Can't break 40MPG...

[supmet]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Please consider turning off your engine if you will be stopped for more than 7 seconds. That is the break even time for the wear and tear and fuel usage of a warm start.

7 seconds is the break even point for gas consumption. What is the break even for wear on the starter and other components, or a "total cost" break even point. I've had toyota starters go bad before 100k miles with 5-6 starts a day max. Also, until you reach peak operating temperatures, turning your engine off and letting it cool down, and forcing it to reheat will increase engine wear, and reduce mileage.

I'd say its closer to 12-13 seconds to break even, and then you should only do it if you KNOW your gonna be 20 seconds or more(when you just roll up to a light changing) A few 2-3 second stops that you thought were gonna be longer will negate everything your doing, and all you're left with is a burnt out starter.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by supmet

7 seconds is the break even point for gas consumption. What is the break even for wear on the starter and other components, or a "total cost" break even point. I've had toyota starters go bad before 100k miles with 5-6 starts a day max. Also, until you reach peak operating temperatures, turning your engine off and letting it cool down, and forcing it to reheat will increase engine wear, and reduce mileage.

I'd say its closer to 12-13 seconds to break even, and then you should only do it if you KNOW your gonna be 20 seconds or more(when you just roll up to a light changing) A few 2-3 second stops that you thought were gonna be longer will negate everything your doing, and all you're left with is a burnt out starter.

Sumpet, please forgive me if I sound short here but I tire of explaining this over and over again. To your credit many of the rehashes of this subject were lost in the hack.

I say again, the break even time for the wear and tear and fuel usage of a warm start, not just the fuel usage, is 7 seconds.

We have all seen starters go bad before their time, just like any other electromechanical device, but how many times you start your car is not linear to how quickly the starter wears. For example I use my starter an average of 12 times each day and I just hit 42k miles. There are many other variables that come into play. If my starter were weak this would have already killed it off.

An extra 2 MPG is worth roughly $0.9/gallon with gasoline at $2.25. If a replacement starter costs $120 (the average price of every aftermarket starter for our cars offered by the O'Reilly/Kragen group) the break-even point is just 1,333 gallons fueled, or 2-2.5 years for the average American driver. What's more is that the aftermarket starters usually come with a lifetime warranty.

I'm at 2 years and 2 months of ownership on the OEM starter.

Owners with the manual transmission get even more benefit from turning off the engine as they can do it at any time, not just when stopped. This opens up the world of FASing to them (please see the stickied FE thread in this forum for more on that).