Car running overnight?

[marv25]

Is it okay to leave the car's engine and aircon running overnight? For example, nag-brownout and walang generator and sobrang init, and you decide to sleep in the car kasi all the chairs in the van can form a very long bed and may tv pa... Are there side effects?

[simplicity]

para ka lang siguro nag biyahe papunta North. hehehe...
side effect siguro is bagsak FC mo that week. hahaha!

[moe]

idling for long periods of time is bad. it's best to avoid long idle periods, could be detrimental to the car's engine in the long run.

[yebo]

carbon deposits on the valves, valve seats, exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe. build up of unburned HC in the cat. fowled spark plugs. plugged EGR valve. dirty oil due to carbon.

pinakamasama dyan pag naka-park ka sa area na stagnant ang air, yung pag bumalik yung usok sa air inlet ng ac, carbon monoxide poisoning. matigas ka na madaling araw pa lang.

[pup2]

Ako nagawa ko na siya pero sa open garage at hindi full 8 hours. Maybe 4 coz I was pretty desperate. K lang naman dahil OK lang maintenance ko -- at least nakatulog ako kahit idlip lang.

[jazcker]

mukhang ang dami mo pambili ng fuel sir ah...

[Elroi]

done that once when we attended a wake in bulacan last september.. natulog ako with my two kids from 11pm til 5am but i leave an inch opening on all windows para di naman kami masuffocate..

i know me side effects ito, but for me, gagawin ko ulit kung kelangan talaga.

[jazcker]

carbon deposits on the valves, valve seats, exhaust manifold and exhaust pipe. build up of unburned HC in the cat. fowled spark plugs. plugged EGR valve. dirty oil due to carbon.

pinakamasama dyan pag naka-park ka sa area na stagnant ang air, yung pag bumalik yung usok sa air inlet ng ac, carbon monoxide poisoning. matigas ka na madaling araw pa lang.

sir what is the difference between an idling car and a running/moving car? yun mga sinabi mo problema bakit hindi mangyayari or less chance na mangyari sa running car?

[Dr.Kamiya]

Should be ok as long as you're in an open area. Carbon monoxide poisoning is probably the greatest of your concerns here.

Otherwise... Just think of it as being stuck in traffic for 8 hours. AFAIK some long-haul truckers in the US of A have their rigs running for as much as 48 hours non-stop! When they take a break (bed inside the big cab), engine is left on for A/C or heater.

We have a conversion van that comes with a power sofa/bed inside, TV, VCR and inverter. No problems idling for extended periods, but then it was probably designed that way.

[cocoy]

ive done that on our starex.. when we travelled to mindanao from here in manila. we had to sleep over night at liloan waiting for the RORO to surigao... had no choice but just to sleep in the van.. had the engine running frm the time we got there to the time the RORO arived.. i think 9pm to 5am.. one of the trips we took to mindanao,, i think i never turnd the engine off from the time we left manila to the time we got home in Initao,, our home town bout an hour from cagayan de or city.. i really felt sori for the starex. but it made it there and back with no problems.. and this dec 23,, wer planning to drive to mindanao again..

[monsrick]

Dapat sa open garage and yun nga lakas fuel consumption.

[HardCharger]

Your fuel economy will be shot to sh!t.

Even more so if your vehicle is a gas engine as diesels hardly consume anything when just idling.

Which is why in the US, vehicles that are expected to do a lot of idle time have a diesel engine option and maintenance is not only determine by distance traveled or time but also in the number of hours that the engine has been running. This is tracked by an hour meter.

Hope this helps

[CVT]

Have done this in the past. And yes, during brownout in our "open" garage, when we still don't have our genset. Just make sure that you have enough fuel to run the car overnight and your car is okay (air tight and engine will not go south). And make sure to set the alarm every so often to wake you up just to make sure that everything's alright.

Dangerous for vans whose battery is underneath the passenger seat especially if the engine conks out or you run out of gas.... It will drain the battery since the evaporator is still running, which could lead to poisonous fumes, which may enter the vehicle....

4606:rock:

[mbeige]

Running the car idling for periods at a time can still cause the exhaust fumes to enter the cabin. Part of the exhaust fumes is an odorless gas known as CO - carbon monoxide. It is poisonous because it attaches to hemoglobin and prevents oxygen from attaching instead, and can lead to brain damage (asphyxia) if exposed for prolonged periods. The exhaust fumes can enter the car because even if the AC is set to recirculate the cabin air, it's not really the case because then, the passengers would be breathing back their own CO2 which is just as dangerous. Hence, manufacturers allow a small percent of outside air to enter the cabin, just that the majority is not allowed. I'd say 20% is a good estimate to give it a good enough flow, too.

So with that, just stick it through and open the windows but keep the screens tightly closed. That way insects cannot (hopefully) bug you but you still have good air flow.

Another reason why not to use the car as a temporary shelter at night is because any thieves can jump the fence and break the glass if they know the car is running and maybe if people are inside they can also take you hostage. Do you want that to happen? I mean it's a far cry but it's possible. This is especially true during brownouts because thieves prefer to go in undetected, so spotlights do not work in brownouts hence their heightened courage.

Finally, if somebody needs to use the bathroom they'll have to go out the car and into the garage, and back inside the house. This means you either have to keep the key with you so you can enter the house because it's locked for security reasons, or leave the house door open which isn't practical anyway. Another thing if thieves chance upon you or your children while they walk to the house with the key, then that's a recipe for disaster. They can have access to the house by surprising your child who's barely awake with a full bladder.

Not to mention the negative effects to your car's engine as well as your fuel costs.

[marv25]

Thanks for the feedback. In an open garage, is there still chance of carbon monoxide intake? Kasi if needed talaga... yun...

As for the fuel consumption, malakas ba ang 2.0 engine if left idle? How much kaya ma-consume overnight? Pero no prob ito kasi sagot ng company ang fuel. hehe.

Yun nga lang, to be safe, alarm dapat every few hours to check if everything's okay.

And security's not a problem, may mga patrolling security guards dito and there are no reports of any buglary or etc in our subdivision.

[pup2]

mukhang ang dami mo pambili ng fuel sir ah...

I had a VTEC at the time na bagong labas pa noon. Honestly, mas matipid pa yata siya dun sa gen set namin na de-gas eh. Mas tahimik pa!

[badkuk]

bili ka na lang rechargeable fan

[Automahn]

side effect siguro is bagsak FC mo that week. hahaha!

Di ba dapat mas matipid dahil mababa lang ang RPM at ang load lang sa makina ay yung pagpapaandar nung aircon compressor?

[albert_b]

as long as the cooling is in check ... di mag-o-over heat and the exhaust fume is properly channeled away ... no exhaust leaks sa cabin ... you're good to go.

That's like driving lang naman from manila to aparri non-stop tapos with low RPM pa :-) ... the key is cooling and exhaust.

After that ... make sure you do the rounds in checking your car ... fluid levels/lubricants/etc.... para naman di agad masira ang sasakyan

[niky]

The difference is, like others have stated, when you're driving from manila to aparri, your car is running in its optimal zone... somewhere between 2000-3000 rpms.

At idle, an engine is not happy... second order vibrations from engine running wear down your engine mounts (they see more wear at idle than at a steady cruise... more vibration), hydrocarbons build up because of inefficient combustion at low rpms... etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

When I absolutely need to use the car for sleeping (when we can't take our kid out of her seat because she's dozed off...), I turn the engine on only every fifteen minutes or so, let the air circulate, then shut off again.

But brownouts? Meh... that's what pamaypays are for...