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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think you shouldn't leave your car engines running?

254 replies

TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 09:51

First thing in the morning all I can hear from around 6am through until 9am is the sound of car engines runnings.
It provides a constant hum in the background and pollutes the air.

Can I ask why people don't cover their car windows with sheets? Or invest in de-icer?
My dh gets up at 5.15am to leave for work at 6am but he wouldn't dream of letting his car engine run, thus disturbing our neighbours. He throws the kettle over the car and sprays it with de-icer. Yes ok it's a trifle cold when he gets in the car, but it soon warms up.

So what is it with these selfish people who come out of their houses, start up their cars and then leave the engines running for half an hour whilst they have a cup of tea? How can they afford the petrol?

If you do this, please stop. It pollutes the air and I can guarantee that your neighbours are thoroughly pissed off with it.

OP posts:
ArielNonBio · 06/02/2012 13:41

Can people not stand being cold for even a little while? Is there no such thing as appropriate clothing any more?

Malificence · 06/02/2012 13:45

He obviously drives for more than the 10 minutes then?
So does my DH, he does 40 miles to work, so his diesel gets plenty of time to warm up and burn off the crap, whereas I only do 5 miles to work and if I didn't run the engine on my diesel for 5 minutes, I wouldn't be able to see for half my journey, my car never gets properly warm enough so it's always misted up.

Pootles2010 · 06/02/2012 13:45

Not when you've got a baby- it's dangerous to put them in their car seats with a coat on. And yes i know you can put a blanket on, but my ds is a bugger and pulls it off.

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 13:46

Found this whilst googling diesel engines: "Diesel engines were designed to operate at peak efficiency running wide open. As there are no spark plugs, cylinder temp., obtained by compressing air in the compression cycle, is necessary to ignite the fuel. At low idle the cylinder temp. drops leading to incomplete combustion. This incomplete combustion leads to carbon build up on the valves, in the oil (crankcase), on the fire deck of the head and the dome of the piston along with fire rings on the piston. Engine ?slobbering?, what appears to be oil, out of the air box drains and the exhaust are other side effects. As worn oil control rings will also give you both of the last two items this is often cited as the cause of an engine ?slobbering?. The irony is that the carbon build up in the oil will lead to worn oil control rings.

Now the reasons folks give for letting the engine idle - ?I need to keep up cab heat / AC in the winter / summer.? If you are going to be away for less than 10 minutes the engine will keep more heat being shut off than idling for that amount of time. The AC unit will not maintain temp at low idle."

OP posts:
Malificence · 06/02/2012 13:47

It's not about feeling cold Ariel, it's so the inside of the windscreen doesn't bloody freeze! It happened to me last week and it was terrifying, luckily I could pull into a layby, but 5 minutes later I would have been on a very busy dual carriageway with nowhere to go.

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 13:48

Pootles - the car is warmed up after 5 or 10 minutes of driving.

Malifience, how about a battery operated fan on the dashboard? It demists much faster than your blowers can.
It seems like such a lot of diesel and energy to waste warming up the car for 10mins for a 5min journey.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 13:49

Or driving with the windows open a fraction?

OP posts:
Pendeen · 06/02/2012 13:50

Easy answer is don't buy a diesel. Smelly, noisy things.

Fuel of the devil ! :)

Ahhhtetley · 06/02/2012 13:53

You do sound like a fab neighbour, I wish we had more like you around my way.

As for mechanical wear and tear, the only thing you shouldn't do with a cold engine is rev the bo**ocks off it, warming it up for a few minutes before driving is a good thing to do as oil has less viscosity when cold and does a worse job of lubricating. Running a cold engine causes more wear than an engine than if it's warm. However driving sensibly is the same as leaving it to warm up whilst idling (I'm also a fully qualified car mechanic so have half an idea of what I'm talking about)

I'd still say YABU though, I really couldn't be arsed to get het up about stuff like that. It's hardly worth it. Pick your battles, the driver running a red light is defo a reason to get your knickers in a twist (your other thread). Car engines running - not really. In my opinion it simply sounds like you just don't like that others are waking you. But when you live in close proximity to others you are always going to get people doing things that annoy you. In an ideal world everyone would behave differently - but that's not real life. If you don?t like it, move to somewhere you don't have any neighbours - but then again, there's always the wildlife that'll make noise!

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 13:59

Ahhtetley - I much prefer wildlife noise to the sound of car engines. In an ideal world yes I would move somewhere where we are not within such close proximity to others. I remember our first house, a mid-terrace and the neighbours were loud obnoxious people. In the summer they would have a barbeque almost every day and would have loud music blasting out. The only room in the house where we couldn't hear them was the bathroom and I used to hide in there for some peace.

When we complained we were told that if we didn't like it we shouldn't have moved to a mid-terrace. Of course they neglected to see the other side, that if they wanted to be so selfish and noisy they shouldn't be living in a mid-terrace either.

It's all about give and take and I just wish people would have a little more consideration for others.

pendeen, diesels used to be cheaper than petrol cars but with the price of diesel rising so dramatically that is no longer the case.

OP posts:
Malificence · 06/02/2012 14:06

I certainly won't be having another diesel but DH needs one, his does 60+mpg and it still costs him £50 a week just to go to bloody work. I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be cheaper to just move house!

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 14:09

Same here Mal. dh bought a diesel because he thought it would be cheaper to drive it to work and back, but it's actually working out at more and he doesn't get any petrol allowance. His basic pay is £14.5k and he has to fork out around £50 a week to get there and back too. It's a disgrace.

OP posts:
Acekicker · 06/02/2012 14:12

My diesel car is lovely - it's the ultra low emissions bracket (costs me £35 to tax for the full year) and nice and quiet. It also doesn't seem to need 'warming up' in a morning either, unless I'm doing my (5 mins) demisting I just get in and go. It also has the auto-cut off thingy so if I'm sat in traffic in neutral with the handbrake on then the engine cuts off (and also the aircon, heater and ciggie lighter!). Interestingly though it doesn't cut off when it is very cold outside (it will do it at c. -1 or -2 but at -4 last week it wasn't having any of it).

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 14:19

Well when your car is 18 years old Acekicker we might be able to afford to buy it! But for now we have one 18yr old diesel Peugeot and 1 petrol that we bought for me for emergencies for £350.

OP posts:
Acekicker · 06/02/2012 14:27

Fair point - I was just trying to point out that not all diesels are noisy, evil things as they can get quite a bad press sometimes.

Kladdkaka · 06/02/2012 14:38

My car gets iced up on the inside of the windscreen too. I have no choice but to wait for ages for it to heat up.

Gribble · 06/02/2012 14:54

yabu if my neighbours are that light sleepers that the noise of my car running for 5 mins to warm the engine up wakes them then Id suggest they go and see a sleep counsellor.

Water refreezes and trips people up on the driveway
De-Icer - just as bad for environment
Wiping the insaide of the screen - it just mists up again

if youre that worried about pollution, noise or otherwise, might be best you change your 18 y/o DIESEL car, no?

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 14:57

Gribble - the cars are parked right OUTSIDE MY HOUSE.
We've done the water freezing on the pavement thing - pouring some warm water over the windscreen that runs into the gutter is not going to turn into an ice-rink even if people were stupid enough to walk on the side of the kerb.

And yes if I were rich enough the car would be changed. But dh is on £14.5k pa and I get around £10k pa if I'm lucky. So whilst we do our bit to reduce pollution, like me walking ds to school and back every day come rain or shine rather than take the car, money prevents us from going as far as we would like to on that score. But thanks for the tip anyway and for reading the whole thread.

OP posts:
Gribble · 06/02/2012 15:21

Why dont you park your 2 cars outside your own house then they have nowhere to park then? Just a thought....

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 15:41

I do wish you would read the entire thread.

Ours is an end terrace and the street doesn't have enough parking spaces for everyone. My car is right now parked outside the front of the house, but by the time dh gets home there will be someone who will have shoved their car right up behind mine (they have parked within millimetres of my bumper before now just to get that bit of space on the corner) and down the side of the house. We don't mind this, there really isn't enough parking spaces and I'm sure they'd prefer to park outside their own houses, but we do mind when they then come out of their houses to start up their engines outside our house and then go back into their own houses for half an hour.

OP posts:
giveitago · 06/02/2012 15:51

Op - I am not lucky enough to have nice modern car - mine is 12 years old and more than fit for purpose but we don't have a garage so in this cold weather I ensure the engine is warm.

What's your issue?

Original poster
TheRhubarb · 06/02/2012 15:57

Read the thread. I have repeated my point several times over and am now going out, so if you want to contribute, just read my posts and you'll see my issue.

OP posts:
Dinosaurdrip · 06/02/2012 15:57

How can you really ensure that all the water is going down the gutter, especially when you are chucking water on both sides to get all the windows? Surely that would mean water going onto the road where people need to walk to access cars etc (or if it's like our terraced street the road is sometimes safer to walk on as is less slippy) so could this therefor cause an accident far worse than your sleep being disturbed?

Gribble · 06/02/2012 15:59

oh apologies OP, I mistook your last post with the words OUTSIDE MY HOUSE (in capitals I assume to make sure I read and understood) to literally mean OUTSIDE YOUR HOUSE.

And I have read the whole thread, but to be honest your issue is actually a bit [confusing], one minute you're all greenpeace and shit and the next its all about how it wakes you up/snnoys you/the smell is so bad you cant throw open your windows to greet the day blah blah blah

And I do actually know someone my knobhead brother who has had the misfortune to shatter their windscreen using warm water so it can happen

amicissima · 06/02/2012 16:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.