Apart from the obvious of someone pinching it could any damage be caused my letting your car idle for ten min to clear windscreen and warm it up? Will the oil circulate enough without it getting reved?

Running is fine, but if stolen your insurance won't pay out under the unattended with keys clause.

Last winter there was something crazy like 30 cars stolen round here in ONE morning due to people leaving them running

I leave mine running but I do stay in the car. As gadgetman says I don't want to risk it being stolen.

Thats not an issue its behind locked gates, it's just the mechanical side I was worried about

Beware also of the little known law 'failing to quit'. If on what is defined as a 'road' and if you're not close enough to help matters should something go wrong then believe it or not you commit an offence.

A diesel will take hours to warm up on tick over and yes you will do damage in the process, they are so thermally efficient they need to be driven under load (that does not mean hard) to get up to temperature.

Leaving it a few minutes whilst you scrape the ice off the windscreen is one thing, leaving it 10-15 minutes whilst the blowers defrost the windscreen from the inside is too long.

 

As mentioned above the oil circulates easier and quicker when warm. Leaving a diesel at tick over means the oil takes far longer to warm through than when the car is being driven.

 

I'm sure it even says in the manual somewhere not to leave the car idling from cold...

If my car is really bad I just a fan heater run off an extension lead. As others had said a diesel won't heat up even after 15 mins idling.

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If it's ice on outside just use luke warm water and hit the wipers before it refreezes. Takes less than a minute. Just get in, turn on and drive off

Cheers for that, I'm not going to do it then. Some good advice. Sparks03 sorry if I'm missing something but I don't understand that post one bit?? Probably me as it's Sunday and early lol

Cheers for that, I'm not going to do it then. Some good advice. Sparks03 sorry if I'm missing something but I don't understand that post one bit?? Probably me as it's Sunday and early lol

You can get prosecuted for leaving your car with engine running on the highway.

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i agree with gizmo, idling for long periods does more damage to the engine, you are far better off driving it striaght from cold taking it easy till its warm.... then give it some beans

If your car is behind locked gates, do you have a Waterproof/circuit breaker electric lead available.?

 

Plug in a Greenhouse heater in the car and keep the interior above freezing.

No frost on windows, get in, remove the heater from the plug, start off and go, electric over night no more than the fuel you are wasting waiting for a diesel to get the coolant hot and the cars heater defrosting.

 

& the cars interior stays nice and dry. Wind Deflectors are useful putting the Lead into the car and leaving the window a mm or 2 open.

(in expectation of mention of FireRisk, Insurance Issues etc,

no Different from having a motorhome, caravan, Icecream van, Commercial etc plugged in at home or at your workplace, 

you think, do a risk assessment & do it safely.)

 

Also cut down on Moisture/condensation/freezing in your vehicle by using Moisture Absorbing Packs, £1 or so of expense.

Stops or reduces those iced up inside mornings.

 

george

Its a diesel isn't it? Ticking over isn't going to warm it up or do it any good, my fabia doesn't warm up unless I drive it.

+1 from Martinvrs. I used an empty 6pint milk container. Fill it up with warm water, pour over windows, get in car start up and drive off job done. Only thing to watch is that the water is likely to freeze on your drive so will make it slippy.

& in areas where the ambient temperatures do not rise during the day, it might freeze into the Heater Intake etc.

Over a few days, you can end up with a block of ice inside the intake grill.

 

Cleaning side windows, water freezes the windows, locks freeze, over several days you might even get blocks of ice inside the doors,

drain plugs blocked etc.

So you might have, no heater working, A/C non functioning, steaming up car, locks frozen the next time you get in the car, 

windows stuck, so you think if the temperature is staying cold and for how long before defrosting with warm water/H20.

 

Over a number of days, or weeks of freezing weather never rising above freezing, or sun thawing ice and then freezing again,

you get ice all around the area you park in.

So it matters where you are and the temperatures.

 

Warm water freezes harder and quicker than cold water, but as a quick action to defrost it can be good easy way to do it,

and i always have warm water in a flask in a vehicle in freezing weather, ready to clean a windscreen quickly as other vehicles (HGV's)

splash and freezes mine.

 

This link might only be valid for a few hours from posting today. 10.20 am

But incase anyone thinks that is all a bit much, there is much of an area still at around or below freezing this morning.

http://www.trafficscotland.org/weatherstations

 

 

george

Best way to warm up the engine is to start and drive normally. I tend to keep an eye on the oil temperature and try to avoid pushing the engine until it gets to at least 90 deg C

I've been leaving mine ticking over on the drive on cold mornings to warm up. after reading these comments about possible damage i won't be doing that anymore...

Warm water does not freeze quicker than cold. Its a myth.

Warm water does not freeze quicker than cold. Its a myth.

 

yes it does.. kind of.. if you put 2 glasses of water in the freezer one normal, and one warm they will go solid at more or less the same time, which means the freezing process has happened more quickly to the warm one.

yes it does.. kind of.. if you put 2 glasses of water in the freezer one normal, and one warm they will go solid at more or less the same time, which means the freezing process has happened more quickly to the warm one.

Have a read of this LOL

 

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/hot_water.html

The thing abouts Myths and Myth Busting or what happens in fact.

 

You can read the Myth Busters, read the Science,  then 'Just do it', live the experience, not in a Lab, not on you tube,

 step out side and pour the cold water or the warm water where you are in cold temperatures.

 

Theory is fine, but what happens in practice is really what matters to most.

Anyone that has worked at Ice Rinks, Snow Domes or on Snow Cannons at the Ski Slopes will know

if Myth or not.

 

Put 4 glasses in the freezer, use the same shaped glasses or containers, same quantity of water.

one cold,

one warm.

one warm with some sodium chloride (salt)  Use washing up liquid if you want.

one cold with some sodium chloride. (salt)

Try Distilled water if you want, and that will effect things differently again.

 

I like doing the trick with Super Cooled H20 or even Cola.

Watch Youtube to see how to do that.

 

george

Warm water does not freeze quicker than cold. Its a myth.

Read the link above

My Yeti ticks over quite nicely for 10-15 minutes in the morning if it is frozen up, within a few minutes the windows de ice and I haven't seen any bad side effects because I have done this.

 

 Years ago when a car was on choke (obviously petrol) I believe the ext rat fuel may have caused issue but not to sure I agree with the comments above about damage could result.

couple of hot water bottles on the dash board close to windscreen half hour before the off.makes the screen nice n easy to clear and then wife gets to hold them she is nice n warm sitting in the car while I drive until heater starts working.