I am not alone!
 

Rolled up to a stoplight that I always used to shut the engine off in my Civic because it's very long, and noticed that the car next to mine, a black VW Golf, had no lights on and I couldn't hear the engine running. Sure enough, just before the light turned green I heard the car start and saw the headlights flip on; he pulled in front of me before the next light and was clearly timing the lights.

This may not be a big deal to you city folk, but in the two years since I started driving thoughtfully I have not encountered another hypermiler in this small Midwest town. Now, I feel like Jodie Foster in "Contact."

While sitting in silence at those stoplights do you wonder "...where did those 18 minutes..." go? (wink,wink).

I also do this often at long lights. But then I wonder while sitting there (sometimes sitting in the cold, without the benefit of having the heater warming me in winter): how much money have I saved in unspent fuel as compared to this recurrent wear on my starter? I've changed the starter on my car twice over many years, and replacing it isn't an easy task. Actually it's a b---h.

Maybe this routine balances out at best. Maybe I am just breaking even. If I'm only breaking even, I ask myself what's the point of doing it?

Very funny. :thumbup:

Also: Vman, I know what you mean. It's cool to encounter other ecodrivers in the wild! http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...day-24542.html

Wow. What kind of car? (Make a garage entry -- helps.)

I haven't had to change a starter in decades! The last time was only because it was a crap component in mk1 Rabbit/Golfs, not because I was keying off much at all.

I completely agree with your point. After a couple of times starting the engine, I realized A) extra starter wear, and B) how much fuel does my 3.7 use to crank over?

What I have started to do, is NOT cut the engine at lights unless I EOC up to the light, or I KNOW how long it will be. Back near my last college, there was a light that went in circles, with 6 angles, and a solid 2.5 minutes if you missed the light. Often, I will bump start my engine before coming to a complete stop to avoid having to crank it over. Either way I will need to start it, but that way I save a bit on the starter.

I was watching a mythbusters yesterday on hypermiling and they found with the all the devices they used for measuring gas mileage that sitting at a light used 0.5 gallons per hour if you figure that your car idles for about 30 minutes on a tank of gas you've used at least half a gallon of fuel to that do pretty much nothing. Considering modern fuel injected cars use the same amount of gas to start up as they do in 7 seconds of idling all you need to do is be stopped for at least 8 seconds to save gas

Yes, you'll save gas. But the more you use a starter, the faster it will wear out.

I still turn the engine off at lights that are known to be long. But for times of less than a minute it's probably a trade off with starter wear.

The starter in my last Metro must have been from an army tank. It worked flawlessly the entire time I owned the car. I'm not sure how long it served the previous owner. The cool part is, the last six months of this wonderful cars life was driven without a clutch after it (clutch) failed. The starter was used at every stop to not only start the engine but to move the car, in first gear to get it going.

Ha! An excellent starter story.

That's why older 4Runners have a clutch safety deactivation switch. If you stall them in the middle of nowhere and need to get out of a tough situation, you can push the button, and the starter will engage with your foot off the clutch pedal, using the starter to get the thing moving. Of course, all cars in the "old days" (I'm guessing pre '80s?) had this as they didn't have the safety switch to start with, and I have used it more than once to get one of my broken POS's out of an intersection rather than push it ha ha. :snail:

Whenever I hear stories like that, I keep thinking: "must install clutch switch over-ride switch..." and then forget until the next story.

I've only needed to do it once (pre-clutch-switch car), but it could happen again.

I disabled the clutch starter lockout switch on the aerocivic over a decade ago since there are many situations where it is useful to be able to put the car in 1st or 2nd and crank the starter to move the car or to drive with a busted clutch..

Yeah--there was a clutch override switch in my old '91 Toyota pickup. Never had to use it, though.

Of course, all this is moot for me now since I bought a car that turns the engine off and starts by itself. It kind of takes some of the fun out of it.

So does the Prius use the electric drive to start the ICE rather than have a starter motor?

In the usual course of a day (excluding shutting your engine off at traffic lights) how many times on average did you need to park and leave your car and then restart the engine?

From what I've read, yes. One of the motors spins the ICE up to 1000 rpm to start. It's very seamless driving around.

It was a 60 mile round trip commute every week day for work. To be fair most of it was freeway.

I can't exclude traffic lights in this scenario because I had to stop at lights and keeping the engine running was NOT an option (how would I get it back into gear?). I will admit to rolling stops on the stop signs most of the time. 16 starts worst cast and 8-10 average with good luck with lights, traffic, etc.

I will admit this wasn't fun nor amusing. It is a real story though. I still have the starter just incase I want to put this trusted unit into my current Metro.

Yes - Prius dosen't have stater or generator, but uses the EV motor for it all.

So, prior to the clutch problem, typically how many times per day did you need to park and leave the car? (If I understand correctly it was only once per day?)

Well, actually two. It would park in my driveway overnight and at work during the day.

I notice this too from time to time. Some seems to have it down to a science, others will only let the engine off for a minute then refire. I even seen this inline at the drive throughs too.

Now for rail road crossings I seem to be alone, but on ferries while in line and onboard some kill the engine.

All our driving routines are so different that there is no 'one size fits all' plan that is best for everyone.

For example, my day of driving typically will include 10 to 30 stops that I make to deliver things and while in transit also stop at places like the bank, the supermarket and the post office. That does not include shutting off the engine at traffic lights. You can understand why I only do it at long red lights, as my starter is used more than that of the average commuter.

It's easy to see why your starter never wore out, if you only parked the car twice a day. ;)

I thought this is where you were going. You have me beat with the usage contest.
So how much I actually used my started is irrelevant. It is only important to show how little I could have used it. Thanks.

I'll take my actual fuel savings (only partially due to using my starter A-LOT)
over my actual starter costs ($0) any day. :thumbup:

"Different strokes for different folks." :thumbup: :D