When stopping at a light....

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by bentjazz

Is it true that when you stop at a light and shift into neutral, you save gas? I read this somewhere, and have been doing it. Just curious to get some feedback on this from those in the know. Thanks....

No and its not true when you take your foot off the gas while moving the FI system shuts off the flow of gas to the engine either. The engine idles when you do that and if the flow of gas was cut off it couldnt.

The thing on the Prius that shuts the engine off at a light and turns it back on again when you press the gas pedal doesnt save any gas either because it takes extra gas to start the engine.

What you CAN do is make a lot of money inventing something in your head that does that and people will believe it.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

No and its not true when you take your foot off the gas while moving the FI system shuts off the flow of gas to the engine either. The engine idles when you do that and if the flow of gas was cut off it couldnt.

The thing on the Prius that shuts the engine off at a light and turns it back on again when you press the gas pedal doesnt save any gas either because it takes extra gas to start the engine.

What you CAN do is make a lot of money inventing something in your head that does that and people will believe it.

.....isn't there some old saying about the funniest thing (in this case your last sentence) being the truth?

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

No and its not true when you take your foot off the gas while moving the FI system shuts off the flow of gas to the engine either. The engine idles when you do that and if the flow of gas was cut off it couldnt.

The thing on the Prius that shuts the engine off at a light and turns it back on again when you press the gas pedal doesnt save any gas either because it takes extra gas to start the engine.

What you CAN do is make a lot of money inventing something in your head that does that and people will believe it.

One thing that I read long before this post (but forgot to include on my previous reply) is that either on some old thread here or one on a hypermiling site, the consensus was that if the engine is able to be off for more than 30 seconds at a light one is saving gas because an engine restarting uses the level of gas that 30 seconds of idling does.

[Eli Lilly]

Originally Posted by bronsin

No and its not true when you take your foot off the gas while moving the FI system shuts off the flow of gas to the engine either. The engine idles when you do that and if the flow of gas was cut off it couldnt.

Sure it does, as do nearly all modern vehicles. It obviously doesn't do it in a way that impacts driveability, but in a closed-throttle condition the injectors are not triggered until the RPMs drop below a certain value.

-E

[Deathegg]

Originally Posted by bronsin

The thing on the Prius that shuts the engine off at a light and turns it back on again when you press the gas pedal doesnt save any gas either because it takes extra gas to start the engine.

What you CAN do is make a lot of money inventing something in your head that does that and people will believe it.

It takes very little fuel to restart a hot engine. So if you're sitting at a light longer than say 60 seconds, it does pay in the long run to shut off the engine. The European driving cycles they use to measure fuel economy take stop/start into consideration. It's a proven fuel saver.

Not sure what your last sentence means..... :/

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Deathegg

It takes very little fuel to restart a hot engine. So if you're sitting at a light longer than say 60 seconds, it does pay in the long run to shut off the engine. The European driving cycles they use to measure fuel economy take stop/start into consideration. It's a proven fuel saver.

Not sure what your last sentence means..... :/

Agreed. And 30 seconds, 60 seconds -- doesn't matter which it is as either is a short enough period of time to make turning the engine off at most lights worth it.

Last sentence = a 'Bronsinism' . Bronsin thinks that there are many features/items on new cars (including and possibly especially economy cars) that are unnecessary and that the manufacturers just put them on there for profit reasons (and the inclusion of these items pisses Bronsin off). Others of us agree with him, we just don't 'put as many items on that list' as Bronsin does. Bronsin thinks that the off at stop/on at start function mentioned falls into that category. I'm sure Bronsin will correct me if I'm wrong .

[12 yaris]

I do not stop...

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by 12 yaris

I do not stop...

l Good point that the rest of us missed (the OP didn't specify a red light)......or are you letting us know just how crazy you are behind the wheel .

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Agreed. And 30 seconds, 60 seconds -- doesn't matter which it is as either is a short enough period of time to make turning the engine off at most lights worth it.

Last sentence = a 'Bronsinism' . Bronsin thinks that there are many features/items on new cars (including and possibly especially economy cars) that are unnecessary and that the manufacturers just put them on there for profit reasons (and the inclusion of these items pisses Bronsin off). Others of us agree with him, we just don't 'put as many items on that list' as Bronsin does. Bronsin thinks that the off at stop/on at start function mentioned falls into that category. I'm sure Bronsin will correct me if I'm wrong .

Agreed. Some people always think they are smarter than the hundreds of college-educated engineers Toyota hired to design this vehicle...

Whether it is 30 seconds or 60 worth of fuel to restart, traffic lights generally stay red for several minutes so the savings is definitely there.

And considering most manufacturers are incorporating this feature in their new vehicles, I doubt it's some huge conspiracy to increase profit (which would go to the oil companies so why would automobile builder want it?).