Driving in heavy traffic

[3star2nr]

So was siting waiting at a train line so I shut my engine off. After about 20 mins or so I fired it up the IATs had jumped to over 40 degrees above ambient. With the motor off, then I remembered back in my BMW days turning the engine off during traffic was actually bad for the car.

Reason being, the parts and engine oil are hot so if you stop the motor, you're shutting off the fans and not allowing the oil to circulate through the oil coolers.

Back in my turbo days this could cause the oil to crystallize and destroy the tubos cartridge. And in the case of BMWs it can actually crack the heads or cause premature head gasket failures.

I think the proper thing to do is if you come to a stop let the car idle for at least 3 mins to bring the oil temps stable. Then you can shut the engine off.

To deal with the heat build up I'm thinking to pop the hood to vent the heat if its safe to do so. Or on the highway crank the A/C or heater up prior to shutting off the engine, this should trigger the secondary fan to come on or in the case of the heater lets the coolant flow more and dissipate some more heat into the cabin.

I know these cars have a built in anti long idle subroutine so if u let it idle over 15 mins it will automatically shut the engine off unless you dismiss the message.

Anyway what are your thoughts on this... I added a poll to get. Everyone's input

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[MikeHTally]

Guess I'm lucky; I seldom, if ever, encounter traffic delays that severe. I suspect if it looked like I'd be waiting more than ten minutes (and couldn't turn around for another route), I'd shut it off. Need for A/C might have a bearing on shutting it down.

 

[Linkster1666]

I had a 2004 F-250 Super Dudy with the big V10. In 2011, it cost 10 dollars to start it so, NO.

 

[3star2nr]

I had a 2004 F-250 Super Dudy with the big V10. In 2011, it cost 10 dollars to start it so, NO.

Lmao

 

[Hack]

So was siting waiting at a train line so I shut my engine off. After about 20 mins or so I fired it up the IATs had jumped to over 40 degrees above ambient. With the motor off, then I remembered back in my BMW days turning the engine off during traffic was actually bad for the car.

Reason being, the parts and engine oil are hot so if you stop the motor, you're shutting off the fans and not allowing the oil to circulate through the oil coolers.

Back in my turbo days this could cause the oil to crystallize and destroy the tubos cartridge. And in the case of BMWs it can actually crack the heads or cause premature head gasket failures.

I think the proper thing to do is if you come to a stop let the car idle for at least 3 mins to bring the oil temps stable. Then you can shut the engine off.

To deal with the heat build up I'm thinking to pop the hood to vent the heat if its safe to do so. Or on the highway crank the A/C or heater up prior to shutting off the engine, this should trigger the secondary fan to come on or in the case of the heater lets the coolant flow more and dissipate some more heat into the cabin.

I know these cars have a built in anti long idle subroutine so if u let it idle over 15 mins it will automatically shut the engine off unless you dismiss the message.

Anyway what are your thoughts on this... I added a poll to get. Everyone's input

.

It would suck to own a car that is so fragile that you can't shut off the engine. AFAIK Fords don't have any issues with that. Yes, in theory if I'm going to be sitting for a long time I would shut off the engine. However that never happens to me in my daily commute. There's some stop and go on my way home most days, but the stops are brief. It's more of a slow crawl than actually stopping for any length of time.

 

[kent0464]

So was siting waiting at a train line so I shut my engine off. After about 20 mins or so I fired it up the IATs had jumped to over 40 degrees above ambient. With the motor off, then I remembered back in my BMW days turning the engine off during traffic was actually bad for the car.

Reason being, the parts and engine oil are hot so if you stop the motor, you're shutting off the fans and not allowing the oil to circulate through the oil coolers.

Back in my turbo days this could cause the oil to crystallize and destroy the tubos cartridge. And in the case of BMWs it can actually crack the heads or cause premature head gasket failures.

I think the proper thing to do is if you come to a stop let the car idle for at least 3 mins to bring the oil temps stable. Then you can shut the engine off.

To deal with the heat build up I'm thinking to pop the hood to vent the heat if its safe to do so. Or on the highway crank the A/C or heater up prior to shutting off the engine, this should trigger the secondary fan to come on or in the case of the heater lets the coolant flow more and dissipate some more heat into the cabin.

I know these cars have a built in anti long idle subroutine so if u let it idle over 15 mins it will automatically shut the engine off unless you dismiss the message.

Anyway what are your thoughts on this... I added a poll to get. Everyone's input

.

With the Auto start/stop technology built in to the cars/trucks with the A10, I don’t think any of your concerns are valid for “normal” drivers.....having said that, those of us that drive like every light and corner is part of a race course, especially those that use FI may need to consider heat soak in those conditions.........I may or may not turn the motor off, it depends if I want the heat/AC to stay on or maybe I just want music, but either way when it comes time to move again I let the cars temps get into the Normal range before going bonkers.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I can’t stand that auto start/stop BS - call it technology or call it wear/tear on the starter, it’s annoying as F*. It’s the most ridiculous addition to any new vehicle, period. The person who invented it should have an auto start/stop drill attached to the side of their head...

 

[Bikeman315]

The only reason i can see for shutting off an engine in a modern day car is if you see the temps going up. This is for heavy bumper to bumper traffic that is at least at a slow crawl. Maybe, if you were sitting for a very long period of time, I would consider shutting off the engine to save gas. Other than that, let it run.

 

[3star2nr]

It would suck to own a car that is so fragile that you can't shut off the engine. AFAIK Fords don't have any issues with that. Yes, in theory if I'm going to be sitting for a long time I would shut off the engine. However that never happens to me in my daily commute. There's some stop and go on my way home most days, but the stops are brief. It's more of a slow crawl than actually stopping for any length of time.

It would suck to own a car that is so fragile that you can't shut off the engine. AFAIK Fords don't have any issues with that. Yes, in theory if I'm going to be sitting for a long time I would shut off the engine. However that never happens to me in my daily commute. There's some stop and go on my way home most days, but the stops are brief. It's more of a slow crawl than actually stopping for any length of time.

BMW's will crack heads and decks like it's no ones business if you don't let them cool properly that's one of the biggest issues they have... Not sure if they solved that on the new cars...

Needless to say I'll never own one... After E34, E30 their cars just became horrible... The E46 M3 is regarded as the best car from BMW but in reality it has a ton of problems too...

 

[Hack]

BMW's will crack heads and decks like it's no ones business if you don't let them cool properly that's one of the biggest issues they have... Not sure if they solved that on the new cars...

Needless to say I'll never own one... After E34, E30 and the E46 their cars just became horrible... And they weren't all that great prior to that...

The interiors are really nice, but that sure doesn't make up for engine problems.

 

[Ebm]

Leave it running unless it's prolonged(30 minutes plus). Of course it's all a guessing game of how long you will be sitting there.

All modern day cars should be able to survive a heatwave(100 degree temps with humidity) in bumper to bumper traffic. Naturally aspirated cars have been fine to do this with for awhile. With turbocharged vehicles, this is something relatively recent(within the last 20 years) as turbos used to be cooled with just oil. That oil used to coke if the car was run hard and put up right away. That's why people would put turbo timers on their car, aftermarket. More recently though, turbos are oil and water cooled so driving a turbo car hard and then turning it off right away isn't as harmful.

 

[EFI]

I think the proper thing to do is if you come to a stop let the car idle for at least 3 mins to bring the oil temps stable. Then you can shut the engine off.

To deal with the heat build up I'm thinking to pop the hood to vent the heat if its safe to do so. Or on the highway crank the A/C or heater up prior to shutting off the engine, this should trigger the secondary fan to come on or in the case of the heater lets the coolant flow more and dissipate some more heat into the cabin.

You are WAYYYY over thinking this...there's absolutely no issue with just driving the car, and shutting off whenever you need to. Oil temps are already pretty stable if you're just putting around as the oil is tied in with the coolant directly. You don't need to pop the hood off either after parking, oil temp is not going to skyrocket after you park it (unlike IATs).

Many of us have done much much much more to a car and have had no issues. I've taken my engine oil to the high 280s with no issues, and I park it right after.

Drive the car, enjoy it and don't worry about these things.

 

[3star2nr]

The interiors are really nice, but that sure doesn't make up for engine problems.

ytoo...yeah I think its because they push the limits of engineering and manufacturing technology, and sometimes the design isn't fully fleshed out or the manufacturing technology hasn't evolved yet... Take something like variable valve timing everyone was making a big deal when Honda introduced that in the late 90s... BMW was using that technology for years with vanos...

I do appreciate that ford is slow to adopt new tech because when they finally do 7/10 times it's solid... They do have goof ups like the split spark plugs on the 3V motors and I'm Leary about there New composite oil pans... I don't know how thats gonna flesh out in,the long run

 

[3star2nr]

Leave it running unless it's prolonged(30 minutes plus). Of course it's all a guessing game of how long you will be sitting there.

All modern day cars should be able to survive a heatwave(100 degree temps with humidity) in bumper to bumper traffic. Naturally aspirated cars have been fine to do this with for awhile. With turbocharged vehicles, this is something relatively recent(within the last 20 years) as turbos used to be cooled with just oil. That oil used to coke if the car was run hard and put up right away. That's why people would put turbo timers on their car, aftermarket. More recently though, turbos are oil and water cooled so driving a turbo car hard and then turning it off right away isn't as harmful.

Its still, a bad habit to do that with a turbo car. You will destroy your cartridge doing that. Especially if you're running ball bearing turbos...

 

[kent0464]

I can’t stand that auto start/stop BS - call it technology or call it wear/tear on the starter, it’s annoying as F*. It’s the most ridiculous addition to any new vehicle, period. The person who invented it should have an auto start/stop drill attached to the side of their head...

My thoughts exactly, The first time it happened with my 3.5 F150 I thought something was wrong, dealer said its normal, new tech......lol! On a twin turbo motor it's just effing stupid. I immediately disabled that feature permanently.

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