Turning the car off at stop lights (questions about when, how long & wear issues)

[8307c4]

For this to work good the ICE has to start with but a click of the starter, it shouldn't even take a full revolution, now some cars they just don't like starting full hot either, other cars appear to always take several cranks.

Then the car needs to be completely up to date on all of the regular and periodic and standard maintenance, I don't dare even think of cutting an engine off that might not start again lol.

And sure I've gotten stuck at an intersection before, it's one quick way to find out your car might not be the best for this, I do not know but unless my car starts real easy and every time I don't do it.

..............
As for the how-to:
I study my intersections and I won't do it at one I am not familiar with. As a rule I like to first become intimately familiar with the pattern of the lights, then if I can't see the opposing light I watch the cars and I don't wait until the last second either... But the actual pattern to me is more important than anything else, follow and learn the pattern, that way I can start the engine more than right before mine going to turn green cuz that's too late.

For automatics:
I first put the gear lever in Park, turn ICE off and leave off for 5 seconds or so.
In this time cut off ALL electric stuff such as the fan and headlights, leave the turn signal on but take the foot off the brake.
Now turn the ignition back ON but don't start it, doing this OFF-ON with the pause gives the electronics a chance to cool off / warm back up.

Yes sir, I am a firm believer if I turn it off and right back to on this alone could be enough to give the computer the hiccups, to the car's electronics doing this process too fast would be like splashing some ice cold water on your face by surprise, so I always take my time, OFF pause pause pause ON (then more wait wait before starting).

Then usually about the time the last pattern before mine goes green (this can be seen when those cars get moving) I count from 1 to 10 at roughly the speed of passing seconds but maybe a little bit faster and then I start the engine. Yes sir, I don't normally wait for their light to turn yellow but if it does that is my absolute last clue, start it NOW!

Once the engine starts I put my foot on the brake, and engage D.
Then it's another second or two to make sure the transmission is fully engaged and has built up pressure, if done right the light turns green about now. If done wrong, well we hold up traffic lol

For manual the same thing applies except:
Put gear shifter in 1st, then ICE off, now release clutch and brake.
blablabla
Depress brake and clutch fully, ICE on.

Other notes:
As I start to get moving or right before or soon after I turn on the fans and the headlights etc, this takes practice but make it quick and know the motions so you don't take your eyes off the road.

Hope that helps.

[NoCO2]

I replaced the battery when I got the car, just last fall.
It has about 65,000 miles on it and it just recently had it's 60,000 mile service.
It usually starts in about 3 to 5 cranks, usually takes less then a second to start up cold, warm takes usually 1 crank or 2 on a bad day.

The first time it stalled I was running very low on fuel. I ended up getting honked at because I was sitting for a while trying to figure out what the heck was going on, so I put on the caution lights and starting to go through the steps and it fired back up. The second time was right after I fueled up, but I was sitting on an incline so maybe the fuel pump was having a hard time pulling the fuel the engine or something.

Sometime this week, weather and time permitting, I'm going to take a look at the battery charge levels and alternator connectors but last I checked, not too long ago it all was fine. I will also check the fuel pump because after my grandmother got it into a big front end wreck, the entire front end was repaired and the engine was rebuilt and I know they re-used some of the parts that survived the accident so it might just be a part that is failed due to the accident. I have also been meaning to replace the spark plugs, so maybe next weekend I can look into doing that if the other things prove inconclusive.

[DifferentPointofView]

huh, that's sorta weird, My vehicle has over 130,000 miles on it, and even when I had spark plugs with a gap 3 times what it was supposed to be It always started on first crank. It might be your fuel pump, but check your spark plug wires, if the insulators on the wires are cracked or cut, you could just be getting a bad or no spark, and that could cause it to be bad. Is there a miss in the engine? if it's mis-fireing, it could be from that.

Which vehicle is this on btw? if it's the camry, you could take the accord and jump start it, even if its not dead, this will give the battery a good boost, then drive the car for a good 10 miles. the alternator (if it's fine) should do it's job and make the battery full power. Although I doubt it is the battery since you replaced it not so long ago (thats about how many miles my new battery has, 5-7000 miles). I'd still try it tho and see the results, winter can wreak havok on your batteries.

[8307c4]

Yeah but at the same rate it's just like that with cars, too...
One of mine has 200k+ on it and click-vroom, the other is the same make and model but bigger engine different year with only 140k miles on it and it turns and turns then starts, at least 3-4 maybe 5 full revolutions. I've replaced more stuff on the latter than the earlier than I can think of and the problem has improved but it persists, hence I learned to accept it is just like that with some cars.

Spark plugs need to be replaced every 20,000 miles for regular plugs, 40k for double platinum hence I use 2x platinum because time is money too, it's not something I mind doing but the longer I can go between fooling with it, the better.

It's about electrode wear, doesn't matter if the piece is in place all the plugs wear over time and I just replace mine at the recommended intervals because it's cheap and that's just how I do things to keep up best I can.

Here are the relatively easy, basic and inexpensive DIY stuff I do:
Oil and filter change, air filter, plugs wires cap and rotor, pcv valve, breather cap, that for starters if this is all you do on the recommended interval will keep your car running a considerable time but at the very least do the oil every 3,000. This whole kit and kaboodle run you 1-200 bucks the first time around but once it's on schedule it's not so bad, just have to keep up with it.

On your car, from the sound of things, if it hasn't been done lately I would go ahead and splurge the $10 on a new fuel filter and do that, on top of the rest, just to be sure. If you don't have the repair manual for it, get that too, probably still under $200 for all of that but not by too much.

I also do trans fluid and filter every 10k but that is not what causes this, just something I do but that came later, I started out with the cheap and easy stuff.

[NoCO2]

I check the air filter whenever I change my oil and usually replace it every 6-9k miles (a lot of my roads are dirt roads around here so it picks a lot up). I didn't know that about the spark plugs though, I assumed that they just kept working as long as they were cleaned and gapped when needed so that might be the cause of things. From what I know about this car it never really got ANY maintenance by my grandmother when she owned it. The oil got changed, but that was about it. When I got it I flushed all fluids just to be on the safe side and I have replaced the air filter twice. Since it's a fuel injected car, most of the work is pretty straight forward thankfully, so I have done a lot of the work on it myself. I have been meaning to get a spark plug wrench for this for some time (and a torque wrench so I don't have to keep borrowing my friend's) so maybe this week or weekend when I have time I'll see if my dad has one from his old Camry or see if I can't pick one up at Autozone or something and check out prices on spark plugs as well because since you said they need to be replaced ever 20k, I can guarantee that they are about 45k overdue.

As for when it stars, it doesn't miss fire, in fact I was very confused until I looked at my tachometer when I started it that one time when it stalled at the light. It started like normal and it actually idled for moment under it's own power but then it was as if it either flooded itself or something because it just sputtered out. I'm really thinking it's the spark plugs now that I'm thinking about it...if it sounded like it flooded when it sputtered...maybe that is really what happened...no spark = flood.

[alohaspirit]

I can understand how shutting down at a light could be unsettling

everyone is laid back here (maybe too much) so i havent found it a problem,
mainly shutting down at yellow (or fresh-red) lights when i know the wait will be long

i would be apprehensive about doing it in the mainland because its cold and i wouldnt want to start a fight or anything

[dcb]

I rebuilt my starter after 130k miles, and installed a kill switch to save "wear and tear" on the ignition/cpu. Been using the same deep cycle battery for several years now (had to add water once).

It just sat in the airport lot for a week in 6 degree temps and started.

The one time it didn't start (my cue to rebuild the starter), I just hopped out and push started it. The 3 cars behind me might have been delayed a whole 30 seconds. stick shifts and small cars rule.

[ShadeTreeMech]

On shutting off the engine at the light, I second the opinion that it needs to be in a car that is healthy. Make sure too to have an oversized battery if the car is older and keep the posts and battery clean and the posts tight.

With a healthy battery, the most I'll shut down is the ventilation system, otherwise I just leave the key on so the blinker works and start it in neutral for quicker gear engagement.