Or; Start up and IMMEDIATELY shift into "D" and pull away. NO warmup whatsoever. My Wifes habit that kills me.

In my F150, I'd turn the fan speed to low, to avoid being blasted with hot air, and would lower the stereo volume. But, I left them on.

In my Mercedes, it has auto-climate, so it stays on Auto.
Oddly, the stereo has a pre-set start volume, regardless of the volume setting at engine-off, which is a bit higher than I'd expect.

quote:

Originally posted by bdylan:
I actually agree with your method...controls should be returned to their neutral position before shut down.

So what is the "neutral position"? Fan off, I assume, but is neutral temp cold, hot, middle? What about the radio station? Is that returned to 540 AM? 1600 AM?? 1070??? Heck, is AM even neutral? Maybe FM is kind of halfway between AM and XM. Not sure.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My wife will leave everything on, AC or heat, radio etc and simply turn her car off.

My husband's wife does the same thing.

When I'm driving someone else's car, including my husband's, I return the seat, AC, and radio settings to the way I found them.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
I always disengage the AC compressor and let outside air blow through the vents for a few seconds before shutting the car off. I’ve seen where some vehicles will start emitting a mildew smell if you just kill the car with the ac still going.

I was told years ago that's it's best to turn off the AC before turning off the car. I don't really know why. Maybe it's to let the water drain out of the compressor, maybe it's to not put too big a load on when starting the car.... I don't really know why.

The radio I leave on.

Everything is automatic, climate, lights, traction, side mirrors, etc. Radio is not a problem either.

The only time they need attention is after service, where for some reason, service guys fiddle with everything, set the temps to penquin range, blowers on jet stream, radio on stun, gps, and all the little secret switches, traction, etc to annoy.

I just turn my truck off. I've noticed the air blows for a few seconds after shutdown and slowly ramps up on startup. The radio has a setting that maintains low volume on startup regardless of where it's set on shutoff.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
I was told years ago that's it's best to turn off the AC before turning off the car. I don't really know why. Maybe it's to let the water drain out of the compressor, maybe it's to not put too big a load on when starting the car.... I don't really know why.

I think "years ago" may be the key. I'm pretty sure any car produced in the last 10-20 years with an ECM shuts down whatever is needed to make the start and brings it on line as power is available.

why would anyone turn everything off? I might turn the stereo down from the full blast that it usually is, and if it was raining I turn the wipers off, but that's it.

The only thing that I insist being turned off is the windshield wipers. It really messes wiper blades up when they freeze to the windshield in the winter time. Our headlights turn off with the key.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
You're weird.

Yep.
I turn down the radio a tad *if* I think about it but my Python alarm is there to remote start the truck.
With the AC off, it kinda defeats the purpose of having a remote that works from almost 1/4 mile away.

I have auto ac, so always leave it on. Radio gets turned down, if necessary, but otherwise, just turn the key off.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
The only thing that I insist being turned off is the windshield wipers. It really messes wiper blades up when they freeze to the windshield in the winter time. Our headlights turn off with the key.

Forgot about wipers. Yes they need to be off before turning off.

I have to agree... You're the weird one in this case.

The only thing I turn off before killing the ignition is the windshield wipers. Before I had vehicles with automatic headlights, I would turn those off too, but haven't had to do that in years.

I don't bother turning the radio, A/C, etc. off, and don't know anyone who insists on doing that.

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.

I do this, too, but I also don't live in Montana.

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.

This. I turn everything off unless it is in a car with auto climate control A/C, which I usually leave on.

I'll sometimes shut the car down without turning anything off. Then again, I'm the only one who ever drives it. If the headlights are on, the car starts up a pretty obnoxious blaring if you open the door with the engine off, so I don't worry about forgetting that. A few times I've shut down and climbed out after listening to a particularly favorite song and had it up fairly loud, then been surprised by the volume when I start up the next morning.

Common wisdom in yesteryear was AC put a large drag on the engine. Might even cost you 2 -5 MPGs. And if you attempted to start the car with the AC on you were dragging the compressor along as the starter spun the engine which was hard on the battery and starter. Today's AC compressors are much more efferent. When they run there's hardly a blip in MPGs and in most vehicles running with the AC on is more fuel efferent than AC off with windows down. At least at highway speeds. So, there is little advantage to starting a modern day car with the AC off.

Radio and other low power accessories also have next to zero affect on starting ability. So no real reason to turn them off other than those of use with OCD that like things in their place.

As far as starting and putting in gear and immediately driving off, again today's cars are different. ECUs control all of that stuff and give higher RPMs at start up. Engines warm up faster under some load rather than just idling. Of course you can go too far with this. If you drive away in a normal fashion, no problem. If you take off squealing tires like you just found out your wife was cheating on you there might be some issues down the line.

I leave everything on. I start up and drive away with no warm up. I shut everything off by turning the key off.

Never had an issue. My car is 12 years old, 180K.

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.

This.