Funny Story

[Fuzzylogic]

My wife and I were getting ready to make breakfast this morning. The phone rang. It was our neighbor, Becky. My wife answered and after listening a few seconds started to freak out a bit. "Are you serious! I'll be right out!"

I followed her out. Her car (her new Nissan Altima) was running. It had been running for over 12 hours!!!

When she got home last night, it was raining very hard. Her car has the keyless, push button system. She touched the button. But, the car is so quiet...and she was in such a hurry to run into the house, she didn't notice the engine didn't shut down. The fob must have never gotten far enough away to shut everything down.

Even funnier...Becky's husband and I were talking after this and he said, "you know, about 10 o'clock last night, I was walking our dog and heard it running...and thought it was really weird!"

I guess it wasn't weird enough for him to knock on our door last night!

Well...no harm done. It only burned about 1/4 of a tank, or less. And it was very comfortable with the air running.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Hah! That must have been ALOT of rain.

 

[Fuzzylogic]

Hah! That must have been ALOT of rain.

In her defense...it was a torrential down pour. Very heavy rain with thunder and lightning. So, I could see how it could happen.

 

[Jed]

...The fob must have never gotten far enough away to shut everything down...

.

I have the same keyless ignition system on my G37 coupe. Once the engine is running, it will stay running if the fob is out of range. It only needs to be in range to start the engine (and obviously unlock the doors).

 

[4RBob]

most remote ignitions have a timer, usually around 20 minutes, but it is programmable.

 

[Jed]

most remote ignitions have a timer, usually around 20 minutes, but it is programmable.

Remote ignitions? Are you talking about being able to start your car from your house by using a remote? The Nissan mentioned has keyless ignition that starts the car by the driver pushing an ignition button on the dashboard. In order for the car to start, the fob must be inside the car.

 

[4RBob]

Remote ignitions? Are you talking about being able to start your car from your house by using a remote? The Nissan mentioned has keyless ignition that starts the car by the driver pushing an ignition button on the dashboard. In order for the car to start, the fob must be inside the car.

misread/misunderstood OP

 

[rjfowler]

Not to worry anyone, but isn't idling for any appreciable amount of time bad for the engine due to low oil pressure? Military vehicles have a button to engage "tactical idle," which increases the RPM to north of 1000, thus increasing oil pressure.

This is just what I have heard anecdotally, and would be interested to hear what the more experienced people have to say.

 

[Jed]

Not to worry anyone, but isn't idling for any appreciable amount of time bad for the engine due to low oil pressure? Military vehicles have a button to engage "tactical idle," which increases the RPM to north of 1000, thus increasing oil pressure.

This is just what I have heard anecdotally, and would be interested to hear what the more experienced people have to say.

That shouldn't be a problem....oil pressures stay very stable even with
extended idling on modern vehicles. If anything, the only real worry would be damaging the catalytic converter with extended idling.