In what is surely one of the biggest bonehead maneuvers I’ve pulled off in a very long time, I came outside this morning to realize … I’d left my car on all night. It was idling in the driveway, headlights on and radio jabbering away. Gas tank is essentially empty, it was running on fumes, but running nonetheless. It’s a new car (well, two years old) and I know the sound of its engine well, but it sounded awfully tired when I walked up to it. Not a bad sound, just the sound of an exchausted engine, quiet with no belt whine or anything. It was running for twelve hours straight with essentially all the accessories on. I’m afraid to even start driving it to the gas station out of fear that I won’t make it down the block. :rolleyes:
My excuse? I came inside last night with my hands full, expecting to go back out to turn the car off and shut the garage door, only to completely forget upon entering the house and getting sidetracked by a dozen other things. That’s right, I left the frackin’ garage door open all night as well.
Well, it’s a damn good thing you did leave the garage open all night, or you might not have woken up this morning at all. Leave it open today as well, mm’kay? There’s bound to still be a lot of carbon monoxide hanging around. Air it out.
Gas must be cheap where you live. I’m trying to figure out why anyone would leave their car running when the trip is finished. Were you planning to go somewhere else after you put the stuff away?
Heh, I appreciate the concern over the CO fumes, but I it bears mentioning there are two other cars parked in the garage. Like I said, this was on the driveway, so there’s no danger of that. Had this been in the garage, you can rest assured I’d have every fan available circulating the air in there with the door wide open.
Yeah, sorta. I was weighing the option of going to the grocery store and my hands were full of other stuff being brought in, so I just left it running. Obviously, some ginkgo biloba should be on the grocery list.
:smack: Of course. You mentioned that in the OP, I just put the intent to go out and close the garage door with the car, and got it all mixed up. Sorry, my Mama Mode was engaged.
The etymology could be related, I’m sure … “anamnesis” comes from a Greek word expressing recollection or reminiscence of memory.
The inside garage door isn’t ever locked unless we go away on a big trip. The overhead garage door is our locked door, so to speak. That being said, yes, I’m lucky someone didn’t drive it off, but even more lucky someone didn’t enter the house as well. Your bafflement isn’t unusual, I’m baffled as to how I could be this absent-minded. Never done it before, and I’m keen on not doing it again.
I once went to a three-hour movie and left my van unlocked and running the whole time. Sitting there in a suburban parking lot. I’m mughty glad it was there when I got back.
I’m also surprised that your car could run, for apparantly 12 hours, without running out of fuel. I know idling uses less fuel than actually making the car work, but that’s still impressive. Especially since it doesn’t seem to have been the case that you’d just filled up before you got home.
No, I didn’t fill up, and yeah, I was just as surprised also. Had a quarter tank left, maybe less. It’s a 2.3L Mazda 3, in case anyone’s wondering … and if I didn’t love her so much already, then I guess I love her even more now.
You surely live in a different part of Chicago than what I see in the movies.
My key, a Honda, isn’t on a ring. My other keys are, though.
I miss my Audi key, with it’s cool foldable feature. Like a switchblade knife. I just felt a wave of sadness.
Peace,
mangeorge
The OP kind of makes me feel better. About a month ago I had to buy a new battery for my car, and after installing the battery left the car running for “just a few minutes.” As I was getting ready for bed almost 4 hours later I thought about it and realized I’d never got back out to shut it off. Oops.
I will never understand people who leave their vehicles (almost always diesels) parked on the main street in town right in front of my bookstore with the engine running while they go into the bar across the street to have a drink or two. Someone did that yesterday for over an hour. It’s 75 degrees out there. Are they worried it won’t start again?
At idle engines don’t burn much fuel. Most Volvos use 13-15 kilograms of air in an hour (this is a spec we can monitor with our diagnostic equipment). At idle the mixture is going to be 14.7:1 by weight of air to fuel. So you are going to burn about a kilo of fuel each hour. Or a tad over 2 lbs. Over twelve hours you will burn about 24 pounds of fuel. A pints a pound (yeah, I know that’s for water, but I am too lazy to look it up) and there are 8 pints to the gallon. So about 3 gallons would be consumed by the engine over 12 hours of idling. As engine size has a effect on how much air is used, truly YMMV.
No, my hands were full when I went inside as I was in the midst of deciding whether I’d be headed right back out again before becoming preoccupied with a dozen other things, as mentioned in my posts. This wasn’t a question of forgetting to remove the key after I’d finished driving the car, it was a failure to remember just before I passed out from exhaustion and went to sleep that I wasn’t going to be headed right back out again. If I weren’t thinking of going somewhere else, I’d have never left it on to begin with, and the fact it was on just got pushed into the back of my cognitive fridge.
Imagine mowing the lawn, then going inside to get a cool drink, then getting a phone call, realizing while on the phone that you’ve got to throw some stuff in the recycling bin, coming to the realization there’s nothing to eat for dinner, getting sidetracked on moving some stuff out of the way, and so on, and so on. By the time the snowball effect has reached it’s apex, you’ve completely forgotten that the lawnmower is still running outside and it’s getting dark out. And then you feel like the biggest idiot in the world and come here to tell everyone about it.
I’m trying to figure out why anyone would leave their car running when the trip is finished. Were you planning to go somewhere else after you put the stuff away?
