[s-cars] Leaving the engine running

[CyberPoet]

It's true that the worst thing you can do to a car on a regular basis
is start it, and then drive off. If you ask any cab driver or
chauffeur, they will tell you that they traditionally start their cars
and let them idle for 1 to 5 minutes before driving off at the start of
the day or after any prolonged stop. Having done this in numerous
vehicles (cars & motorcycles) myself, I can attest to the benefit (the
volvo was recently sold with 240k miles on the original engine -- never
any oil-related damages, no leaks, except a minimal one at the rear
crank bearing seal, after switching to a light synthetic at 188K
miles). But, having said that, I still disagree with the notion of
leaving the car running while fueling. The benefit is minimized by the
fact that the engine, having already run in the process of getting to
the station, is freshly oiled, and I can't see that it outweighs the
risks of leaving a car running (even ignoring the explosion risk, the
risk of having someone else drive off with it while you are
pumping/paying is too high).

Now, having gotten onto the subject, has anyone used the magnetic-cling
oils for an extended period of time yet (say, 50k miles or more)? I was
thinking about using the stuff for a while, until a mechanic-friend
pointed out that the problem with this is that the oil retains any
microscopic metal particles at the sheer surfaces when the engine shuts
down instead of carrying them to the crankcase.

Cheers!
=-= Marc Glasgow

On Saturday, March 8, 2003, at 12:53 AM,
s-car-list-request at audifans.com wrote:

> The worst thing you can do to a car is start it.  It's better for the
> engine
> to keep running and stay lubricated, especiallly when the oil is cold.