If you’re going to be idling for more than 10 seconds, you can get 30 more miles per tank, according to the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency and the Celias blog.
Idling uses up a lot of gas. You’ll save money, and the environment. The Swiss like this method and it’s the law in several of their cities to turn off your car at stoplights.
But what about the gas used to start a car? All cars use fuel injection, so starting a warm engine is negligible. And the cost of that or the wear on your starter is far outweighed by the fuel savings. — BEN POPKEN
10-Second Rule [Celsias] (Thanks to c-side!)
(Photo: hanapbuhay)
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Something nobody has really pointed out yet is that starting one’s car is by no means an energy-neutral thing to do. Starter motors draw a tremendous amount of current from the battery, on the order of hundreds of amperes; once the engine is running, the power used to start the car has to be replaced by the alternator. Putting such a heavy charging load on the alternator results in (surprise, surprise) more fuel consumption. Many cars also feed extra fuel to the engine during starting, which would further negate any gains from using this method.
Wear and tear concerns are also a major problem. Cycling the battery between charged and discharged states 30 times a day will cause it to fail sooner than it otherwise would. Also, low oil pressure during starting is very, very bad for engine bearings, turbocharger bearings, and valve guides. None of these things are fun or inexpensive to replace. If you really need to save fuel that badly, work on your driving habits instead of abusing your car.
Not for me as well by the same rationale as stated by many others. Swapping out starters is such a pain…
@bambino & @Musician78:
Wow, a couple of e-thugs on Consumerist. Nice. You two just brought the level of this site down a few notches all by yourselves.
Congrats.
I did this while driving through the border from Canada to the US. I was sitting in stop and go traffic for a half hour or longer, so it seemed like a good idea to just turn off the car when I was stopped for five minutes at a time. By the time I was stopped by the border patrol to have the car searched, it would not start back up. Nothing like having angry angry border patrol people push your car through the border and tell you they are not going to help you at all.
@Joe Hass:
those are actually good ideas. the first would work, in theory, but here in san diego if you leave just 1 car length between you and the car in front of you, you WILL get cut off. gotta fill that space!
@s0crates82: I never knew I had so much power! But seriously, let the first motorist who hasn’t flipped the bird cast the first stone.
Certainly I can see the wisdom to turning the car off if you will be idling for extended periods of time but the suggestion of turning off your car at red lights is insane.
1) You need an engine running for heat/AC and for power steering and brakes. I have been at red lights with emergency vehicles coming up from behind me requiring me to move over with the pack to make room.
2) If you want your radio/lights etc on you will put a drain on your battery.
3) Alternators/starters do wear out and are not cheap. I work on jet aircraft w/ electric starters and they have a limit for starts in a specific time period for a reason, of course those starters cost a fair bit more
Honestly, if you really want to save gas, drive slower. Its that easy.
No kidding. What I love is how serious people take some of the comments. My comment was obviously a joke. I don’t understand how the joke was missed. I guess I need to keep in mind that some people are devoid a sense of humor. *Sigh*
I have traveled through Asia several times for work in cities where the traffic is ferocious and the gasoline/diesel fuel is 3 times the cost it is here.
Probably half the private motorists and 100% of the taxi cabs shut the engine off at stop lights.
Once I found a cabbie who spoke some English and I asked him about this practice. He said his cab (Toyota Corolla) had the kilometer equivalent of 300,000 miles with the original engine and starter motor. Apparently there is no tangible or negative effect to doing this.
These days I work in tech service in support of commercial fleets. The ‘damage’ folks are talking about WRT starting an engine ONLY applies to a bone-cold engine when all the oil has gone back to the crankcase. On a warm engine with a modern anti-drainback oiling system the engine will remain fully lubricated for an hour or so after shutdown.
Now I own a 1 month old Camry Hybrid and guess what? It does all this stuff automatically.
I think the Canadians are on to something here. Give it a try!
musician: The joke wasn’t obvious.
technodestructo: I bet it’s one of those Fords that don’t require maintenance like oil changes. I just sold my 1999 Contour with 123000 miles on it for $2500- the engine was still clean on the inside and ran like new.
Well, if I am going to start beating the crap out of other drivers, I certainly wouldn’t be writing about it in a public forum. The whole post was spiked with sarcasm. Damn. *It must be certain parts of the country….*
Before deciding to turn off your engine at a red light to save gas you should weigh the risk of being dragged out of your car and beaten to a pulp in the middle of the street by the guy behind you (Me).
Dude…. you are bringing down the level of this site. *The shame!!*
@bambino: But seriously, let the first motorist who hasn’t flipped the bird cast the first stone.
I can say with some certainty that I have never flipped off another motorist while driving.
Did you have your middle fingers cut off in a freak combine accident?
Nope, just not the sort of thing I do. Although, even if I did, it’s not nearly the same thing as threatening to throw a missile at another driver.
*applauds Grouse* Congratulations! Would you like your nun’s habit now or later, Sister?
I prefer the numbers myself:
100,000 miles/20 MPG/15 Gallon Tank (numbers from an earlier poster) means I saved $1375 over the lifetime of the car.
Let’s take it just one step further, and assume that 1% of the time my car does not start as planned, resulting in lost time (plus other possible but unidentifiable consequences). Let’s also assume the median time for my car not starting is 10 minutes — (perhaps I will learn to carry a instant-jump-start unit in the trunk!)
On my commute, I stop at approximately 10 lights. This means that 1/10 days, or once every other week, my energy-saving habit will result in either loss of my or other people’s time. Since my rate is in the neighborhood of $40/hr, that’s $6.66 every time my car doesn’t start… we can leave out the passengers for now.
So 25 times a year I will lose $6.66 = $166.66/yr
Lets now assume I’m driving 15,000 miles a year, so I’ll be reaching the 100k mark in 6.66 years.
$166.66 * 6.66 = $1110 in lost time
Now if only one starter fails I’m in the red. Meanwhile I have to suffer other problems associated with car trouble and related stress. Ouch.
Bear in mind that that accelerator pedal — it’s connected to the throttle which directly controls how much gas is going into the motor. Just keep your foot out of it!