On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:27:45 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:


Jon Elson wrote:

BottleBob wrote:


sittingduck wrote:
Proctologically Violated©® wrote:

There was a brief ad campaign in NYC, to the effect that letting your
car idle more than **10 secs** wastes gas. Iow, the "cost" of
restarting your car is equivalent to only about 10
secs worth of gas.
NYC has pretty strict idling laws, which, iirc, limit the legal idling
to 3 minutes. I guess that could be whittled down to 30 sec!

One of my cars' engine shuts off instead of idling. It will kick back
on whenever it is needed. It's pretty slick.

PV & SD:

Well that's interesting. Just playing devils advocate here, but how
much gas would you have to save to pay for the labor & parts on a
possible early starter motor and/or flywheel ring gear change out?
I suppose the smaller the engine the less ring gear wear, but even
small engines would have small starter motors.


My Honda Civic has a "Brand New" starter motor, ie. it has never been
used in the life of the car. The integrated assist motor is used to
start the engine directly, as it is part of the flywheel. It is silent
and just about instantaneous. The 150 V battery doesn't have to strain
to crank the engine, either.

The 12 V cranking motor is only used if it is so cold the hybrid battery
would be harmed by cranking the engine (never gets that cold in MO) or
if you need to jump-start the car after killing both batteries. It is
also a backup if there is a major malfunction in the hybrid drive system.

The Honda Civic Hybrid, once warmed up, generally shuts the engine off
while coasting to a stop at about 9 MPH. If you confuse it by pulsing
the brakes, it will shut off after idling for 5 seconds. It also cuts
off fuel flow and closes all engine valves to allow a minimum-drag coast
anytime you take your foot completely off the gas pedal. It coasts
remarkably well in that mode.

I think you mean "opens all engine valves", as closing them would
provide maximum compression braking effect.

No, closing the valves is correct. The cyl compresses the air, which
then pushes the piston back down like a spring. VERY efficient.