Leaving engine running for long...

[WINDSCREENGUY]

when i used to work nights my van would be running all night , on idle for an hour at each job then a bit of driving in between and if i was lucky it would be on idle while i was asleep for up to 5 hours keeping me warm

[truxx]

This eberspacher (sp?) looks brilliant! But also a little overkill and a quick look at the prices on ebay say's i'll be passing on that one

I'm glad i asked this question anyway as i didn't think it would be a problem at all leaving it running.I have an electric heater which should run off the invertor from the leasure battery.
I only need the heat there between about 6pm ish - 10pm and even then i'll be well wrapped up so probably not as big a deal as i'm making out.

I should have added a poll about this one...

Thanks for the reply's everyone...

[MrMPuk]

I have an electric heater which should run off the invertor from the leasure battery.

One of the few things it tells you not to plug into your inverter. What size inverter do you have?

[psv-hgv-flt]

This eberspacher (sp?) looks brilliant! But also a little overkill and a quick look at the prices on ebay say's i'll be passing on that one

I'm glad i asked this question anyway as i didn't think it would be a problem at all leaving it running.I have an electric heater which should run off the invertor from the leasure battery.
I only need the heat there between about 6pm ish - 10pm and even then i'll be well wrapped up so probably not as big a deal as i'm making out.

I should have added a poll about this one...

Thanks for the reply's everyone...

save up as they are well worth it

[bigjohnthomas]

i once had to rebuild a lister petter 4 cyl engine "burning oil" and the piston rings had lost all their spring you could bend in half nearly without them snapping this was put down to the hirers leaving the machine ticking over all day every day and they were billed for the damage

[fastmower]

I sold an Eberspacher a while back for little over £100 including a jerry can and fittings for it. Doesn't seem a lot to pay for a lovely warm van to be honest!

I'd imagine an electric heater will kill your leisure battery and/or your inverter in fairly short order - would probably be cheaper buying something made to do the job you want if you ask me!

Just my opinion though - it's your money mate!

Andy

[MrMPuk]

i once had to rebuild a lister petter 4 cyl engine "burning oil" and the piston rings had lost all their spring you could bend in half nearly without them snapping this was put down to the hirers leaving the machine ticking over all day every day and they were billed for the damage

That kind of damage to rings sounds like heat damage rather than glazing.

[bigjohnthomas]

could be they reckoned it had normalised the rings i am sure it was air an cooled thing the hirers payed up for it telling them that whatever it was
it was a while ago must be twenty odd years since i worked for ruttle good job my memory is impeccable

[Altransit]

I can't say I ever realised that leaving an engine ticking over for long periods was a problem

Years ago, I used to do short drop deliveries back and forth from my shop, and in sub zero weather (which was more frequent then), I didn't turn the engine off all day, so it was idling for long periods between driving it.
None of engines in my vans ever died, the vans were always replaced due to terminal rust, or being written off

[winterheating]

plus it depends how the engines been ran in, in the first place.
thinking about starting an engine and leaving ticking over, the rings will just sit there, the cylinder walls and cylinder will expand and rings will aquaplane over the oil left on the walls and cause glazing with the heat burning the oil thats left.

combustion temps are totally different to engine temps, think about the EGR process its only active at idle and low revs to keep combustion temps down, at higher revs it will actually be lower combustion temps.

plus the only reason the engine takes a while to heat up is cos the coolant is flowing correctly, if you fired the engine with no coolant in the head and block would very quickly get hot.

really if you think about the time an engine combustion temp gets to correct working temp, like a few minutes max(like some afterglow phases), then anytime after that theres a risk of glazing if not put under load.

but as said this would only be a prob in extreme lengths of time, like most of the day, constant ticking over with no load at all.

lts amazing how you can remove some cylinder heads of high milage engines and still have the honing marks, then others at low milage that have a mirror surface cylinder walls.

[winterheating]

I can't say I ever realised that leaving an engine ticking over for long periods was a problem

Years ago, I used to do short drop deliveries back and forth from my shop, and in sub zero weather (which was more frequent then), I didn't turn the engine off all day, so it was idling for long periods between driving it.
None of engines in my vans ever died, the vans were always replaced due to terminal rust, or being written off

but glazing/sticking rings would more likely burn more oil, and need more frequent oil changes as more gases would get into crankase, and fuel consumption would be more. rather than going alltogether.
thats exactly why every engine is different, depends how its been ran in and used after.

my mate bought a brandnew focus, after 10k it still had terrible mpg but it was cos he drove like a snail, never loaded it.

[Altransit]

I think that the older diesel engines were more tolerant of abuse than the modern ones are, as they were in much lower state of tune and didn't ever get hot anyway. All of the ones I had were high milers already, but oil was always changed at 3k miles
One of the reasons I left the engine running was to keep the cab tepid, which would take at least 10 miles to do if you turned off the engine ............... it never got warm! If your feet were wet when you last drove it, the mats were sheet ice by the time you started the engine again

[winterheating]

well id ay modern bare engines are capabale of a lot more miles, but the ancillarys let them down now a days
plus newer engines have different coated piston rings, have more emmissions control and not just by EGR valves, to keep harmful nox down that mixes with the oil on clinder walls.
and all internall combustion engines have had if anything higher combustion temps than modern ones.
thats another thing if the di's had the EGR mod its going to increase combustion temps a lot and therefore nox when idling.
but remember combustion temp and engine temp are 2 different things.

i bought my scorpio vm2.5td of an old man who'd had it from new, it had 70-80k on it, took it for a steady test drive and he was clining to his seat he said ive never driven it like this before .
after i had it a few months i noticed it had to much back pressure, so i took the heads (4 seperate ones)of and the cylinders were wobbling about in all directions like they were in a wizards sleeve.
stripped the engine and the rings were stuck solid, it was that bad it wasn;t even scraping a wd40 of the cylinder walls when turning by hand.
i put it down to the car never being booted in all its life.

[sc_BK]

I often sleep out in my van when its below zero. I've got fairly cheap sleeping bag (think it's 2 season) and a 12.5 tog quilt, keeps me warm all night

[jolly olly]

I often sleep out in my van when its below zero. I've got fairly cheap sleeping bag (think it's 2 season) and a 12.5 tog quilt, keeps me warm all night

But dont you have dolly it keep you warm