Talking to a friend about stop-start, their opinion was that it claps out the starter motor quicker than usual.

Any thoughts or experiences on this?

Talking to a friend about stop-start, their opinion was that it claps out the starter motor quicker than usual.

Any thoughts or experiences on this?

 

Does your friend have any automotive engineering experience or statistics to back this opinion up?

 

As I said in another post, do you not think that if stop/start systems led to premature failure of starter motors we'd know about it by now?  They've been around for several years, and as far as I'm aware there has been no such thing.  The biggest "issue" with them, and it's not really a big thing, is that they don't always stop/start because of the various conditions that have to be met for the system to activate, and they don't save quite as much fuel as the manufacturers say they do.  What they do, however, is reduce the official Co2 figure of the car, which often takes them down by a tax band (company car tax, if not road tax).

They fit uprated starter motors to cope with this.

I've also heard that driving your car wears the tyres out and uses fuel.

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I've also heard that driving your car wears the tyres out and uses fuel.

 

Nooooooooooo!  Tell me that's not true, please... 

And apparently using your brakes wears the pads out. I think I've just convinced myself to leave the new car in the garage and get the bus to work. This driving lark sounds like it could get expensive.

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Indeed.  But catching a bus sounds a bit extreme to me...

Can't remember who but there's someone on here who doesn't use their handbrake because it stretches the cable, just leaves it in gear.....

I can imagine in the very early days of stop-start they were fitted to vehicles with standard starter motors, which would be an issue, but I'm sure that they're robust enough these days. I had some concerns about the turbo (I wasn't sure that it would be a good idea to let it shut down right after some hard driving) which I haven't completely resolved. The handbook definitely says that you should let the engine run for a little while before shutting down after hard driving (or words to that effect), but this doesn't seem to be one of the conditions that disables the SS system. My own preference is to turn SS off in these circumstances and pootle the last couple of miles home gently to allow the turbo to cool before arrival.

 

Regarding braking wearing out the pads, it's quite possible to drive with minimal use of brakes. Fuel and tyres, yes, they will need replacing, but if you view the brakes as being primarily an emergency feature, then your pads should last the life of the vehicle.  :no:

I as yet have not replaced a starter motor on a stop start vehicle. Have been working on vag car's for 22 and a half years. I even remember the stop start mk2 polo...

I as yet have not replaced a starter motor on a stop start vehicle. Have been working on vag car's for 22 and a half years. I even remember the stop start mk2 polo...

That's all I needed to know thanks - I have no comment regarding some of the other comments above!!

That could be why they have such long slip roads off to motorway services, to let the nutters doing 6000 rpm give the engine chance to cool.... You don't get cooling systems that stop on the ignition key nowadays,as with all critical systems, the computers decide what's best. These little issues don't bother me, that's what a warranty is for. You will probably only hear the water cooling fan in the hieght of summer. So until then all should be calm under the bonnet, unless you see a stream of water or oil flowing past your feet....... Prob the air con getting rid of the sweat from your sweaty body after whipping another golf......

That could be why they have such long slip roads off to motorway services, to let the nutters doing 6000 rpm give the engine chance to cool....

....that's what a warranty is for.

 

6000rpm on the motorway really would be going some! Thing about relying on the warranty is, if you intend to keep the car until it's 10 years old with 150k miles on the clock then the warranty is actually an unrelated subject to long term reliability.

 

You're not the first person to tell me that the cooling system keeps pumping, and indeed I have heard it on occasion, but why then does the manual tell you to keep the engine running for a minute when you pull up under certain circumstances?

I've also heard that driving your car wears the tyres out.

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Yep, just got to 7k and the wear bands on my fronts are well wearing on mine ! 

...... why then does the manual tell you to keep the engine running for a minute when you pull up under certain circumstances?

One reason is to do with the fast spinning turbo. If you cut the engine while it's still spinning fast, you can cause it to 'stall'. This, and the adverse heat affects if giving a car a good thrashing, are why many performance tuners fit ignition timers to keep an engine running for 30 seconds etc after ignition has been switched off.

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OP stop worring about your car and enjoy driving it, some people you speak to are always gonna want to poo poo it, I generally take this as a sign that I've talked too much about the car to them agree politely and change the subject. 

 

Mind you mentally I've crossed them off my Christmas card list and wished the pneumonic plague upon them and their offspring or just said in a Mrs Brown stylie said "that's nice"

 

Regards

T

Off track, I remember in America they had to put in the handbook on a motorhome that putting it in cruise control, did not allow you to to the kitchen to boil the kettle after someone did, crashed,sued the manufacturer and WON. Where does it stop with all the do's and dont's. DONT ANSWER THAT.

You mean like the labels on bags of peanuts saying "Warning, may contain peanuts!"

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Off track, I remember in America they had to put in the handbook on a motorhome that putting it in cruise control, did not allow you to to the kitchen to boil the kettle after someone did, crashed,sued the manufacturer and WON. Where does it stop with all the do's and dont's. DONT ANSWER THAT.

Damn, that's why I specced front assist, lane assist, park assist and adaptive cruise. Along with the auto wipers, light assist, DSG and Kessy I thought I wouldn't have to do anything.

Do you mean I can't set a destination in the Sat Nav and then have a kip on the back seat?

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Off track, I remember in America they had to put in the handbook on a motorhome that putting it in cruise control, did not allow you to to the kitchen to boil the kettle after someone did, crashed,sued the manufacturer and WON. Where does it stop with all the do's and dont's. DONT ANSWER THAT.

 

Psst - that's apparently not true

 

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp

http://www.jerebeasleyreport.com/2008/01/the-lawsuit-myth-put-out-by-the-tort-reformers-must-be-exposed/

Do you mean I can't set a destination in the Sat Nav and then have a kip on the back seat?

 

Sure you can... just get SWMBO to follow the directions while she drives   .

Yeh, but it seemed to get a few peoples attention to make even sillier comments. Haha

Sure you can... just get SWMBO to follow the directions while she drives .

Do you think I would even consider letting her drive? She's only on the insurance because it makes it cheaper LOL

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