Everything You Need To Know About Idling Your Car

How often do you find yourself idling your car?

What is idling?

Your first response to this might be what is idling? Well, this is when you have your car’s ignition switched on but you’re not actually driving the car, you’re just waiting. This could be outside a friend’s house waiting for them to finish getting ready, or you’re in your car still deciding where you should head for the day. All of this is a big no-no.

I was horrified one day when my nephew told me that during his university breaks he would take naps in his car while he let the car idle. His reasoning for this was that he wanted the aircon on but didn’t want the car battery to die.

The disadvantages of letting your car idle

Here’s some reasons you shouldn’t let your car idle.

Obviously letting your car idle uses up petrol and oil, meaning that it is wasting your money! But it can also damage certain parts of your engine. Now, this won’t happen from a single case of idling your car but certain parts of your car will degenerate over time. The reason for this is that fuel is only partially combusted so it creates fuel residue that builds up in your engine parts. These parts include the spark plugs, your gasket head, and your cylinder rings. If you don’t know what those are, trust me they are important!

So, when you find yourself waiting in your car rather switch the car off instead of idling it. Your car will be grateful.⁠