[cianpars]

Ive been wondering if this is really a good idea or not. Clearly, it cant do the battery or starter motor a lot of good, even if they are heavy duty.

What ive been thinking about more is how much this might affect carbon build up on the back of the inlet valves.

Up to recently ive had it switched on most of the time, but for the little fuel saved, i do wonder whether to switch it off a bit more often.

 

[Hywel S Wales]

Ian. You really need to get out more !!

 

[jackkook]

I hate the stop start, and always switch it off when I remember.

 

[TheInstructor]

The reason stop/start technology was introduced by the motor industry and the way it was sold to the public are 2 Very, Very different things altogether.
The reason it was introduced is that on the Euro MPG testing phase, the car has to simulate driving around the town. The test makes the manufacturers stop the car, as in traffic, for a set amount of time and then drive on. As is taught on the driving test, in accordance with Eco driving, you turn the engine off to save fuel. The manufaturers cottoned on to this but the powers that be, wouldn't let them turn the engine off, so STOP/START was introduced. The battery/starter motor/engine components are all the same as on older cars. So the damage it does stopping and starting the engine is very, very real.
Don't get me wrong, it does save fuel but my Bmax doesn't have it (diesel) and I am glad.

 

[pegleg]

Very well explained Mr Instructor.I have mentioned this very same subject on this forum in the past.
What is also worthyof note is that a starter motor can only crank an engineat around 200/300 rpm and therefore EMS has toenrich the mixture to reach a normal idle RPM of around 800 RPM every time it's used..
Until such time as a proper starter fitted directly onto the end of the crank that will spin the engine up to normal idle speed, I consider the stop/start of today somewhat of a useless antiquated Heath Robinson affair.

 

[cianpars]

All interesting points, but what about carbon build up on the back of the inlet valves on direct injection engines?

As I understand it, this is why Ford can run an engine for 100k or more on the test bed, but constant stopping and starting causescarbon build up. Ive seen some videos showing this using a camera inserted behind the valves and its not a pretty sight.

Ive also considered fuel addatives, but there seems to be little evidencr to support the effectiveness of any of them.