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To Save Fuel at Insections, You Shut the Engine off After...

(yes, hybrid drivers have autostop...)


Interesting read (http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/communities-government/transportation/municipal-communities/articles/idling-myths.cfm?attr=8) (excessive ideling wasts fuel AND hurts the engine)

Where's the option for "as soon as I realize I need to stop at said intersection"? ;)

Where's the option for "as soon as I realize I need to stop at said intersection"? ;)

I added two options - do you want your vote transfered to one of them?

I hadn't voted yet - thanks for adding the extra options. :)

Go back to the 1st post - got a link stating ideling long wastes fuel and hurts the engine.

How much ideling is too long? That could depend on the vehicle. Diesels idel much leaner. I tend to coast to stops when possible.

I chose 30 seconds. When I drive the Prius, it takes care of itself. When I drive my wife's Corolla, I usually coast into the light. Unless she's in the car, in which case it's between 60 and infinity seconds. I figured 30 seconds was an appropriate average.

Before I get there. Once in a great while I'll keep off as I depart, too. :D

It all depends on the traffic light. I know my routes pretty good and depending on where I am in the light's cycle, I may shut down or idle. If I know the light is going to change in less than 10 seconds. I'm not going to shut down. So basically I shut down immediatly or just before the light unless I'm not shutting down. Does that make sence? :confused:

i find that in the summer, or whenever the autostop kicks in, i can put the clutch in before i get to the corner and it will shut itself off.

I wouldn't have guessed it - according to the article, "more than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine". Wow. My old rule of thumb was about a minute.

Hmm. A hot/warm engine is a lot easier to start than a cold one, re. oil viscosity and also re. how soon it catches.

As Wayne and I once discussed if you have a newer car with a smaller engine (i.e. <=1.8L) the magic cutoff time is 7 seconds. That's how much fuel and wear and tear the engine's systems experience vs. idling.

As such I turn off my ignition well before I get to a light and just Fas to it, then stay ICE-off during the red. I start back up either a few seconds before it turns green (if I can see the opposing lights) or when it turns green. I also Fas to most stop signs since I can get a good 20+ seconds of coasting to them, then start back up at the sign.

Sometimes I'll even Fas through a green light if I was already coasting before it turned green and no one is crawling up my tailpipe.

The only time you will find me with the engine turned on at a red light is if I know it's a very short time before I'll get the green light.

Heh, I only drive the FEH, so I answered for the HSD autostop; LOL, I thought it was kind of a silly question. Than I realized what you were really asking, sorry.

Our hybrid drivers may have to stop and think autostop often does the shut off while coasting to a stop.

It got people to think - good.

:D Own a Hybrid, it does all the work for me. ;)

Love that Hybrid. :flag:

Terry (tiger)

I just started playing with engine shutdown @ stops yesterday. Thanks for the article, it confirmed a lot of stuff for me. I am glad that my starter is fine, at least according to Canada. :)