Park on full lock?

facade

~Beanie~ wrote: »

I've been driving nearly 30 years and I do this, is there a reason why I shouldn't?

It will shorten the bulb life if your car is one where the headlights go off when the starter engages and then come back on.

If you have a "modern" car, you don't want to be changing headlight bulbs more than necessary.

I wait until I'm sure that the engine is going before I switch anything on, but I was raised with dynamos and batteries that you put water in every week.

dannyrst

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Starting a car engine puts a heavy load on the battery so it is helpful not to have any other unnecessary loads on the battery at the same time.

In 8 years of driving, I've never encountered an issue with not being able to start my car because I put the lights on first.

mcpitman

facade wrote: »

It will shorten the bulb life if your car is one where the headlights go off when the starter engages and then come back on.

If you have a "modern" car, you don't want to be changing headlight bulbs more than necessary.

I wait until I'm sure that the engine is going before I switch anything on, but I was raised with dynamos and batteries that you put water in every week.

With auto lights and welcome home lights, this is almost impossible to achieve.

However, I do agree with the principle of mechanical sympathy and not putting too much strain on components when starting up the engine.

almillar

I've been driving nearly 30 years and I do this, is there a reason why I shouldn't?

You're asking the battery to do its hardest job, start the engine - a big punch of current. Don't make it harder by asking it to power the lights too. Engine first, lights (and other electrics) second.

In 8 years of driving, I've never encountered an issue with not being able to start my car because I put the lights on first.

You're beaten on 30 years! Try a 5+ year old battery in the snow with a big engine. It's just good practice, even these days.

Parking - yes, straighten up, as if you stall when you start again, at least the car will go straight, but don't 'dry turn' (turn whilst stationery) as it'll wear the tyres and puts strain on the power steering.

dannyrst

almillar wrote: »

You're asking the battery to do its hardest job, start the engine - a big punch of current. Don't make it harder by asking it to power the lights too. Engine first, lights (and other electrics) second.

You're beaten on 30 years! Try a 5+ year old battery in the snow with a big engine. It's just good practice, even these days.

Parking - yes, straighten up, as if you stall when you start again, at least the car will go straight, but don't 'dry turn' (turn whilst stationery) as it'll wear the tyres and puts strain on the power steering.

Maybe back in those days (;)) it was important to do...but I've driven in plenty of cold conditions and never had an issue. Good practice would also suggest that you remove everything from your car each time you go on a journey because the car is lighter and you save fuel.

reeac

It's a bit of a thread drift but I never switch on lights before starting the engine. Possibly the befit is longer battery life. .. I've just changed a 10 year old battery in one car but the other car has a13 year old battery in it which is still fine. Neither battery was/has ever been charged from an external source.

DigForVictory

I wouldn't park on full lock, but then I was last in California aged 5, so my driving experience & liability for penalties was limited.

Now I try to park straight, unless on a hill. There I try to park so that if things start to go wrong, or worse Badly wrong, the car is trying to roll into the kerb & or a phone pole.

(M'lady mother had an automatic go rogue on her. The phone pole stopped it, and the insurance recovery folk used new & interesting words (til they saw me) as they looked at the vehicle, as just dragging the car away was *not* an option.)

Head_The_Ball

facade wrote: »

It will shorten the bulb life if your car is one where the headlights go off when the starter engages and then come back on.

If you have a "modern" car, you don't want to be changing headlight bulbs more than necessary.

I wait until I'm sure that the engine is going before I switch anything on, but I was raised with dynamos and batteries that you put water in every week.

I remember those glass bottles with a rubber top that had a filling arm that was used to add water to the battery cells.

One cell at a time.

Head_The_Ball

dannyrst wrote: »

In 8 years of driving, I've never encountered an issue with not being able to start my car because I put the lights on first.

It isn't a major thing as almost every car will start easily with the headlights on. It is just good practice.

The more a battery is stressed the quicker it is likely to wear out. Perhaps you might have got a few more weeks or months out of a battery if you hadn't done what you do.

Start engine and then switch on lights is no harder than switch on lights and then start engine. A lot of driving is habit and the former is a better habit to acquire.

I think some cars dim or switch off the lights when the starter is engaged so that increases temp cycles in the bulbs and they might fail earlier too.

But overall it is a minor thing. There are worse ways to abuse a car. Clutch riding for example.

vansboy

All the references to starting and lights, no mention of depressing the clutch while firing ignition...this is always good practice, to relieve effort required on start up.

And parking as straight as pos, for me, except on a steep hill, when full lock, without touching tyre/kerb

VB