Idling Bad for Engine ?

Idling as such isn't bad for an engine - it's wasteful because it burns gas without providing movement, but you needn't worry about your engine's health when it has to sit idling for a couple minutes.

Two exceptions:

If your car has a pulley driven fan and you've driven it hard in hot weather, putting it idling may cause the water temperature to shoot up because the fan doesn't turn quick enough in idle. In these circumstances it'll be better to drive at a more leisurely pace for the last couple minutes, so the engine can cool off with the help of the wind.

Idling a cold engine causes a lot of wear. Actually everything done with a cold engine causes a lot of wear, so to minimize it one should aim to bring an engine to operating temperature as quick as possible with the minimum damage. The best compromise is driving the car without pushing it, giving the engine medium load.

Idling, optimized for minimal load, will take ages to warm the engine. In cold weather it may actually not warm up at all. Starting a cold engine it is probably best to give it a couple seconds idle - while putting on the seat belt - so oil pressure is built up. Then drive it.

cu .\\arc

mostly it just wastes gas.

That said, some motors have some parts that are splash or drip oiled and may not get enough oil at idle.

For example, the lobes on a small block chevy's cam are not pressure lubed, which is why you need to rev it up on a new cam install - there's not enough oil pressure (and not enough drippage) to properly lube a new cam. So, long idling periods in a small block chevy would probably accelerate wear on the cam... but probably nothing you'd notice until a lot of miles anyway.

but, mostly it just wastes gas.

Ray

Idling...it's what some cars do best. LOL

It's almost summer and the heat is here already. You don't say but I get the idea that what you want to do is sit in cool car for hours out in the hot sun.

Will cause wear above normal but since millage will stay low, who's to know. You should change oil at minimum intervals. And it's why cop cars have extra coolers, an engine oil cooler.

disston