[Cjd9]

I have a job where I sit in my car twice a week, 5 hr shifts each. I had a company car that I used, but that died. I need to work, but I'll have to use my 2011 328i for about a month. How bad of an idea is it to use my car for this? I would do a little driving around through parking lots, but mostly sitting still.

[mob17]

My question is what sort of job do you have in which you have to sit in a car for 5 hours?

[bmw325i]

Originally Posted by Cjd9

I have a job where I sit in my car twice a week, 5 hr shifts each. I had a company car that I used, but that died.

Hmm.


It most likely won't damage your car in that timeframe, but it's definetly not good to idle for that long. Unburnt fuel will end up in the oil and there could be other things like carbon buildup. I wouldnt use my own car.

[KNS]

The car will idle without protest for as long as you want it to. But, prolonged idling is one of the worst things for your engine.

[El Cheapo Loco]

Originally Posted by mob17

My question is what sort of job do you have in which you have to sit in a car for 5 hours?

Mall cop? I see idling cop cars in front of donut shops all the time.

[BSM n54iS]

Originally Posted by KNS

The car will idle without protest for as long as you want it to. But, prolonged idling is one of the worst things for your engine.

+1

Yeaaaaaa company needs to supply a new vehicle! lol. And why do you have to leave it idling for so long again? ..get a battery charger to use electronics , better to turn car off and start again if needs be.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Cjd9

I have a job where I sit in my car twice a week, 5 hr shifts each. I had a company car that I used, but that died. I need to work, but I'll have to use my 2011 328i for about a month. How bad of an idea is it to use my car for this? I would do a little driving around through parking lots, but mostly sitting still.

Why do you need to idle? Can't you park it some place and wait?

Keep an eye on your CBS for the oil change interval. If you take on this job... I would actually make the investment to send out my engine oil samples to blackstone to see how it is doing. since you are idling a lot and not moving, you need to change the motor oil at an earlier mileage interval since it will be running longer without gaining miles like a normal driver use case would be.

Let's say a tank of gas gets me about 300 miles of driving. Then 10 tanks of gas will get me 3000 miles of driving. If the CBS says I can go 15,000 miles but I normall ychange my oil at 7500 miles anyways... I would say a better indicator would be how many full tanks of gas you need before changing your motor oil.

7500 normal driving miles = 25 tanks of gas = your new OCI (regardless of how many miles driven)
15000 normal driving miles = 50 tanks of gas = your new OCI (regardless of how many miles driven)

This is my off the wall logic, no one else will probably give you this kind of metric.

[ilicboris]

Originally Posted by mob17

My question is what sort of job do you have in which you have to sit in a car for 5 hours?

This.

Do you have to idle? I'd seriously be looking for a different job. Or buying a POS car and idling that all day long.

[ferocity02]

I would ask for some significant reimbursement. Unfortunately, come tax time you won't be able to write off the miles since you aren't putting any on it. You could write off the gas but idling 40 hours probably won't use that much gas, relatively speaking.

[Ravenseal]

Park it at a starbucks and sit inside the store drinking coffee.

[sp1tfire]

Guys why recommend to buy a new car, since he stated that the work car is broken and its for a month (10hrs a week) thing.

If you need to do it for a month - I'd say don't worry and do it.
There was quiet few times when i had very long trips and had to idle for like 7 hours while fell asleep on a rest area, since it was cold outside....
Now would i do it if i didn't have to - no, but definitely not a catastrophe.


Maybe change your oil 2.5k earlier or so for piece of mind.

[avocet]

Originally Posted by sp1tfire

Guys why recommend to buy a new car, since he stated that the work car is broken and its for a month (10hrs a week) thing.

If you need to do it for a month - I'd say don't worry and do it.
There was quiet few times when i had very long trips and had to idle for like 7 hours while fell asleep on a rest area, since it was cold outside....
Now would i do it if i didn't have to - no, but definitely not a catastrophe.


Maybe change your oil 2.5k earlier or so for piece of mind.

+1

change your oil at the end of month and go on living a happy life.

if you need heat and you are parking near a building with power use a cord and run a small ceramic space heater in it. or beg/borrow a small 1000w generator and run that if you really don't want to idle your car.

or just buy a big jacket!

LOL-i just had an image of a bmw with a little honda generator strapped to the roof rack and a cord going into a window while driving around a mall parking lot!

[Welcome to NBA Jam]

It's not a big deal. Just go for a good drive on the weekends.

[Denny347]

Many times my work Crown Vic idles for 8 hrs a day. Been doing so since it was new 5 years ago. Runs like a top after 64k miles. But we change the oil at 3500 mi.

[08njSTEP]

If ever there was an application for EV this is it. I would suggest to your boss he replace the dead car with a full electric. Cheaper all the way around. As for personal car I agree with above posts, not good but change oil more and you're good.

[lookalikehuuh]

Many times issues with idle can be be the lack of full oil pressure being made in the engine as well as condensation in the catalytic converters.

Anyway my recommendation: run that baby HARD before and after each extended idling session to ensure everything gets coated in oil before and after the long idle session. As well as any water being expelled from the exhaust system. A couple of "spirited" freeway on and offramps should do it.

anyway... if its just a month shouldn't be too bad. Think of it as the equivalent of sitting in the Los Angeles 101 traffic during rush hour.

[lookalikehuuh]

I forgot to add... extended idling for long periods of time not a few hours but days-years... etc definitely do take a toll on engines. Vechicles that idle for long periods of time actually have either higher idle speeds or special engine pulleys to help with idling as well as external oil/trans coolers.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Welcome to NBA Jam

It's not a big deal. Just go for a good drive on the weekends.

Oil dilution is the problem, it will thin out because of the gas. Both OP and you need to visit BITOG forums along with this one.

[egt]

How about this - if you anticipate sitting in one place more than 30 sec, shut the car off. If you have to move, start it back up.

[robthewrench]

If you change your maintenance schedule to the severe end of the scale, you'll probably be fine. Diesel Semi's routinely idle for hours and hours and go hundreds of thousands of miles on engines before needing to be rebuilt. The real downside of idling is the cost of fuel and maintenance without any mileage on the engine, plus the pollution.

If you are doing this in a very hot climate, your cooling system needs to be in great shape. A cooling system problem will destroy your engine under extremely long idling conditions.

[GATORB8]

I believe you can recode for "Rest" (Heat at Rest) mode if your current A/C controls don't let you.

That would allow you to utilize the cars heater with the car off, saving fuel and any added wear and tear.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by lookalikehuuh

Many times issues with idle can be be the lack of full oil pressure being made in the engine as well as condensation in the catalytic converters.

Anyway my recommendation: run that baby HARD before and after each extended idling session to ensure everything gets coated in oil before and after the long idle session. As well as any water being expelled from the exhaust system. A couple of "spirited" freeway on and offramps should do it.

anyway... if its just a month shouldn't be too bad. Think of it as the equivalent of sitting in the Los Angeles 101 traffic during rush hour.

The N52 has a constant-pressure oil pump with variable volumetric flow.