Team-BHP - Switching off the engine at traffic lights

Calculations show that each vehicle owner in the city can save over Rs 3,100 annually just by ensuring that his or her car is switched off at every red light that lasts for more than 14 seconds - - which would hold for, perhaps, all signals.

[source: Cars idling at crossings burn Rs 1,000cr a year in Delhi-Pollution-Earth-The Times of India ]

But the trouble is - there is a sticker on my dash board which says idle for 1 minute before switching on and before switching off. Thats about 120 seconds.

So what do the rest of you do?

I don't switch the car off. Simple as that. It is advised to keep the car running for a min before switching off the engine so the turbo can switch off on its own.
My brother does it on petrol cars however.

BTW, shouldn't this be in the technical section of the forum?

Rough square, why have you named this thread as Turbo charged engines and city driving ?
Wrong name and wrong section.

All you are doing is discussing saving gas by switching off the engine at signals and long haults but where does the "City driving in a Turbocharged car" come into this discussion. You are not even discussing a t/c-ed car. Moreover neither does the link.

First, decide on what you want to discuss and then name your thread aptly. The name of this thread and its contents are totally different.

Mods could you kindly change the misleading thread name into a more appropriate one or merge it into where this topic has already been discussed. Also could you move it into the appropriate section please. Thanks

Have you calculated the toll on the battery (and the resultant cost of a new one) versus the saving on fuel costs by these frequent starts and stops (of the engine)?

Restarting a car many times has little impact on engine components such as the battery and the starter motor. The wear on parts that restarting the engine causes adds to the cost of driving i.e. money, which you are likely recover several times over in fuel savings.

Also to add, excessive Idling in todays modern engine is not an effective way of warming up the engine, as the vehicle is made up of many moving parts.

To properly warm the vehicle’s transmission, tires, suspension, steering and wheel bearings, you need to slowly drive-off. Driving a vehicle cuts warm-up times in half.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrag (Post 944843)

Have you calculated the toll on the battery (and the resultant cost of a new one) versus the saving on fuel costs by these frequent starts and stops (of the engine)?

dadu, I hear what you're saying regarding warming the engine up but unless I see some numbers, I find this hard to believe - that frequent starts have little impact on the battery and the starter motor.

Plus, I'd like to see some numbers around FE where one does not switch off at all versus the switch-off-at-every-signal types.

Some of the signals in Bangalore I have seen waiting for even more than 5 minutes. So, yes switching off will certainly help in those traffic jams.
I do to both my 2 wheeler and 4 wheeler (Petrol).
On the other side, I have also seen some cars struggling to come up after he switched on and add to the traffic chaos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjothi (Post 944920)

Some of the signals in Bangalore I have seen waiting for even more than 5 minutes. So, yes switching off will certainly help in those traffic jams.

Yes. If the signal is more than 60 secs, I will switch off the car/bike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjothi (Post 944920)

On the other side, I have also seen some cars struggling to come up after he switched on and add to the traffic chaos.

Especially cars from TATA stable, Amby, Fiat. :D

Earlier it was 60 secs, dropped to 45 secs. Now the suggested time is 15 secs. If you have to wait for more than 15secs, then switch off - this is as per the latest ad I heard on radio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by diabloo (Post 945025)

Earlier it was 60 secs, dropped to 45 secs. Now the suggested time is 15 secs. If you have to wait for more than 15secs, then switch off - this is as per the latest ad I heard on radio.

For 15 secs, switching off will be more strainful to the engine. Do not do it. I feel 45 secs may be OK. I'am not sure from where the radio has got this informationa and not sure what data is available with them.

A long halt at the red signal say for more than two minutes should prompt us to switch off the engine- otherwise not under any circumstances. This is to save the engine, self starter, battery and all allied components and not to save diesel or petrol.

one thing to remember is traffic doesn't come to stand still at most of the signals (except the ones that are longer than 120 seconds) instead the traffic creeps forward in an extremely irritating manner. and if you switch your car off and the guy behind you finds that the traffic in front of you has moved a millimeter, he is going to honk the heck out of you.

frequent start/stop (unless 120seconds longer) is not worth it. the parts cost lot more than fuel.

I have noticed that when I get disgusted with the long wait and finally decide to switch off my engine the signal immediately turns green. I use this strategy very often to turn a long red signal into green. It really works. This magic also works equally well to clear up a general jam. Try it to believe me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sudipto-S-Team (Post 945058)

Good one. I do that too. Though I consider it as "hedging" (win-win situation so to say)

Whatever you do, your engine is already taking a toll by STOP-and-GO style of driving that you have to encouter everyday + toll on brakes.

STOP-and-GO really kills your engine.

Thats why, good cars have "Highway Miles"

Indian cars have worst "city miles"!