I agree with Nathan. In the long run, whether S/S or non-S/S, laws of physics still applies. There is definitely stress induced to the system during the start-stop/power cycles.
Besides, in the real economy, the so called "designed for" is only valid within the warranty period. It's ugly, but it's the truth.
I guess if you are the type of person that changes cars once the warranty is over, it doesn't really matter. But if you do intend to keep cars longer than that, then I would take all these into consideration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nathan35
Sure, S/S cars are designed for it, but I wonder whether, on the long run, increasing the number of engine starts by let's say a factor of 5 or 10 over the engine's lifietime has really no effect on the wear and meterial fatigue, due to vibrations, pressure peaks etc. I have some mechanical engineering colleagues who systematically switch the thing off for that reason.
Another story is the real economy you make with the system. In ideal conditions, when you wait at every traffic light 5 minutes, it sure makes sense. But I noted that in normal city traffic, most of the S/S cycles last no more than 10s, so restarting the engine 10 times to spare in total about 1 minute of its running at minimum rpm seems ridiculous.
|