Car pulling at idle in traffic - any risk of damage?

[audigex]

Hey guys

Having recently moved jobs I've now got a commute which involves 5-10 minutes of sitting in slow moving traffic. I've gotten into a bit of a habit of ignoring the accelerator in traffic, just gently easing off the clutch in 1st and letting the car roll along on idle revs (she defaults to 4mph in first, 8mph in second), dipping the clutch again if traffic in front stops.

Now it seems to work okay, as long as I'm very gentle on the clutch. But I wanted to know if any damage can come of either the time spent on the clutch (it's a little longer than I'd spend if I used the gas, but with lower revs, so I suspect wear will be similar?) or on the engine by forcing it to pull at idle revs (ie just above the stall point).

Cheers

 

[MartayMcFly]

Longer time, but less load = same wear... I think. People do that all the time in slow traffic (I do too).

 

[audigex]

Thanks, that's what I figured - I do it once then leave it pulling along at 4mph for a few hundred yards, rather than 4 or 5 "kick and dip" clutch cycles.

How about leaving the car in gear and not touching the accelerator? Will that cause any problems? The engine doesn't seem to labour while doing it, it just sits at 800-900 rpm and gently pulls the car along.

 

[MartayMcFly]

Yeah, the engine won't let itslef stall, so it keeps the revs up as you go along. It'll pull you up a hill too (not too steep though). Can't see why it'd do any damage. It's probably better than being on and off the clutch and throttle.

 

[Ash187]

love the diesel engines for this reason.
so handy in traffic, have done it for years mate with no issues that i know of

 

[donna]

i had a mk4 golf gt 150 deisal and my dmf went , so it was nosiey at tick over , went to vw about it and thay said it was coused by running too lower speed for the gear , witch accelerates the ware.

your car may be different , but that is what i was told

 

[murran]

i had a mk4 golf gt 150 deisal and my dmf went , so it was nosiey at tick over , went to vw about it and thay said it was coused by running too lower speed for the gear , witch accelerates the ware.

lol. they do tell customers a load of rubbish! hope you didnt fall for it?