[kentM]

Last night I parked the car and left it running for 3 hours while I visited friends!!! I had no clue that the car was running of course. I always had problems with "Key less start" feature but had manage to catch it before walking away like this. Did I do any damage to the engine? It seems to be running okay today. Is there anything I need to check? Final question: Is there an easy way for this absent minded driver to know that the engine is on before stepping out of the car?

 

[DragonSubie7]

@kentM

The car isn't under any stress when idling. The only damage was to your wallet for fuel cost.
Subaru's are quiet running but silent?
Get in the habit of looking at the dash - If your instruments are lit up, the car is running and the tach will show rpm's.

 

[Lava14]

Your oil may be a little diluted with fuel. Take her on the highway for a 20-30 minute run and all should be forgiven.

 

[kentM]

@DragonSubie7
Thank you. It did consume a fair amount of gas. I just got a full tank of gas!

 

[kentM]

@Lava14
Thank you. I'll take your advice and take the car on the highway.

 

[puffdc]

if you had the key on your person the car should've beeped at you several times when you closed the door? did you not hear those either?

 

[kentM]

I did not hear the beeps. I think the reason was that I was distracted while talking to my friend. I am now going to test the beeping to see if it is loud enough for me.

I just checked. It beeped 3 times. Loud and clear. Thank you.

 

[JohnLedden]

Your car is fine. I've done this in a rest area. Fell asleep with the A/C blasting and next thing you know I wake up and several hours passed. Like @DragonSubie7 said, the only damage is the fuel you lost. Dont sweet it. I also wouldn't make a habit of it haha.

 

[dra2120]

Like others have said no damage done...I used to live in Alaska, and when it got really cold (like 40-70 below zero) we wouldn't turn our cars off once they were started in the morning. So they would sit idling most of the day. Same with Police cars, many of them spend hours everyday idling.

 

[kentM]

@JohnLedden
Thank you John.

 

[kentM]

@dra2120
Good point.

 

[Kean]

Thank you. I'll take your advice and take the car on the highway.

.....don't bother. You'll just be wasting even more fuel and time for nothing. Just use the car as you normally would.

.....still find it hard you can't tell the car is running when you step out if it though. In my wife's 2020 is pretty obvious. Also, just because it's push button start, the action of pushing the button or turning a key to shut it off should already feel pretty routine.

 

[whobodym]

Is auto start/stop perhaps part of the issue here? Your car has it, but was it on or off? I don't have it myself; what happens in various scenarios when you park a car that has the system? Does the engine always come alive when you shift to Park?? If you set the hand brake? Etc.

 

[NinoS]

I used to idle for an hour nearly every weekday in various cars back in my dark days of fast food lunchbreaks. Never had any known related issues.

 

[kentM]

@whobodym,
I don't have auto start/stop feature. So that was not the issue for me.

 

[mikeingp]

I thought the auto-start feature was standard in 2020, no? It's not really a feature for owners, but one for car makers.

Anyway, I have the same intermittent confusion with turning off the car. I try to make a point not to get out of the car until it says "Goodbye".

 

[kentM]

I like that approach. Don't leave the car until it says Goodbye.
My car has Push Button Ignition switch. It does not have Remote Start feature. What is an auto-start feature?

 

[Kevin]

@kentM I think you mean "auto stop/start" where the engine turns itself off when the vehicle is at rest e.g. at traffic lights etc then automatically turns itself back on when you move on. There are relative threads here: Auto Stop / Start

 

[Syncros#10]

Just be glad you didn't run it out of fuel, that can be very expensive.

 

[MTforester17]

Just be glad you didn't run it out of fuel, that can be very expensive.

sounds like a good reason to keep the tank relatively full -- especially if you are the absent minded type. I know I've left mine running in the garage thinking I was going to come right back out, only to get distracted with something else while indoors, and wasting 10 minutes of idled fuel usage.