Gas Prices Going Up

Numbers 4 & 5 are the only things from this list that will cause a significant reduction in fuel cost.

  1. will do absolutely nothing, ’unless’ your vehicle heater happens to run off the fuel in your tank. Some do, but not many. ( ’Block Heater’…. those are good. Saves wear and tear associated with starting a cold engine in extremely cold temperatures. Would probably save a tiny bit of fuel also.
    The real benefit is reduced wear & tear on engine components due to extremely cold starts. :+1:
  1. will save some. Best use Cruise Control to accomplish this. :+1:
  1. might save some. But not worth it in the humid South. :frowning:
  1. will save fuel cost. :+1:
  2. will save fuel cost. :+1: :+1:
  1. will save, BUT is only practical if really very long idle times are anticipated. Otherwise wear & tear on other components overshadow any potential fuel savings.

Same here, unless it uses an integrated started/alternator/flywheel, not discrete parts.

These can be considered mild hybrids, as they can not only start the engine but also get the car moving out of the hole, use regenerative braking to help charge the battery (very very lightly, though!), and won’t have all the wear of belts and gears and all that rot.

Theoretically, you can power the alternator as a motor to use that as a starter (via the belt), and not have all the associated wear of solenoids, gears, etc. with an otherwise exposed flywheel. It’s electrically switched, not mechanically.

Plus, cold-cranking is vastly different from hot cranking. Even on the coldest days, my old deceased Cavalier could take 2-3 seconds to crank. Once it’s been started, though, and not even fully up to temp, a very quick bap on the keyswitch would start it right up. Literally, not even a full second.

Now, I’d like to see reliability figures of those integrated parts, because it ain’t like a parking-lot fix to swap out an alternator, but a major job to essentially swap out the flywheel. They had damned well better last the life of the engine/tranny.

OK, that was not clear. Block heaters, as we called them when I lived in Manitoba, are great They warm the coolant and thus the engine unit and make starting easier as well as making heat availbale much sooner. But there is no need tolet an engine idle any more than 30 seconds before driving away. That is especially true with modern fuel injected engines. The computer adjusts the fuel mix to be rich enough to run smoothly. If the engine runs, drive. But of course drive gently until the egine is warm. The engine will warm up more quickly when driving than when idling.

We used to have an interior car heater that was timer controlled. It wouldc ome on before it was time to leave so the interior was warmed, the seats thawed out. That was before cars had heated seats.

I have start-stop and it has to be the dumbest, stupidest, craziest idea EVER. In whose world is starting and stopping a combustion engine a good idea? I bet the engineers where cursing when forced to do it for “environmental” reasons.

The upside it has a kill switch, so now, I start the car and push the kill switch……just a two step annoyance.

I never knew that. Thanks. I used to think nothing of pulling a transmission when I was much younger. I had and still have most of the required tools, tranny jack, etc. But I really have no desire to get that far into my cars any more.

Yes, the rental I had did have a kill switch. I have heard, but not confirmed, that some USmakes do not offer the switch or that it is well hidden.

The “only” time I let the car run is to make sure I have full oil recirculation. About 10 seconds cold. About 3-4 seconds hot. BUT, I will not push the engine for at least 5 minutes until the oil is warmed up.

In my car, you MUST run 0-30 weight synthetic all year. The reason is that the oil must be light enough to start circulating as fast as possible, particularly in the start-stop engines.

The days of running 30 weight oils in colder weather and waiting for them to heat up so they circulate faster is gone….at least in modern engines. In my old cars, I use to wait 30-60 seconds for the oil pressure to DROP because on start up. it pegged the oil pressure meter and one would get oil starvation because thick oil does not circulate fast enough. It was also “go slow” for several minutes.

Worse, you can’t bypass it. Even if I wire it “on” all the time. Believe me, I already tried. It has to detect a momentary contact.

You have to rewrite the engine software code, which is really ONE lousy line where it comes in over a certain temperature. Just raise it to a silly level. Easy-peasy…….but then, there goes any engine warrantee.

Bahhhh……push…push…go.

Yep, our Honda specs 0W-20 full synthetic.

Oh…. ‘Block Heater’…. those are good. Saves wear and tear associated with starting a cold engine in extremely cold temperatures. :+1:

Bah. Simple optocoupler across the switch contacts (mind the polarity), gets power once the accessory circuit goes live, simple one-shot delay in-between.

Eg, it gets power, times out after 30sec, sends a 1sec pulse to the optocoupler after. 2 halves of a 74HC123 should do.

Is that before or after I replace the dilithium crystal?

I’m not good enough to fool around with the cars electrics.

After. Just give that recipe to a nearby boffin to do the work for you.

The whole idea is that the optocoupler doesn’t change the operation of the switch at all. Just acts in parallel with it, and the original switch still works as advertised.

Neighbor has a newer Ford Truck with that wacky Start/Stop engine BS, BUT if you plug one of those trailer test connector thingy’s on the trailer hook up it bypasses the BS. Guess what he does?
Any good engine builder will tell you most of the bearing wear occurs during start up, why would you want to accelerate that cycle?
Foolish.
All this start/stop and 10 speed transmissions are just to make the silly New Car Fuel Sticker have a bigger number, nothing more.
Meanwhile trannys are failing early because of this unneeded technology. And we customers pay for the repairs.

As far as warm up procedures, it pizzes me off when every year at the beginning of winter the local news says some “automotive expert” says do not warm your car one bit, just start and drive the engine doesn’t care.
Maybe, maybe not, but the power steering pump and the transmission may “care”
Trannys make some weird shifts when cold and as the tranny lines run through the radiator, warming the engine warms the tranny before it get slammed into use.

Nothing likes to be moved/operated when stone cold, just ask most women.

I warm up all my vehicles when below 20 degrees and have yet to replace a transmission and do rack up a lot of miles each and every year.
Your repair bills may vary :slight_smile:

Later,
Warmed up Keith

Could not be said any better!! :+1:

I saved gas by moving over 25 years ago to a small town. Unless we get an arctic blast in winter which can last up to a month like this year, we mostly walk everywhere to do shopping. Keeps us thin and fit as well.

Hm? Whut’s the deal with 10spd trannies?

Yeah, that’s just stoopit. My old Cav would definitely feel sluggish when the tranny fluid was cold and syrupy. Felt like slogging through mud. That’s why I’d barely let it go above fast-idle on local streets ’til the slogging-through-mud feeling was gone. If the tranny fluid was like that, then for sure so was the oil. By the time I’d get to the expressway, it’d more or less be warmed up.

Unfortunately, my cars now are quite a bit more powerful, so it’s hard to tell any sluggishness when torque overcomes it way too easily.

Was it Beamers that would have a too-cold warning indicator? Ie, an idiot-light cautioning you to not get too punchy on the pedal if the engine/tranny wasn’t sufficiently up to temp?

Wellp, gotta stop keeping ’em chained up in the cold cold basement…

I try to do that, but again, hard to tell when it’s ready.

Prospects can be severely limited, though, unless you’re okay working the register at the local diner.

Main problem here is the lack of “progressive” companies. Ie, flex-time, working remotely, etc. Too many computer-based jobs still have you stuck, commuting back’n’forth every day as if you’re doing factory work.

Luckily, I started working-from-home on Fridays and was “grandfathered in” by Former Boss, as New Boss doesn’t allow that. Even people who were promised that ability to do so at least once per week were later denied by New Boss.

Certain people, especially some who poop out a new kid every 6mos or so it seems, have been working from home long enough I almost forgot what they look like. So some departments have no problem with it, whereas some others do.

I actually get more work done from home vs when physically at work. Fewer interruptions, and just in general being more “self-conscious” about it. Disappear for lunch when there, no problem, you’re out for lunch. Do so when working from home, and you want to get back as soon as possible so no one emails “Where are you??” and you feel “guilty” about being gone for even 15min and “keeping them waiting”.

So yeah, not having to commute every day by car, whether working remotely or being able to just walk to work, saves the most fuel. Rather than idiocy like trying to get daylight-time year-round, why not just encourage policies like telecommuting to make them financially appealing?

^^ I forgot to mention we had to start our own business after moving to the small town. Lots of worry and risk moving away from the big city, but it turned out to be by far the best decision we ever made in our lives. We give out so little for gas or food that it's almost shameful, but that's the lifestyle here, it's awesome. Being surrounded by mountains and lakes never hurts either.

I agree with you, if big corporations would encourage other ways of working instead of constantly commuting, it would take away of lot of unneeded stress, especially financially. Obviously it can't work for all business but where it could work it should be encouraged. I've known too many people that work their guts out only to barely survive after all the bills are paid and on top of that they are just plain worn out by the end of the day.

Car, 15min commute. Buses, 1hr 15min commute.

Forced downtime, which is nice if I got puzzles/magazines to catch up on, but otherwise just “wasted” time.

Sometimes it’s interesting just watching the scenery, but you’re still at the mercy of waiting for the buses, etc.

Thing is, if I save even that half-hour of commuting time, I can give it right back to the company. If I’m forced to spend it, well, I can spend it driving in/back, or let Mr Bus carry me. Either way, I ain’t spending it again.