[NaXal]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

Aren't train diesel engines kept running even when not used? I guess they are stopped only for maintenance. The logic has something to do with more diesel needed for stop and start rather than kept running overnight.

Air / Oil Pressure (brakes & stuff)
Electricity for connected rakes
Start up time (mainly with those Air / Oil pressure) required

Above are the primary reasons to keep those engines running.

They do switch them off when no driver is assigned to duty & it's parked in some siding / unused parking loop line. In my local railway tracks, I often find diesels parked overnight in switch off mode.

Once spoke with a driver (goods train I suppose) in a tea stall nearby to the tracks & asked about it. Their main concern is to meet the time to move to the location asked. It takes much longer to release manual brakes (goods train) & build up the pressure before moving. Actual start up time for the engine itself is more or less same as starting a truck in really cold conditions. But building up brake pressure on a long goods train rake may take up to 30 mins or so plus manual labour to walk the way releasing individual parking (manual) brakes.

There isn't any rule which prevents a driver to switch off but rather it's more with meeting time to move to a location when asked.

There are videos about Ford / RAM pickup truck testing process where explain some reasons where users would need to run these engines 24x7 & engines are designed or tested with those requirements in mind.

Thanks.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by NaXal

They do switch them off when no driver is assigned to duty & it's parked in some siding / unused parking loop line.

Once saw a parked train diesel engine being started and getting readied for use. It took quite a while. I was too young to understand much of the technicalities.

But one thing I clearly remember: there were a couple of stones placed on the track, next to the wheels! Just like we do for cars parked on inclines. The engine was parked on a level track, by the way.

[di1in]

I’d done a recent trip from around Manali to Bangalore - 2700 kms over 55 hours with a half hour stop every 6 hours. We were 4 drivers. While there was no visible issue with the vehicle and engine temp (tires were worn but it reached 40k kms anyway), a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle. Is this true? Vehicle is a Jeep Compass diesel 2.0. Speeds were within 90kmph for 95% of the distance.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by di1in

a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle.

There quite a few cars in this forum that undergo such 'damage' on a regular basis and still run for 2 lakhs+ kms.

So go on and cause more damage and don't sweat over it

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by di1in

a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle. Is this true?

Those damages are good damages, hope you cause more and more such damages to your car.

Please have a look at this. 50000 non stop run successfully achieved in a humble Tiago twins.

https://youtu.be/oAIZk5hczRg

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by di1in

I’d done a recent trip from around Manali to Bangalore - 2700 kms over 55 hours with a half hour stop every 6 hours. We were 4 drivers. While there was no visible issue with the vehicle and engine temp (tires were worn but it reached 40k kms anyway), a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle. Is this true? Vehicle is a Jeep Compass diesel 2.0. Speeds were within 90kmph for 95% of the distance.

The mechanic is giving you a load of bullcrap. He is still in the era of Ambassadors and Padminis.

Modern cars(BS2 and later) can run literally non stop for hours without issues. Key is that the car should be maintained well. Good engine oil, coolant at right level and age, properly maintained brakes are the pre-requisites. As long as the car is not ripped at high speeds for extended durations(anyway not possible on Indian roads), the engine and gearbox would be happy . The high temperatures reached in such long drives will automatically decarbonize the engine, which is an excellent thing. Cars prefer long highway drives than short city bumper to bumper drives.The driver will tire out faster than the machine.

Do not worry. Nothing would have happened to your Jeep compass.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by di1in

a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle. Is this true? Vehicle is a Jeep Compass diesel 2.0. Speeds were within 90kmph for 95% of the distance.

Within 90km/h for 95% of the trip would mean the engine was barely stressed. Cop cars in most of the developed world idle for hours on end when on duty and I read that engines were kept ON for the whole of winter months in really super cold areas.

Only time of concern IMHO, would be sustained high speed run (not possible in india), old cars not in proper condition or modified cars that are performing at the limit.

[di1in]

Thanks for helping me understand everybody, certainly put my mind at ease.

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by di1in

a mechanic said that it will have caused a lot of damage to the vehicle. Is this true? Vehicle is a Jeep Compass diesel 2.0. Speeds were within 90kmph for 95% of the distance.

Not at all, on highways vehicles run more stress free and cool. I personally have driven vehicle non-stop for as much as 36 hrs . And not once, probably more than half dozen, my 20+ hours drive is a quarterly phenomenon. Nothing happens to a well maintained vehicle.

[satchit_bhp]

Personally, I have driven the Maruti Swift Diesel for 33 hours, just halted for lunch and dinner breaks.

[Shitij]

My query is how long should a person drive non stop in the current heat wave conditions in the country with lot of Expressways being cemented these days, the tires tend to heat up very quickly on them.

I did a few long distance trips in the past year and before changing my old tires in Dec 2021, I always used to stop for 10 - 15 minutes after driving for 100-120 kms now with new tires, I still stop after about 150 kms. Should I worry less with new tires now?

[AJ56]

Originally Posted by Shitij

My query is how long should a person drive non stop in the current heat wave conditions in the country with lot of Expressways being cemented these days, the tires tend to heat up very quickly on them.

I did a few long distance trips in the past year and before changing my old tires in Dec 2021, I always used to stop for 10 - 15 minutes after driving for 100-120 kms now with new tires, I still stop after about 150 kms. Should I worry less with new tires now?

Modern liquid cooled engines can run for days non stop, assuming your cooling system, filters and oil + mechanicals are healthy, there is zero reason to worry. Just keep an eye on the coolant temps, if the needle crosses the halfway mark then it’s indicative of some underlying issue.

In cars which don’t come with a coolant temp gauge (like Amaze), I use a HUD plugged into my OBD 2 port to get live temps from the ecu, anything below 98 degrees Celsius is fine.

Tyres, assuming they’re properly aligned and balanced and tyre pressure is set to mfg. specified cold air pressure, are also a non issue, you can drive all day at very high speeds on full cement highways in 50 degree ambient temps and you’ll have zero issues. To be safe use a TPMS system that gives you live tyre pressure and temperature readings for each tyre. They’re fairly inexpensive and a great safety feature for cars that’s don’t come with such a system from the factory. Mine is over 4 years old and still works flawlessly. There are alarms for exceeding pre set pressure ans temperature thresholds, a vital feature in my experience.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by Shitij

I did a few long distance trips in the past year and before changing my old tires in Dec 2021, I always used to stop for 10 - 15 minutes after driving for 100-120 kms now with new tires, I still stop after about 150 kms. Should I worry less with new tires now?

Have done lots of long distance trips during summers. You can safely travel 150 kms before taking a break, but I would still suggest a break every 1.5 hour, not for the machine, which if well kept, can pile on hours of driving, but for the driver. It certainly helps reduce fatigue for the driver to have small breaks every 1.5 hours or so. Take fluids during the break rather than consuming some heavy food or something. With new tyres, you can definitely worry less. However, I would still recommend to avoid consistent very high speed cruising during the heat wave. What I do is, when I take a break, I touch the tyres and if there is low pressure or anything as such in any of the tyres, it would be hotter and I could note any unusual thing. Happy mile munching !

[ssjr0498]

Just did a 1600km Bangalore-hyd-Jabalpur run last week non-stop in my 2013 Jetta ( have accomplished the same in my ohc vtec and diesel i20 many a times), with the temperatures soaring to about 45deg's.
Absolutely no problem!! Don't see and understand why it would be and from an engine perspective, why the need to stop?

Originally Posted by Shitij

My query is how long should a person drive non stop in the current heat wave conditions in the country with lot of Expressways being cemented these days, the tires tend to heat up very quickly on them.

I did a few long distance trips in the past year and before changing my old tires in Dec 2021, I always used to stop for 10 - 15 minutes after driving for 100-120 kms now with new tires, I still stop after about 150 kms. Should I worry less with new tires now?

[Shitij]

Originally Posted by AJ56

Modern liquid cooled engines can run for days non stop, assuming your cooling system, filters and oil + mechanicals are healthy, there is zero reason to worry. Just keep an eye on the coolant temps, if the needle crosses the halfway mark then it’s indicative of some underlying issue.

In cars which don’t come with a coolant temp gauge (like Amaze), I use a HUD plugged into my OBD 2 port to get live temps from the ecu, anything below 98 degrees Celsius is fine.

Tyres, assuming they’re properly aligned and balanced and tyre pressure is set to mfg. specified cold air pressure, are also a non issue, you can drive all day at very high speeds on full cement highways in 50 degree ambient temps and you’ll have zero issues. To be safe use a TPMS system that gives you live tyre pressure and temperature readings for each tyre. They’re fairly inexpensive and a great safety feature for cars that’s don’t come with such a system from the factory. Mine is over 4 years old and still works flawlessly. There are alarms for exceeding pre set pressure ans temperature thresholds, a vital feature in my experience.

I'll install a TPMS, it is always good to have one.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Have done lots of long distance trips during summers. You can safely travel 150 kms before taking a break, but I would still suggest a break every 1.5 hour, not for the machine, which if well kept, can pile on hours of driving, but for the driver. It certainly helps reduce fatigue for the driver to have small breaks every 1.5 hours or so. Take fluids during the break rather than consuming some heavy food or something. With new tyres, you can definitely worry less. However, I would still recommend to avoid consistent very high speed cruising during the heat wave. What I do is, when I take a break, I touch the tyres and if there is low pressure or anything as such in any of the tyres, it would be hotter and I could note any unusual thing. Happy mile munching !

Makes sense!

Originally Posted by ssjr0498

Just did a 1600km Bangalore-hyd-Jabalpur run last week non-stop in my 2013 Jetta ( have accomplished the same in my ohc vtec and diesel i20 many a times), with the temperatures soaring to about 45deg's.
Absolutely no problem!! Don't see and understand why it would be and from an engine perspective, why the need to stop?

No problem from Engine perspective but from tire perspective. Heard a lot of horror stories about tire bursts from early days of Yamuna expressway which has made me take a bit safer approach while travelling on cemented roads for long duration at decently high speeds.

I am sure you must have taken a few Food/Bio/Fuel breaks during that 1600 kms drive where the tires and you got some rest.