I was taught to turn everything off. Additionally my father taught me that you tell the valet to not move the seat, change the station on the radio or squeal the tires when parking. I have the same habits.

I find it very annoying after having the car serviced that the windows are all down and when I start the car the radio is on full blast to the latest rap station. Grease or oil on the steering wheel sort of tops it off.

I guess I'm weird too because I do the same thing. When I pull into the subdivision, I turn off the radio, air and open all the windows. Our cars are parked in the garage so I have no issues leaving windows open with stuff in the car.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Aren't you the guy who gets upset when cupboard doors are left open or lights left on in the house? This sounds like more of that.

Those are pet peeves of mine. More so the lights than the cupboard doors. To me, leaving lights on when there's no use for it is a waste of money. Same with fans. Wife does it all the time. "Oh, I forgot..." Electricity bill over the summer is typically $160 or so. That's high to me. With electricity being a variable expense, I don't want to have a higher bill just for the sake of having a higher bill.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I find it very annoying after having the car serviced that the windows are all down and when I start the car the radio is on full blast to the latest rap station. Grease or oil on the steering wheel sort of tops it off.

To me, that's a lack of respect for the property of others.

You're telling me you can't go 30 seconds without listening to your shitty music while you move the car to/from the parking lot to the bay?

It's also a huge reason why I service my vehicles myself. I don't care if 2 oil changes were paid for up front with the price of the vehicle. I'll do the shit myself and save myself the time of driving there, waiting, driving back and not having to listen to you trying to upsell me on something I don't need nor want.

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
Or; Start up and IMMEDIATELY shift into "D" and pull away. NO warmup whatsoever. My Wifes habit that kills me.

Warm up at start up, idle down at shut down.

when I pull in, I usually don't shut the engine off right away, which is the reason I turn everything down, I don't need it as high as I did while driving.

Also I control the temps, not some auto setting. It doesn't make sense to me to have the AC running at a low setting. I'd rather have it off most of the time and occasionally on high, than have the compressor going all the time, but only cooling a little.


"Today's AC's are much more efficient" That there's bullshit.
Okay , maybe more than in the 60's but in both my Subaru and my Nissan, the difference in engine response is very noticeable. So much so that I will shut them off at times when highway merging and the like. The Subi was SO noticeable, I used to joke that the button was for the turbo charger. Hit the button to kill the AC she took off!

Back many years ago when I ran EMS we had a few ambulances that would blow the AC relay (under the hood and for the cab AC, not the patient compartment AC) if you started the rig with the AC blowing high. Everyone quickly learned to shut the AC off before starting the rig to prevent this.

The relays were about $20 each and the supervisors wouldn't give you a new one if you were a repeat offender. To this day this has carried over for me. I still make sure the AC is off before I start a vehicle as I don't want to go through a day without AC.

Turning the AC off and running the blower will dry out your evaporator eliminating the mildew or stinky sock smell. Knowing this, I still rarely do.

Pretty sure when the engine is cranking, all accessories are disingaged, including the AC compressor. Your modern alternator will keep up with factory electrical demands just fine at idle, no need to kill everything prior to shutdown for a few more milli amps into the batt. For next startup.

In my diesel, I'll give the engine about a minute for Temps to normalize before shutdown (turbo bearings).

Radio definitely gets lowered so I don't get caught off guard by obnoxious noise when I fire the engine up.

I turn it all off once I park (definitely the A/C, sometimes I let the music play), and let the car idle for close to a minute before cutting the engine off. I've done this since I was 16 based on instructions from my father. I've attempted to "teach" the wife this same way of thinking - I think she did it for a week then hasn't done it since. Every time I crank up her car the A/C and radio are always on.

I leave everything on. I also use remote start (key fob or iPhone app) to start my truck while walking across the parking lot. Having the AC blow for a few seconds before I get in makes a big difference in our heat.

Michael

The only thing I turn off is the car. That’s all there is to it.

Turn everything off or down as I start to park. Just how I do it.

quote:

Originally posted by Copefree:
The only thing I turn off is the car. That’s all there is to it.

+1

You accomplish nothing by turning everything off, except shortening the life of your switches. So in essence, your anal-ness about turning everything off is shortening the life of your car.

For the record, I leave my radio on, and I actually turn my A.C. To full blast, full cold, max A.C. When I park it. Why? Because it's 125 degrees inside or hotter the next time I start it and I want the a.c. running full blast as soon as it starts.

If I’m in the car and it’s summer the AC is on...I refuse to turn it off ever. I have it on full blast at all times especially when the convertible top is down. I can even turn it on from my phone from inside the house. You sir are a crazy person. I ever never had a car more than 3 years so if doing this is bad for the car I could give a turkey.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
I have always shut everything down and wait a few seconds. I want to give the alternator that final chance to pump a few micro-amps into the battery, and I want the starter and engine to crank with as little load on them as possible.

Huh?

I have always turned the accessories off as I approached home. On a long trip, I'll start turning things off a few miles from home. The last mile is to listen to the car.
Same on start-up; let the car warm-up so the A/C comes on cold (here in Fl).

well I turn everything off. It just makes sense that when turning it ack on you are draining/pushing the battery. Thats just me...

I've never met anyone that would turn off their accessories before shutting the car off. The ignition turns all of those things off. No need to do a shutdown procedure. You won't use up your radio fluid if you leave the knob on over night.

Your concerns may be, in part, born of an age when the a/c wasn't disengaged on starting and batteries/charging systems struggled to start with a heavy load. IMHO, and experience, that's not been true for over two decades. So yes - I do exactly what your wife does and don't believe it to be an issue.

If anybody is having difficulty starting because something is still turned on, that's your battery screaming "replace me before I die at 11:30 in a dark parking lot", not some sign you need to turn off your radio.

The advice about "clearing out" a/c, especially being sure it is on fresh air and not recirc setting is valuable, but only if you are parking the car in storage or for weeks, not hours or a few days.

This whole idling before shutting off thing is bassackwards too. The only time that makes any sense is if you have some massive intercooler turbo system from the 80's that will coke up the oil due to extreme temps if shut down immediately. Otherwise you are probably experiencing a rise in coolant/oil temps while sitting still idling for 1-23.67 minutes which is just harder on your car. I'm also discounting that you don't live on a racetrack and have come blasting into your garage at maximum oil and brake temps. If that's true, I would like to come visit you please.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:

...


"Today's AC's are much more efficient" That there's bullshit.
Okay , maybe more than in the 60's but in both my Subaru and my Nissan, the difference in engine response is very noticeable. So much so that I will shut them off at times when highway merging and the like. The Subi was SO noticeable, I used to joke that the button was for the turbo charger. Hit the button to kill the AC she took off!

Back in the early 80s VW made a Dasher and it had an optional diesel engine. The diesel version was absolutely gutless, the car's power-to-weight ratio was laughable. The power drop with the A/C on was so noticeable we called them a Dasher Diesel with air brakes.

Having started with 60s and 70s carbureted cars I got in the habit of turning off A/C before killing the engine because some of those vehicle didn't idle well on cold starts with A/C on. It's not a problem with modern fuel injected vehicles but I still default to turning A/C off more often than not. Turning the radio down is common sense, getting blasted by loud noise is annoying and I kinda like to hear the engine when I'm starting it.

I don't worry about it.