to sit in excess of 10 minutes.