fuel consumption idling

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ricardo62

Active Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
349
Location
ipswich
Car
e320
Hi all
OK i prob should of realised ages ago , but in my job i do courier work , ive been letting the engine run all the time ive been doing my deliverys , basically not switched off frm 10am til 2pm , ive been putting over 100 pounds a week diesel into the car an e320 cdi w210 .
Now this is becoming ridiculous , so as an experiment today i filled up ans decided to stop the engine at every drop , even if it was for a cpl of mins ,i want to find out just how much this is going to save me over the course of a week .
And actually i reckon it could be a no brainer , i finished today and my computer is saying ive only used half a gallon , i had 14.2 to start and i have 13.5 now , can anyone on here guesstimate how much a 320 il 6 would use idling for roughly 4 hrs ? just so i know , im just curious how much ive wasted in the past .
just to add my round i do is approx 20 miles driving in total 6 days a week
 
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Cannot answer the question but are you aware that is an offence to leave a vehicle on the public highway unattended with the engine running?

Also the insurance would probably be invalid if the vehicle was stolen having been left in this way.
 
You leave a car with the engine running with noone in it? or are there 2 of you in the car?
 
Rule 123 of the Highway Code, which says: 'If the vehicle is stationary and likely to remain so for more than a couple of minutes, you should switch off the engine to reduce emissions and oil pollution.'

Reg98 Construction & Use 1986
Stopping of engine when stationary

98. (1) Save as provided in paragraph (2), the driver of a vehicle shall, when the vehicle is stationary, stop the action of any machinery attached to or forming part of the vehicle so far as may be necessary for the prevention of noise.

(2) The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply—

(a)when the vehicle is stationary owing to the necessities of traffic;
(b)so as to prevent the examination or working of the machinery where the examination is necessitated by any failure or derangement of the machinery or where the machinery is required to be worked for a purpose other than driving the vehicle; or
(c)in respect of a vehicle propelled by gas produced in plant carried on the vehicle, to such plant.
 
no just me in it , its all in a quiet residential area , no bodys about , but im just wondering as per my origanal question any idea of how much fuel a e320 would use constantly idling for 4 hours a day , obviously this also would explain why since ive been doing this job my car is coked up and egr and maf all sooted up , , all slow running, like i stated im now turning off every time i stop at houses
 
You do realise that if you car was nicked you wouldnt get a penny from the insurance?
 
in a quiet residential area

constantly idling for 4 hours a day

Not so quiet with an engine running outside someone's house. Or fumes drifting over their garden. Ever thought about, I don't know, showing some consideration and obeying the law as well?
 
I think were going off topic , all i would like 2 know is in the past does anyone have a idea how much diesel i wasted in 4 hours of idling , just was wondering if anyone knows the fuel consumption of a 3.2 litre diesel idling
 
Yeah. About £100 a week less 120 miles motoring………..say 4 gallons driving (£25 ish) and £75 or 12 gallons used to generate noise and fumes.
 
Not so quiet with an engine running outside someone's house. Or fumes drifting over their garden. Ever thought about, I don't know, showing some consideration and obeying the law as well?
Im not after a lecture on the legalities i just would like 2 know if anyone has an answer to my question
 
Yeah. About £100 a week less 120 miles motoring………..say 4 gallons driving (£25 ish) and £75 or 12 gallons used to generate noise and fumes.
ok i will let the sarcasm go over my head , but are you saying that i def will see a hell of a difference in consumption , and i will now be not having to put in 100 pounds a week to do the same miles
 
ok i will let the sarcasm go over my head , but are you saying that i def will see a hell of a difference in consumption , and i will now be not having to put in 100 pounds a week to do the same miles

Not sarcasm. Just basic arithmetic using your numbers and an estimated 30mpg whilst driving.
 
I don't know the maths, but I would imagine it's safe to assume that car manufacturers wouldn't all be adding stop/start systems to their new models if it didn't make a measurable difference to the consumption.
 
Not sarcasm. Just basic arithmetic using your numbers and an estimated 30mpg whilst driving.
Thank you vanman so from now on thats what i shall do , i never realised an engine idling would of used so much , obviously ive wasted hundreds of pounds in the past , but from now on hopefully i will see a difference in how much it costs me every week , just am a bit worried about how reliable starter motors are on these cars , i mean by that all that excessive stop starting all the time maybe a silly question i admit , but im no engineer , but are starter motors built and desighned for constant stop starting ???
 
You will need to burn out a lot of starter motors to overcome estimated savings of £3600 PA :)
 
Will cope well enough but even so but a replacement is about £65 new Mercedes Benz E320 Starter Motors | Up to 50% off dealer prices
Buy one with week one savings and keep it in your boot if you are concerned.
thank you and thats from now on what i will do , just wish i had realised earlier , but at least from now on i will reap the benefits , i did think it was odd that my fuel consumption was ridiculously high for the amount of miles i was doing , and also i realise big diesels dont like 2 be constantly idling and slow running ..
 
I think it will use about a litre per hour when idling.
 
When i updated my map i left the car running for just under 2 hours when i looked at the average MPG it showed just under 8MPG and that was from cold
 
When i updated my map i left the car running for just under 2 hours when i looked at the average MPG it showed just under 8MPG and that was from cold

How many miles had it covered? :rolleyes:
 

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