I know Lugnut has spoken against idling. Many people (if not half the drivers) side with him on the issue. I respect their position.

I still believe idling causes no damage -- permanent or temporary -- to a good car. Camry, Accord, TL, ES, GS, LS, etc.

I will explain. Idling is the least amount of work you demand out of your car. So in a sense you cannot be gentler to the car while the engine is running. If idling wreaks havoc, police cars will have to overhaul their engines once a month.

Now...if you have a car of ill repute, my statement above does not hold. Here is why. Bad cars are poorly designed cars and thus idling could result in one or many of the following problems.
[ul][*] Engine overheating caused by bad thermostat and other poor-quality sensors and mechanisms[*] Damage to the catalytic converter because original designer did not anticipate idling[*] Damage to the wire-insulation and plastic parts by heat as the original desginer expected constant ram air[*] Re-entry of CO, CO2, and other exhaust gas into the car
[/ul]

Now a few pictures to show why thawing (like 10-minute idling) and hot water treatment are needed.

When the temperature goes below 32-deg F...


No hot water needed. This car will thaw itself in 15-min of idling.


Now, this one needs De-icer treatment with anti-freeze added hot-water


One must be a fool to scrape off the ice without damage to the car


See the difference on the windows?


Now this car is ready to roll


Unless the windows are this clear, I don't drive. Neither should you!

 

You are misinformed and are presenting your misinformation as fact. Not good. Please do a Google on idling engine damage and read some of the hits remembering that there are diesel and gas engine owners here.

Read about excessive idling in your owner's manual for your M-B and your Mazda or whatever it is and your other cars, whatever they are.

Commercial vehicles, including cop cars, have no warranty or a limited warranty precisely because they will be idling for a significant portion of their service life.

Letting your engine idle excessively and driving blind because your windows are covered with sleet are two very different things. Don't put words in my mouth.

And there you go again about Honda and Lexus being some sort of perfect dream cars. Well, sorry, but the same thing applies to them. I guess that makes them "bad" cars.