Idling without running lights on

It never fails to amaze me how many people don't realize that if you set your emergency brake, (even a click or 2) then start the engine. You can idle without the daytime running lights being on. Been this way since generation 1.

 

Wait what? Please elaborate

 

I only started doing this as of about a year ago, and it makes complete sense, love this forum, great info!

 

Well, this is about running lights. But I will bite. I'm 60 years old. I literally have driven over a million miles. I rarely use my "parking brake" but I do sometimes. I have never broken a motor mount, ever. If that was the case as stated, You would see the forces of hard driving breaking motor mounts left and right. Inertia would be much greater, when moving. Having trouble shifting out of park has to do with the pressure exerted on the parking paw of the transmission on inclined surfaces.

And lets not forget about the rest of the drive train including the transmission mount and leaf springs. They also support the truck to the drive train.

Not mention the fact that there is not even a connection from the engine to the transmission unless the vehicle is running and the torque converter is pumping fluid.

 

mronkar you nailed it.

Others. You have not nailed it.

 

MMM.

Motor Mounts Matter.

 

I have no clue on this subject, I almost never used a parking brake except for in manuals and if I'm on a hill in an auto and I never notice any detrimental effects.

On the topic of people naysaying, it's par for the course of online forums. This forum is mild actually I've seen others where people will go back and forth over ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Color of the sky.... are we breathing oxygen... everything is nuanced and someone will argue every minute detail lol

 

Zx14r huh ? Zx10r man myself

 

Of course it does. The case of the transmission is bolted to the motor. The moment it hits the parking pawl all the energy transfers to the rest of the drivetrain. Which is designed to withstand those forces.

you think a tundra bound up while rock crawling in 4 low isn’t exerting more force on the motor mounts than sitting in park on a hill? Let’s be realistic in our assumptions.

 

It never fails to amaze me how many people park without setting the parking brake, let alone setting it's properly. I'm more concerned about my transmission than my motor mounts, though.

 

I know this post is about giving your emergency brake a click to keep the running lights off, but it seems it has been derailed talking about motor mounts.

So to add to that LOL, I’m not so concerned about my motor and transmission mounts when the truck is in park. I typically set my emergency brake in neutral and let the truck rest against the brakes before putting it in park. Not to save my motor mounts but to save my parking pin in the transmission. I’m sure it would be fine for a long time, but it’s just good practice, especially when parking on a hill. And honestly, I’d like to change my motor mounts out for solid anyway.

 

How many tundra parking pawl or motor mount or transmission mount issues her there on here? I can’t recall of one and I guarantee you people would get on here and cry like small babies if it were happening.

 

My first car was a 1999 Pontiac Grandam. I learned on forums for that car about the parking brake and running lights. As a 16 kid with a girl in the car, I didn't want the headlights on lol

Now to the topic that grew legs, I rarely park on Tundra with the parking brake on. With that being said, I park on nearly perfect flat areas 95% of the time. In the not so often times that I park on inclines/declines, I do indeed use my parking brake. I've been in cars before that are parked on a hill, without a parking brake and you can literally feel the car shaking...

 

I agree with you mostly, except for this last part. The torque would be applied to the tranny case due to the parking pawl locking the driveshaft to the tranny. The tranny case is bolted to the engine block, therefore putting some pressure on the motor mounts.

That said, I rarely park on anything but level ground, and see no reason to use the parking brake unless on a hill ..... or not wanting your DRLs on while idling.

 

Here's something fun to consider (maybe not really fun, but what the hell.... stir, stir, stir).

Suppose for the sake of simplicity, your tire diameter is 36". And your truck is parked on a hill, such that the downhill force due to the truck's weight is 500 pounds. Your moment on the rear axle is 18" and the applied torque is 750 foot-pounds. You have a differential with a 4.31 ratio, which in this case will reduce the torque on the driveshaft to 174 foot-pounds. And if the distance from the centerline of the crankshaft to the motor mounts is, say, 24", then you're putting 87½ pounds pressure on the motor mounts. OMG!!

Now if all this is true, what weight and brand of motor oil should I be using? And will those 36" diameter tires even fit?

 

5w30 and yes with a bmc

 

I can turn off the DRL's through the head unit on my 21.

 

Salesmen said this truck has daytime driving lights-now put it in park-why did the lights go off? They are called driving lights, not parking lights.

 

It’s been like this since the 90’s

 

you know a bunch of guys with Tundras complaining their DRL's are pissing them off or something? lol.
i've never thought this to be a concern but maybe i'm misunderstanding

 

Been like that since the '70s.

 

Is that right eh?
I just remember my old man’s 1990 Corolla had this, and the rest of the Toyota he owned in the 90’s. But the 80’s Toyota he owned never had drl.

 

I'm applying "The Price Is Right" tactics.

 

Ha, I started this thread because I was just annoyed, sitting in my Tundra at work. 200 cars in the parking lot. 40 of them idling with their running lights on.

The lot is flat as a pancake. lol

 

Well, technically, the stress itself lies on the PAWL and a byproduct of the slack is transferred into the motor mounts being of neutral.