Technical Letting an engine idle?

I was in the USAF from 1963to 1967. We had Ford Econoline ramp trucks that idled from plane to plane all day long. Periodically, we would take the trucks out on the active runway and run them wide open to get rid of the carbon build-up. The first pass down the runway the trucks would be lucky to hit 40 miles an hour with a lot of "bucking and back firing". After a number of passes the trucks would run better. Eventually, even this backyard "cure" would not be enough and the engine would need to have the head removed and cleaned of carbon. Obviously, this is a worse case senerio of what idling can do , taken to the extreme.

 

Well, I was going to rat out my older cousin, for forgetting he left his car running when he went into his house! He left it running all night and it was still running the next morning! But after reading your post…..I am not going to mention it!








Bones

 

idled a car all night hanging out in the back seat ..she didnt complain...oh i meant the car..ha ha

 

My bus has idled for hours during parades.
Bad or good?
Don’t know or care.
It’s odd watching other guys have over heating issues. Fancy electric fans, relays, thermostat switches. Mine is a mechanical fan with no shroud. I guess I’m doing it wrong.
Engines wear out. They can even go bad from not driving.

 

Given the fuel prices, mine get to idle for 0.8-seconds, or less.

 

Any issues caused from idling am be cured by hammering on em hard afterwards

 

If carbon ends up being a problem after long hours idling. Just dump some ice cold water or Sea-Foam down the throat of the carb then blast it hard down the highway for about a half hour.

 

I have been guilty of leaving the truck at work idling. The truck is so quiet that I need to look at the tach to see if I shut it off.

 

Just out of curiosity, propane powered service vehicles such as trucks, since the fuel burns so clean, would there not be any real carbon build up from idling long periods of time ?

 

Not in my observation.

I have torn down numerous Propane and CNG engines, often with extreme hours, and found combustion chambers and piston tops that look disturbingly fresh.

The only time I have seen any remarkable deposits is when there were worn out valve guide/deals, and worn bores, leading to oil in the combustion chambers. No way to fight that, with any fuel.

 

Idling reminds me of one Friday afternoon we finished some work on a rear loader and being cold out the owner said park it out front and leave it running and he would send a driver in to get it later. Come Tuesday morning (3 day New Years weekend); the old Mack was still sitting there idling. Good that it had enough fuel.