Car Off at Traffic Light?

I wonder........

How many more starter cycles does this add? Are all the starters in serviceable locations?

I will turn my car off while waiting in a drive through... or in heavy traffic... no A/C so not a problem

In reply to oldeskewltoy:

Well, there IS a possibility that the starter itself has been upgraded to deal with additional starts...

In theory auto stop/start would help the air pollution in congested areas. Think of all those cars idling for hours in the rush hour traffic jams.

In practice I don't trust it for starter longevity & don't use it. Also luckily I'm not a traffic jam regular.

I'm generally not a fan of intrusive tech in new cars, but stop-start doesn't bother me. I've driven several cars so equipped, and they've all worked pretty seamlessly--- once you get used to the weirdness of your car shutting off.

If it saves a bit of gas, and makes our air cleaner I'm all for it. Besides you can turn it off in many cases---- sort of like "rev matching" manual transmissions----which annoy me--- but if you can turn it off--- no big deal.

Ian F wrote: I had it in a rental a few years ago. I've heard that with direct-injection engines, they don't have to use the starter. The ECU just injects fuel into a particular cylinder near TDC, fires the spark plug and that restarts the engine. Or something like that.

This will be the case when we move to 42V systems and electronically operated valves. ECU just finds the cylinder closest to TDC, closes the valves, injects fuel, then fires a spark. We're not there yet...

Stop/start has been normal in Europe for a few years now, IIRC.

I rented a Fusion Hybrid when in Florida earlier this year. It was actually a pretty effective drivetrain. It shuts the ICE on and off all the time as a matter of course, and could maintain decent HVAC on battery power. It would also fire up the ICE for AC occasionally, and of course it could move off from a stop on electric power. I was impressed. A hot ICE isn't hard to start, the starter engaged for a fraction of a second. As a bonus, it also gave me a score while/after driving, which modified the way I drove. That's probably the most effective way to improve efficiency - train the driver!

There are a lot of smart guys working in the powertrain divisions of the major manufacturers. There's been a real step change in cars in the last couple of years, and I think it's mostly been driven by integrating the complete platform. I've found that after spending time in a bunch of 2016 and 2017 models that I've changed the way I look at some of the controls. The gas pedal is actually a torque request, for example. The powertrain does what it needs to do to deliver that torque, and that can involve batteries, turbochargers, cam timing, throttle plate position or a CVT.

NEALSMO wrote:

Ian F wrote: I had it in a rental a few years ago. I've heard that with direct-injection engines, they don't have to use the starter. The ECU just injects fuel into a particular cylinder near TDC, fires the spark plug and that restarts the engine. Or something like that.

This will be the case when we move to 42V systems and electronically operated valves. ECU just finds the cylinder closest to TDC, closes the valves, injects fuel, then fires a spark. We're not there yet...

As a brief tangent- 42V electrical systems are reasonably likely- many future tech items become much more useful at 42V.

Electronic valve operation is very unlikely.

And what you say still need the some extra sensors to know exactly where the engine stops. Which isn't consistent enough so that you can count on exactly the same starts every time, even with electronic valve control.

From my brief stint in powertrain warranty I saw so many people bring their new car/truck in for "dying or stalling at a stoplight". It was almost always normal operation of the auto stop/start.

IIRC, the Malibu has been the only vehicle I saw advertised touting the stop-start feature. Didn't know others were using it till I heard a Jeep at a light last week start up at green.

I wouldn't want one. Like my dad always says: that's just more E36 M3 to go wrong.

oldeskewltoy wrote: I wonder........ How many more starter cycles does this add? Are all the starters in serviceable locations? I will turn my car off while waiting in a drive through... or in heavy traffic... no A/C so not a problem

I do the same, just filled my Disco up today, going by the calculator, almost 15mpg daily driving in both stop and go and local state highway use. That's up from the EPA numbers and what most LR owners seem to get

In reply to alfadriver:

Peugeot Citroen used to make a homolgation special of the 106 in the 90s. Rallye I think. Bare bones steel wheels lighter.

Notice this a lot in Germany & CZ last year. My newest car has it & I don't find it intrusive. Engine will also start if you turn the steering wheel. It can be turned off on my car & I believe it is more for emissions than MPG