Switching off engine at traffic lights..?

bigturnip

There is a set of lights in Crawley where there is a blue sign telling you to switch your engine off.

balsingh

I can see the next generation Tomtom telling you when you shoudl tunn your engine on and off. :rotfl:

loofer

LoL I think some people are thinking the extreme here... switching off at every set of lights you come to yada yada yada.

I only do it at a certain one or two set of lights at busy junctions that I know take a while. If I am near the front then I monitor the traffic going across and you can sometimes quite easily see their traffic lights so know when to restart my engine and be ready. If the traffic travelling in opposite direction is across the road and they have the right of way to turn right first (i.e green arrow) then this is also a good indication that yours will be amber in a few seconds so get ready (I sometimes do this anyway at regular lights - be ready to go). I am also conscience that when starting my car I should allow a second for the lights on my dash (immobiliser and glow plugs) to go out.

If you are doing it, it's about doing it sensibly without causing an inconvenience to other's and/or looking silly by stalling.

I think the real issue is does it save you fuel? Well that varys from what would have been idle time and each individual car.
Is it causing any damage/over usage to starter motor/alternator/battery? Again can vary from car to car and how many times you do it.

Maybe the fuel saving is negligible, especially if I'm only doing it between 1 -4 times a day, where I would have been sat in idle for anything upto 90 seconds.

Am I not allowed to save that fuel (however small amount) because some people here feel it's a ridiculous practice - or have bad experiences of people doing this?

Wig

I had an 1985 Polo that did this, when you put the gear into neutral for 3 - 5 seconds, as soon as you put the gear back into 1st the engine would start.

I believe it does save fuel, unsure exactly how much.

nullogik

Won't starting the car more frequently wear out the starter motor quicker? You would have to weight the cost of a replacement starter motor with the fuel savings made.

thescouselander

nullogik wrote: »

Won't starting the car more frequently wear out the starter motor quicker? You would have to weight the cost of a replacement starter motor with the fuel savings made.

Yes, it almost certainly would. The starter motor uses quite a high current so regular starting of the engine will put more strain on the battery and alternator too.

I would have thought turning the car off and on all the time is asking for trouble.

Road_Hog

Right, I'm going to have to develop a test for when I buy my next secondhand car.
Hello mr.seller, does this car save on fuel if you switch it off at the lights? Oh yes mr.buyer, I do it all the time.
Righto mr.seller, thanks for that, I'm off to try and find a car that has been completely farked.

loofer

Road_Hog wrote: »

Right, I'm going to have to develop a test for when I buy my next secondhand car.
Hello mr.seller, does this car save on fuel if you switch it off at the lights? Oh yes mr.buyer, I do it all the time.
Righto mr.seller, thanks for that, I'm off to try and find a car that has been completely farked.

Yeh go buy that other one advertised as "only 1 careful lady owner with genuinely low mileage". The one who starts her car in the morning, drives in heavy traffic to primary school. Stops the car, gets out to walk the little one to the gates. Get's back in, starts the car, drives in heavy traffic conditions to secondary school to drop the other two kids off. See's one of her mates so turns off the engine to have a quick chat. Sets off again to head of to Tesco's/Tescos to do a bit of a shop for herself and her Mother/MIL. Goes to drop off the shopping for elderly family member before heading home. And it's only lunch time yet so there's still the rest of the day to go with proabably another trip to school. All in all, a 5-7 mile round trip.

Quite easily a common scenario. I'm not insinuating that is the typical lifestyle or driving habit of mothers/women nor the experience of low mileage cars.
I also appreciate it was necessary to turn the engine off each time in the above scenario and not so neccessary when waiting at lights. But it just highlights the point that people switch their engines on/off several times in a day through normal useage and car components are designed to handle this (to an extent). Though doing this exhaustively/excessively isn't wise... so what is considered excessive?!

vikingaero

There's one mum at DD1's primary school who drives her DS 200 yards from the house to school. At first I thought she maybe drives off to work afterwards but she doesn't work and drives the 200 yards back again. Sometimes when it's busy she has to find a space another 200 yards past the school. Crazy.

Woodyrocks

vikingaero wrote: »

There's one mum at DD1's primary school who drives her DS 200 yards from the house to school. At first I thought she maybe drives off to work afterwards but she doesn't work and drives the 200 yards back again. Sometimes when it's busy she has to find a space another 200 yards past the school. Crazy.

I see this as well at my DD's school. I just don't understand the rationale of someone that does that, even without the petrol situation :rolleyes: