Comments on: AskPablo: American Idle

By: simon

simon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:12:30 +0000

Sorry but this is complete nonsense.
The catalytic convertor will not warm up from idling at all.
It works ok a few hunderd degrees celsius,
it will not reach that when idling… definately not.
the automatic choke does not go of when idling, it stays on, so drive when you have oil prssure which only takes like 10 seconds, no need to wait for a minute…that’s insane, the motor does not heat up one bit from idling one minute at all…
Sorry but i know about cars, i work on them every day

By: Rolly

Rolly — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 13:34:35 +0000

I have a 1999 venture van w/ 132k miles.
service engine soon pop-up in the dash board
high rpm or idle is not on normal run.
when i step on the gas half way it will not
continue to verb up.I added some additive in
the gas tank.Same thing happen.
Please help me any suggestion will appreciated.

By: Joseph Stetter

Joseph Stetter — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 20:32:38 +0000

If you are going to start your car and run it … you better make sure you have lots of fresh air circulation … otherwise you can build up CO and it can create an overexposure to this toxic gas .. goto http://www.transducertech.com and see how to test for CO with a small Pocket CO instrument

By: Janis Mara

Janis Mara — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:01:41 +0000

What! I’m really surprised to learn this. I had some vague notion that it was not a good idea to turn your car off whilst waiting at a red light or similar situation. Like, if you suddenly see some drunken idiot speeding right at you, it gives you even less time to react. But I guess I was wrong on that, eh?
Janis Mara
http://www.ecotality.com

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:34:43 +0000

Hmm – I always wondered when it made sense to turn off the engine. I remember my dad told me that the car uses more gas to start up than it does to idle, so if you’re waiting for someone in a store, leave the car running. But then I heard that gas/electric hybrids shut the motor off at stop lights, and I wondered if engines had gotten more efficient at starting up. I live in NYC, and tho’ I usually don’t use my car, when I do I’m stopped at lights for minutes at a time. Maybe I should be turning off the motor?
I’ll try it out over the course of a tank of gas and see how the mileage works out. Yes, I check the mileage on every tank of gas, ’cause that’s how my dad raised me.

By: Pablo

Pablo — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:14:34 +0000

If the car is warm then the catalytic converter will begin working much quicker. The engine will still burn a bit more rich upon startup though. The engine RPMs will also be a bit higher momentarily as the battery recharges to make up for the energy lost to the starter, this will use more fuel. Generally this isn’t very long though, so it makes sense to turn your engine off at a railroad crossing or a long red light than to keep it idling.

By: Janis Mara

Janis Mara — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:34:10 +0000

Thanks very much for the answer to this question, which I have often pondered. The 30-second-to-a-minute rule – does it vary according to the temperature or how long your car has been parked? For example, I’m assuming if you only left it parked about an hour after it had been driven quite some time, no warmup is needed, correct? Would you need to warm up longer than the prescribed maximum one minute on a cold day?
Janis Mara
http://www.ecotality.com

By: Tyrell Sykes

Tyrell Sykes — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:57:27 +0000

Hmm…. so if I have to go in for a smog test, i should drive around for about 10 miles before I stop in eh?