My dad told me long long ago that it was inefficient to shut off your car if you knew you'd start it back up very soon afterwards (like a min). Something about the amount of gas you might not use while it was shut off for that min paled in comparison to the amount you'd use starting back up. Then there is the wear and tear that starting a car simply puts the car through. So I've always followed that line of thought.

So on garbage days when I get home from work I have to put one of the bins in the garage before I put my car in the garage. I have always pulled into the driveway, got out with the car running, and walk to the end of the driveway (its actually pretty long), get the bins, go back to the garage, put them in the garage, and then park the car in the garage.

But I was thinking maybe this is unnecessary with today's cars, and in particular with the Fit. Maybe I should be shutting it off and starting it back up only to drive it 30 more feet.

I suspect the gas lost in the min running it at idle or at start up probably isn't that big of a deal with the extremely efficient Fit. But the wear and tear on the tiny engine and battery?

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

I don't have any amazing mechanical insight to add, but I agree with "Dad". I wouldn't stop and restart my car (any car) within a minute…unless I thought there was a chance that someone might run up and steal the car when I wasn't looking. Unecessary wear and tear on the starter and battery, could become a factor as the car and its components get older, and/or the weather gets colder.

I'm curious why Dad would have thought it a good idea to store garbage in your garage, though.

 

Its my home my garage and garbage bins is about. I merely brought up my dads advice from when I was a kids (a long time ago).

As for the garbage in the garage...just clarify...the garbage bin stays outside. The recycling bin (which is almost as big as the garbage bin and is the same color and shape) goes in the garage. Don't want to risk those paper products getting wet. I got lazy and just simply called both bins garbage bins. They do get picked up by the same company

 

The gas usage thing has not been true since the advent of fuel injection. You start saving gas when you shut the engine down for a few seconds or so. (Yes, the amount of gas being talked about here is minimal.) With carbureted engines, the fuel consumed during a startup was significantly higher and the tipping point in favor of idling was longer, maybe around a minute.

Wear and tear on the engine itself restarting restarting it warm after it had just been running a minute or so ago is far, far less than that of it cold. Yes, there is some small wear on the starter, but nothing to be too concerned about. It shouldn't make a huge difference for the battery; the total energy being used is fairly small, so it's not discharging it much. If you're repeatedly starting and shutting down the engine without giving any time for it to recharge, that's a different story.

(There are sometimes big advantages to keeping wheelie bins in the garage—such as when raccoons or other animals are a problem, or when the HOA says you can't have them out in the driveway unless it's pickup day....)

 

Look at the size of your battery. How much freaking energy does it look like the car requires to turn that engine over?

Shut the damn thing off if you're not using it.

 

I think it saves fuel to shut the engine off rather than idle for a minute. I always shut off my engine when I have to wait in a drive thru, or wait for someone to run back into the house, etc... It does put more wear on your accesories (battery and starter) but you save enough in fuel to offset any miniscule wear.

 

I think just nowadays you don't really have to worry. Lots of cars (and not just hybrids) have start stop features with a variety of engine sizes and types. As long as the engine is warm, you're not doing any more damage than you would be revving it up a bit, and you're not wasting very much gas. But honestly, for a period of time that's less than a minute... I don't think it's much of a difference either way.

 

If it's like 1 minute, forget it. Your ride is better off left in the idling stage with engine on. If it's like 10 minutes, then it's worth every effort. I will shut down if I know I'm going to wait for more than 5 minutes without moving. Else just put to N or P and pull the handbrake.

 

Fuel is conserved when the engine is off and the car stationary. Period. Increasing CAF standards are requiring manufacturer's to put in auto start-stop on their vehicle lineups so they can legitimately jack up the city MPG figure, usually touting it as an "advanced feature", but pretty much every mass produced car from economy on up will have this within the next ten years as standard equipment. Hint: Be glad you don't have it on your Fit, as most find it an annoyance since it doesn't work as well as it does in a hybrid that has an electric motor to get the car rolling w/o the combustion engine on.

 

If I know I will be stopped for more than 15 seconds or so, I will shut it down. Direct injection systems use about the same amount of fuel to start an engine as they do to keep it running. And, if your a/c is on, the additional fuel needed when idling contributes even more to the waste. As mentioned earlier, the old carbureted engines need a lot more fuel at start-up than these fuel injected engines. I wish the Fit had the engine stop/start feature, it would save me the trouble of doing it manually at stop lights.

 

I lump auto stop/start with other "features" like automatic transmissions, auto locking doors and DRLs.

Now get off my lawn!

 

Auto stop/start is a "non-starter" for me, too. I'd be looking for a way to disable it first thing. Having air and heat cut off every time I stop for a minute is unacceptable, as is the extra wear and tear on the starter and battery.

Now, the old Harley-Davidson is a different story. If I know I'll be stopped for several minutes (accident ahead, construction delay), I'll shut it down to prevent the air-cooled motor from overheating. That's something entirely different, though.