jkp1187 -
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkp1187
Well, I've had to replace starters on several of my cars - 1988 Chevy Celebrity, 1995 Chevy Beretta, 2000 Chevy Impala. Granted, all of them were beyond 100,000 miles at the time of the replacement, but I take it more or less for granted that I'm going to have to replace a starter at least once.
Note that the above replacements were made before I made it a point to turn the engine off at long lights.
For what it's worth, BMW's owners manuals claim that four seconds of idling is the break-even point for idling versus shutting off. Of course, shutting down and starting up for every 4-second delay sounds like you're asking for trouble. My rule is that I'll shut down if I know the wait will be more than 20 seconds AND if the oil is at operating temperature.
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I haven't replaced my starter yet (knock on virtual wood), but at 182K miles, it's gonna happen sooner or later.
I believe the 4 second idling number. In colder climates, one caveat to this is unheated oxygen sensors (aka oxygen sensors that only start to work when exhaust gases heat them up to "temperature X"). Heated oxygen sensors are heated using electricity from the battery, so they stay heated as long as the car's key is in the on-position. At extended stops in cold weather, an unheated oxygen sensor could cool off to the point where it is no longer operating normally. The ECU/PCM can detect this state and will spend more time in open-loop mode, which would burn more fuel.
I also wait for the engine to warm up before employing engine off. I won't using engine-off unless I already know the timing of the light. 20 seconds sounds about right for me too.
CarloSW2