[CommandoFrank]

I can and will gladly answer your question:

Why do people who own diesel powered vehicles leave them idling when they are parked? Do you love that obnoxious sound or is it the nauseating stink?

Those who idle their diesel to warm it up are actually ruining their engine. The only time they should idle is if they just completed hauling a heavy load and the engine needs to cool down. And it doesn't take a long time to cool down to the normal temp range. I too see these people and shake my head in amazement. No load, no idling.

The days of the overly loud diesel are gone. Dodge, Chevy and Ford now produce very quiet diesel engines. I might add to some the sound of a loud diesel is the same as the sound of a Harley to it's owner.

That nauseating stink is the sound of pollution free air. Did you know that diesel exhaust is more pollution free than that of the internal combustion engine. Out of the four major polluants from internal combustion engines, diesels beat the gasoline engine hands down on three of the four polluants. Unfortunately, the one major polluant is the smell. When the diesels start burning cooking oils, and they will, they'll smell like french freedom fries.

[Dan Evans]

Thanks for the reply but I still don't understand why they do it. Does a diesel lose that much power when it's cold?

Reason I asked; I have a neighbor in my apartment complex who likes to start his diesel truck about six in the morning. He lets it idle while he goes back in to shower and shave. In the summer, all the rest of us have to get up and shut our windows so we don't gag. I can see where you might need a diesel if you need to haul big loads a lot, but it seems to me that whatever benefits one gets from owning a one would be far outweighed by the disadvantages.

And the guy that told you diesels have cleaner exhaust -- he's smoking grass. That's just silly. The diesel stink comes from oxides of nitrogen and sulfur. Inhale that and you've got lung full of nitric and sulfurous acid. And there isn't enough used french-fry grease in the whole world to fuel but a tiny fraction of diesel vehicles.