Running truck idle all night.....

Not sure it's this is the right place to ask this but..... I'm moving into a 2025 tundra from a 4runner. I've had Tacomas in the past. When I go "camping" on the beach and desert, I tend to sleep in my vehicle and run it all night. It was never an issue in the past in any Tacoma or my 4runner, Does anyone see a problem doing this in the new Tundra with the dual turbos and no external transmission cooler?

 

I'm not sure the new Tundra will let you do that. It wants to turn off the engine when idling after 1hr if I remember correctly. You would likely have to tell the truck to keep running before the idle timer runs out.

 

its funny to watch vehicles in winter time in ND catch fire when people leave them running all the time. even when its -20F out, i have personally seen 1 car catch fire in a BK parking lot due to idling while the whole family was eating inside. sad to see but people dont realize how hot it gets under there with no airflow going over the plastics to cool them.

 

If a tundra can't idle for long periods - then its useless to me. All my yotas can idle for hours with the A/C on in well over 105 degrees.

 

Interesting. I never went camping with a vehicle running all night.

 

Then you’ve never been trampin’! (truck camping’)

 

That's why I wrote "camping". It's usually a case of I've been fishing all day, so I'm just not in the mood to set up a tent. Plus, it's so nice to get in to the A/C after being in the sun all day. Often, I'm out where there is literally no facilities, so all you have is your vehicle. And, as I've stated, never had an issue in any of my Tacomas or my 4runner.

 

My wife’s 2022 4Runner shuts itself off after an hour. Im gonna guess that the gen 3 Tundras do as well.

 

Information from that pesky owners manual....

■Automatic engine shut off fea-
ture (except for New Caledonia)
●The vehicle is equipped with a
feature that automatically shuts off
the engine when the shift lever is
in P with the engine running for an
extended period.
●The engine will automatically shut
off after approximately 1 hour if it
has been left running while the
shift lever is in P.
●The timer for the automatic engine
shut off feature will reset if the
brake pedal is depressed or if the
shift lever is in a position other
than P.
●After the vehicle is parked, if the
door is locked with the door lock
switch (P.114) from the inside or
the mechanical key from the out-
side, the automatic engine shut off
feature will be disabled. The timer
for the automatic engine shut off
feature will be re-enabled if the
driver’s door is opened.

 

Not sure if it would work but you could try switching it into neutral and then putting the emergency brake on?

 

I get a prompt every time I switch into park to stop and idle at the mail box asking me to click yes to confirm shut off in an hour feature or no to keep on idling.

Not sure I get the prompt in all situations however. Such as I occasionally go thru drive thru and park to eat while idling and not sure always get it. But possible I am not paying close attention since feature is of no value to me and prompt is a nuisance.

 

I don’t consider that particularly funny….

 

I slept months in my truck. No engine idling, even in negative temps. No any heat in fact, besides what your body generates and couple of hands warmers for extra cold nights.

Diesel heater is more efficient. $100 for Chinese, $1000 for brand name.

 

I had mine running overnight a couple of weeks ago when I got tired of the post-storm no power/AC and just wanted a decent sleep. Spent two nights sleeping in the backseat, and aside from using up gas and cratering my mpg average, it worked fine.

 

If you want zero chance of fire don't own any vehicle. The risk of fire when running, idling or parked in your garage is never zero . Never has been and given lithium batteries propensity to fire it may never be

 

It shouldn't be a problem to idle for days if you want it to.
Maybe not the best thing for the engine longevity, but it should be no issue whatsoever.

 

Check with the Overlanding community. They may have an answer or solution....

 

They make portable smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. That would be advised in any scenario where sleeping while burning any fuel is involved.

 

Buy a sleeping bag .......

 

pop the hood to help dissipate heat, but you'll be fine. I idle in 115* summer days for hours and its no problem.

 

no its not, but between the psa on tv, radio and people telling me to not run a vehicle in extended situations during winters up here in ND cause they can catch fire even though its -20F outside.

i always tell newbies to never let your engine run longer than 30 min sitting especially older cars.

unless its colder than -50F ambient (like in russia where you cant shut a car off, otherwise they wont restart in -70F ambient), you can cycle a cold vehicle every hour or so for like 10-20mins.

 

Get a warmer sleeping bag or get a Mr buddy propane heater & crack a window.

 

Don't do that. CO poisoning may be not strong enough to kill you, but it would still get a chunk of your health away. No catalytic converter is 100% efficient.

 

OP said it's the AC he's looking for. Not Heat. heaters and sleeping bags aren't helping much.

 

I accidentaly let my 2018 run all night a few years ago in the summer. Driver door open, AC on, idled all night in the driveway, garage door open. Discovered it the next morning, I forget the circumstances but I do remember getting distracted.

Nothing happened except a bunch of wasted gas. Felt pretty stupid.

Dan

 

A oil analysis will tell you if it’s good or not.

 

@DRP can you clarify that last bullet and where it came from?

 

I'm pretty sure it came from the manual. Can't be 100% sure since it's been over an hour since I looked it up and my memory sucks these days. Clarification will require a deposit to my Venmo account.

 

did find a cheap alt heater that sits outside the vehicle. just have to make a platform mount for the tire maybe?

found them on vevor diesel heater