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Manufacturers don't care about wear and tear, that's their bread and butter .
As a mechanic and having replaced a lot of starter drive gear ring and pinion ,the wear and tear is significant including the starter winding and brushes, and that through normal use on rental equipment .
What am I saying ,
never mind ,, the repair industry could use a boost in the economy .it's a major project doing R&R on a ring gear, especially on front wheel drive vehicles.
How much, approximately, does it run to replace a ring gear on a flywheel nowadays? Are they pulling the engine to do this job, or only the transmission?
This is a very popular move with people where I live. They are always in a $50k+ luxury car/suv that gets 14-18 mpg. I assume they think they are saving gas by turning the engine off for 30 seconds at a light. But doesn't starting the engine use more gas than idling for 30 seconds?
Some UK cars are made that way. VW has a 45 second timer I have heard.
What's up with people that shut off their engine at a red light?
I know, right? How dare they?!
One of our work cars (well, it's assigned to someone else, not me) is a hybrid? Is that what it is? Electric/gas? Strange but cool. It has a graphic of a tree limb on the dash and when you use more energy more leaves fall off.
On an older car rear wheel drive all you needed was to drop the transmission and replace the fly wheel or ring gear on the torque converter reinstall the transmission and good to go 2-6 hours depending on vehicle.
Modern cars with front wheel drive, I imagine you'd have to pull the engine and all taking a day or two. That's a finished job all hoses and other components correctly reinstalled .
You'd best call your local dealership and reference your own car for that information.
...per car times 16 million cars sold every year...it adds up.
Not if it's shortening the life of other components...those cost energy to manufacture as well. If the components were designed for it, fine. But in a conventional auto, components are designed with different presumptions in mind.
As for saving gas, I don't know if that short time saves gas. I've heard that turning a light off and on uses more electricity than keeping it on, but I read a so-called expert article that explained that's not true. Off is off. It's using no juice. It doesn't use enough much more to equal the saved amount from being totally off. Maybe it's the same with cars.
If all one is considering is the electricity being used to provide light, that's true. But the lifespans of both incandescent and CFLs are seriously shortened by high cycling, and the environmental costs of replacing them too early can outstrip the electricity saving--particularly with CFLs.
My BMW does it, but only once the car is warmed up. If the engine is off for too long, then the heat or A/C doesn't beat or cool properly and it automatically turns back on. I can permanently disable the feature, but it's not that bothersome and appears somewhat effective. It's also disabled when the car is in "sport" mode.
Not sure if you ever experience this. If you park you car but turn engine off only and leave it in accessory. Your car may start back up after a while to prevent battery drain.
If I saw someone shut there car of manually at a red light I think I'd have to flip them off.
The difference between turning engines off manually, and flipping them off, is not really all that much. Either way, it's a turn off.
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What's up with people that shut off their engine at a red light?
