Because of the use-case for my truck I spend a lot of time in it, idling. I've seen mention that it's hard on the truck but have always done it as I need climate control and don't want to run down my batteries. Now all that said my 2020 Ram Rebel is the newest car I've ever owned and I don't know what's changed (if anything)
Does anybody else idle a lot? Like about 50% of the time it's being used
Open to opinions too - probably not a black and white question and I expect it's mostly anecdotal.
For which gas engines? Your question presumes the design and quality of all gas engines are equal. Newsflash: they aren't.
Hemi Gen III engines have a poorly designed lubrication system that does not adequately lubricate valve lifter rollers under all conditions. OEM will not release any helpful information, even though they know all about the issue.
Members of this forum have done many experiments that have provided data showing extra dry lubricant additive statistically meaningfully reduces the audible noise associated with this poor lubrication.
Other factors known to affect lubricant supply to this component is low oil flow - notably, FCA put in a higher flowing oil pump in the performance variant of the engine. This speaks volumes to us, that idling Hemi Gen III adds risk to lifter roller and cam failure. Except for wasting fuel, money, emissions.
Check out solar trickle chargers - they've come way down in price.
We aren't aware of other engine architectures failing at the same rate this engine architecture does (5-10% per FCA Technician Dealership).
Other than this? As long as the engine is fuel-injected and computer-controlled with adequate oil supply, there is no real detriment to idling anymore, unlike the old carbureted mechanical days.
