So my entire life I have been under this assumption that letting any motor...whether it be automobile, lawnmower or motorcycle...idle for moderate to long periods of time (lets say 5min minimum 25min maximum) is not good for any component of that motor. I'm not quite sure where I picked up this notion/theory. I can remember growing up feeling uncomfortable when letting my old LS1 WS6 sit at idle waiting for a 20 min train even though I had a 160 thermo in...or sitting at the drag track in my LT1 line waiting for my turn all while staring at the aftermarket thermo gauge and tranny cooler gauge praying they didnt go over 182 even though I had a manual fan switch...all so I could get a good run in...

Anyway, I was once told that letting any motor idle for an extended period of time (wer talking over 5 minutes) is not good for many components..as an example, one guy told me that the plugs start to foul.

So lets put aside heat...Of course letting your bike idle upon cold start to around 115-130 is great...but what about sitting in traffic when your idling at 220+? I mean, how about sitting at a train for 15minutes while your motor heat rises from 175 to 220+? On one hand heat is necessary for an engine to reach its full potential in combustion, but once thats reached, all additional idle periods and major increase in heat seems to add nothing but degradation to your engine components.

Let me paint a picture- You warm your bike up at idle to lets say 115-you ride easy around town and your seeing 160-175/80...you pull up to the train tracks and get caught by a train....a 15 min train...you watch your temp rise to 220+ as your motor just sits there at idle fouling the plugs and heating the internal components to temps they dont like to "sit" at..

I guess what I am asking, is can someone convince me that a motor (the F4i motor in particular) is not affected as much as I feel it is during these long idle periods? Im sure some of you will respond with "I would just shut her down". I too feel that way at times...but then I have heard that shutting down and starting back up is actually more strain on everything rather than just letting it sit at idle for this period of time...makes sense...cranking..moving parts from a stop...etc..

I have really always been under the impression that
'Heat Kills"...whether it was from me going through LT1/LS1 tranny's as a kid due to burned clutches or from making more power and seeing better track times due to my cooler engine...I think my psyche regarding this has been tainted...and Im hoping someone can cure me

 

Not sure why you would be worried about that unless you have faulty fans. I always turn my truck/bike off when I'm waiting on a train since your vehicle use the most gas at startup and when its idling, or so I've read. Not sure if I believe the idle theory but I do know that it's burning gas regardless.

 

I really don't know if idling in and of itself is bad for engines. Heat, on the other hand, can be. So long as you're under normal temperatures, you're fine. These engines won't over-heat until about 250 or so, from what I've heard (one guy was asking if it was bad that his bike was at 247 while idling).

Only real reason for not letting it idle when you're not warming it up are for reasons like saving gas and not roasting your legs. When was the last time you heard of anyone cutting their engine's life noticeably short due to letting it idle too much (and not some other cause like over-heating)?

 

i put on a different fan switch, my fan comes on at 203, not 223 now, a lot better as around 200 is when i can start feeling the heat

and on a side not i read in Alaska oil fields they run the pickup truck diesels 24/7 although they do it for the heat lol

 

Hmmm an aftermarket fan switch huh...I assume the F4i only has 1 fan (Ive never seen it)? where did you find your switch? I would think the fan would be on quite often..probably ALWAYS when stopped or in traffic... How difficult/invasive was the install?

 

I don't know why you'd let a motor idle for longer than five minutes in the first place. I just plain don't do it.

 

theres a how to somewhere cant find it, heres the part i used.

it pretty easy, take off the fairing on the kickstand side, unscrew the old sensor and unhook it, and screw the new one back in. On the new sensor, you need to cut the connector off and attach one wire to the original wire, and run the other wire to a ground, i used the bolt right above the fan. And im not in traffic to much but i dont mind my fan coming on more often, and yeah theres only 1 fan.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=52-0

 

Aken do you just shut her down then?

Bluedevil-thanks! Seems like an easy install

 

Also keeps the engine from freezing and fuel from turning to jelly.

 

I used to have a '95 Nissan Pathfinder. That thing was solid. I ended up leaving it running and locking the doors on my way into highschool. It idled for like 6 hours and didn't seem to be harmed. It still ran fine up until I got rid of it years later.

Where are you that you have 15min train waits... Mid-west?