MPG - every little bit helps
 

I was in line for fish and chips from a local org/charity and it turned out to be held by a more mature group of people (not wishing to offend anyone :-)

Well, I was in a line of about 15 cars and it seemed as though they took about 5 mins per customer (everyone was chatty). I was committed and blocked in so I couldn't bug out. I'm sure it actually wasn't that long/customer but I get pretty antsy when I have to sit and wait.

The question is: If I have to stop the car for a time, where do you draw the line at wether or not to cut off the engine and sit. In the instance above, I would have restarted several times to get to the food and then on my way.

I could cut the engine off and just make my wife get out and push :D Phew, I can feel the daggars for just thinking that thought.

Greg

I would not sit in line for less than 4 pieces of fish. If it was 6 to 10 pieces of fish, and chips were included, I would wait for about 30 min. max, whether I had to restart my car or not. :rolleyes: :o :D :D :D

Thanks Earl, trully a big help :rolleyes: It must be dinner time there :D

I have a friend in the UK and he said that he cuts his engine off at traffic stops.

I have been wondering the same thing. Just what time is it worth turning the car off instead of letting it idle. I would probably turn it off if it is close to 5 min., but it seems that when I give up and turn the car off, the line starts moving again. :o :)

My cut of time is 3 minutes, but only if I know I'm going to wait, like at a car wash.

I've heard that it's better to shut it down than to idle for more than 30 seconds, but then I would be killing it at every red light. Also, this would only help when the car's warm, otherwise it would be idling extremely high every time you restarted.

stop eating fish and chips, and the weight savings will equate to better gas mileage.

I heard that back in 98, and incidentally I was visiting my grandmothers house and I told her this and turned off her car as we waited at the McDonalds drive-thru.

She was not happy about that. :o

Seems logical to turn off at stop lights:

http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/?p=323
http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/?p=36
http://www.dailyfueleconomytip.com/?p=146

In my pre-SVX Legacy I was sitting in a horrific, one-car-length-per-quarter-hour traffic jam on a snowy evening, and I finally just shut-off the car. Fifteen minutes later I turned the key and got nothing; not even enough juice left to beep the horn, there in the middle of the bleepin' highway, in the snow. Alternator. The car probably would have died before I got home even without the traffic, but I always think about that when I'm tempted to switch-off in a drive-up que.

Hybrids repeatedly cycle the gasoline engine off-and-on in urban driving; that's how they achieve such high fuel economy numbers. I'm curious to see how things go as they get on up in years.

dcb

Driving economy is not based purely on fuel consumption but the total cost of operating the vehicle over its useful lifetime. Using one strategy might save money on fuel but decrease the useful life of other components, resulting in an overall cost increase. "Going Green" is a philosophy, not necessarily a cost effective way of living.
Preston

Wow, According to Fueleconomy.gov, over 17% of your car’s gas is wasted by simply being in idle. Thanks to Manarius and his dailyfueleconomytip.

That's about 3 gallons per fillup. Ten bucks burning up just sitting at lights and when my wife is warming the car up on cold days - I personally just get in and go. That's $500/yr if you fill up once a week. :eek: A friend of mine drives an F250 and he gets pissed because the pumps cut off at $50 and that only gives him about 3/4 tank.

One thing that we're doing to help is istalling roundabouts at intersections as opposed to lights. I like them a lot.

I have a blazer that stalls when I slow down (1 out of 10 stops.) I don't know why it stalls but when it does, I just let it sit until it's time to start it up again if I'm at a light.

A lot of the cons were mentioned but one positive aspect of shutting down would be rad temps. There's no airflow from moving when your stopped and you have to rely on the fans.

I don't see why they couldn't install hooks similar to those at a car wash that pull you through the line at the fast food drive thrus. They could even push you off when you leave :)

And thanks Landshark, I'll make an attempt to cut back on the fish and chips but I'm not promising anything.

I'd say that turning the engine off at every light might save fuel... but you're going to put a lot of wear and tear on the starter, probably run a higher risk of burning your heads (rich running for the first second or two), and probably foul your plugs a lot quicker. At the end of the day it's probably a wash.

Of course, that depends how much stop and go you do. I'm lucky in that my drive to work is mostly highway; a roughly 20 mile commute with 6 sets of lights (which normally favor the major road I'm on) and two stop signs. Oh, and a roundabout... but I rarely need to stop on that :)

Not to mention polution
 

The figgures I have seen is off for 1min _ a + in the reduction of fuel consumption. anything longer is a bonus..
MB have some of their cars programed to shut off ofter 30 sec (I believe)
The real bonus is reduction of polutants
Ian

theres a three minute stoplite at the edge of my town controlling a one lane road - I'll shut the car off if I catch the red. Anything less than that I'll leave it at idle - I'm with the school of thought that says a little more fuel used is worth it compared to replacing starters and fouling plugs.... starting up more than necessarry just cant be good