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I'm sure there is some research, but I'm guessing it should be virtually no negative impact to engine life. The thinking that starting a car is bad for the engine relates to the fact the engine is cold and most of the oil has dripped back down out of the engine. In these cases, the engine is warm, and for the most part the lubrication will still hold for the 60 seconds at a stop-light. Modern auto engine building technology (bearings, crank, etc) combined with oil being better than ever, should really minimize that. Balance any minor wear with the fact that for an equivalent mileage motor, the engine has done less work and perhaps there is even an increase.
The starter is another thing all together however. Manufacturers have taken different approaches to this, with the most common being a heavier duty starter to handle the extra cycles. Time will tell if they've done it right, but we haven't see widespread reports of starter failure. I would think the one area that hasn't been engineered into this equation is battery wear, as the batter is clearly doing more work in these cases (although again, the manufacturers claim they have engineered in some efficiencies in the starting process as well).
Wonder how it is on a turbo charged car ? Come off the freeway from a 3 hour trip , get stopped at a light and the motor shuts off. Doesn't seem like it would be good.
I personally can't stand them.
Wonder how it is on a turbo charged car ? Come off the freeway from a 3 hour trip , get stopped at a light and the motor shuts off. Doesn't seem like it would be good.
I personally can't stand them.
Turbo cooling is not like the old days where one add a turbo timer to their turbo cars.
Location: Born & Raised DC > Carolinas > Seattle > Denver
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One thing I recently noticed. The A/C kicks off when this happens. With a string of 90+ degree days here in Denver, I've been turning the stop-start off LOL.
One thing I recently noticed. The A/C kicks off when this happens. With a string of 90+ degree days here in Denver, I've been turning the stop-start off LOL.
As I said on the previous page, it turns itself back on to run the AC, and often won't actually stop if the AC is working hard enough. But, typical modern AC runs cold air for quite a while after the car shuts down with the key on, so it's not really the issue that some of you make it out to be.
One thing I recently noticed. The A/C kicks off when this happens. With a string of 90+ degree days here in Denver, I've been turning the stop-start off LOL.
As I've said before, my car automatically restarts if I sit too long at a light and the A/C isn't able to cool like it should. The flow of air is lessened when the car shuts off, but the temperature remains cold.
Given that it's routinely over 100 where I live right now, I don't see how this feature is a problem for so many people.
The VW we rented in Scotland for our UK vacation a month ago had stop/start technology. It was very odd hearing the starter engage after each green light.
I would imagine it would cut the lifespan of a starter in half. I wouldn't imagine car companies would invest in making them last longer, just enough to make it through the warranty....
The VW we rented in Scotland for our UK vacation a month ago had stop/start technology. It was very odd hearing the starter engage after each green light.
I would imagine it would cut the lifespan of a starter in half. I wouldn't imagine car companies would invest in making them last longer, just enough to make it through the warranty....
Well, you'd be wrong. The starters being used for this tech are indeed more robust. Take a look at one, sometime.
And in many cases, a starter isn't even used. The engine is cut off when it's just past TDC and then started again by injecting a bit of fuel and spark to kick it going again.
I bet the battery life is shortened dramatically with this. It takes a lot of amps to turn an engine over.
I would never own a car with this feature just for the simple fact of annoyance and worry of the car not starting up in the middle of traffic. Who wants to hear their car stop and start every red light they come to? that would get extremely annoying to me.
I bet the battery life is shortened dramatically with this. It takes a lot of amps to turn an engine over.
I would never own a car with this feature just for the simple fact of annoyance and worry of the car not starting up in the middle of traffic. Who wants to hear their car stop and start every red light they come to? that would get extremely annoying to me.
More and more vehicles will be using this technology. On the bright side, there will be ways to circumvent the process and keep your vehicle running all the time.
Actually, any car with the AC running will start the engine again if the temp gets too high in the car, as most cars have climate control not merely AC. Our MINI never gets hot inside when using the start stop feature as it wont' actually stop if the AC is working hard. the systems are tied together through the ECU.
This topic comes up on a fairly regular basis around here and most people simply don't understand how it works.
I didn't have that. Maybe cause it was in its early stage of hybrid or maybe it was just the Civic.
It defintely did not stay cool.
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