Anyone else turn everything off when you stop the car?

[JD!]

A turbo spinning at 10,000 rpm will not spool down in a matter of seconds. Turbos are prone to wipe out the plain bearing in extreme cases where the oil stops flowing when they're spinning at high rpm.

My daily driver shuts off the engine at 70mph when I'm taking a highway off-ramp. Couldn't tell you how fast the turbo is spinning at that point, but there's less than 10 seconds between taking my foot off the gas at 85mph and the ECU killing the engine. 120,000 miles and the turbo's still fine, probably a more extreme example than what most cars would see.

 

[Hall]

Ever park an automatic car on a hill without the parking brake on and then find that it’s a bit harder to get it out of park the next time you start it?

If you're parking on level ground or even relatively level, there's zero need to use the parking brake. If I park on a hill, yes, I'll set it. My first few cars were manuals and my parents, being from the UK, always set the parking brake and I was taught to as well. Of course, every time I took it to a shop for something, whoever drove it would always put it in 1st gear instead of using the parking brake. This was before clutch interlocks were common too, so countless times I'd start it and it would lunge forward !

 

[Hall]

it probably isn't the best for the AC compressor and/or the blower motor to come on hard from a dead stop. Radio too because I like to hear the start-up in case something is off

Have you tried it without shutting everything off ? I can't remember a car that doesn't have a "delay" relay - it kills pretty much everything for the instance it needs to supply 100% juice to the battery. Turn on the headlights and start a car. The lights on old cars would slowly dim while you cranked but on modern cars, they are shut off hard. Others have addressed things like the AC compressor. The blower motor will ramp up too, not instantaneously go full-blast.

 

[Opelman]

I'm from the school bus world. First and foremost parking brake every time, all the time. It quickly turns into a habit so one is less likely to forget when dealing with a high stress/distraction situation. Same with turn signals. Everything off when shutting down. On a bus the drivers would routinely forget something and be facing flat batteries the next day. Trying to teach presence of mind to some people is difficult.

 

[svtrit]

Dad trained me to turn everything off in the old 1978 D100 Stepside pickup truck I learned to drive in. He told me it reduced the load on the battery at startup.

I forgot about that until seeing this thread. Nary a problem has ever occurred because I didn’t turn off everything when shutting it off every night. I do idle for 30 seconds or so on turbo vehicles, however.

 

[tblt44]

A/C yes off everytime nothing else

 

[Marcozi]

Remember - the a/c system is a dehumidifier. Ever notice pools of water on ground after operating a/c system? This is reason a/c compressor runs when activating the defroster. Removes moisture from inside windshield

I agree. However bimmers have a bad rep for ventilation systems that seem to leave the the sytem damp or wven wet. I know when I switch off the AC and turn the fan to high I get tiny droplets of ater on the vents.

 

[Kestas]

My daily driver shuts off the engine at 70mph when I'm taking a highway off-ramp. Couldn't tell you how fast the turbo is spinning at that point, but there's less than 10 seconds between taking my foot off the gas at 85mph and the ECU killing the engine. 120,000 miles and the turbo's still fine, probably a more extreme example than what most cars would see.

Are you sure the engine stops rotating (no rpm) when coasting? Because I never heard of such a design. I do know the fuel is cut off.

 

[FordSVTGuy]

Wiper blades off, music volume down, blower fan speed down. I kind or reset everything for the next time I get in to drive. I like it to be the same, but I wouldn’t say I’m ocd about it…

I also like my interior to be clean and tidy. Helps me enjoy the vehicle more and keeps it looking nice and new

 

[JavierH19]

I was told to turn the comp off on the last few minutes or more to let the wet evaporator have time to dry. A wet evaporator can cause a smell and I've had no issue with smell doing that. I do it on the last stop at idle as maybe the clutch wears an infinitesimal amount less at 500 rpm but both clutches are still the original ones and work and sound good. I should check the air gap I've never done it before now that I think of it. Other than that If it rains I'll turn the wipers off since it's annoying to look at them half way out and i turn the radio off so it doesn't bother me next morning.

 

[AZjeff]

I also like my interior to be clean and tidy. Helps me enjoy the vehicle more and keeps it looking nice and new

Same here. Every piece of paper, water bottle, magazine, tool etc comes out when I park for the day at home. When traveling all traveling trash comes out every evening. Cars that look like a half full dumpster inside make me a little

So cars less than 40 years old don't have to be shut down but it doesn't hurt anything to do it other than one more cycle of the switch gear. Too late to change now.

 

[Patman]

Same here. Every piece of paper, water bottle, magazine, tool etc comes out when I park for the day at home. When traveling all traveling trash comes out every evening. Cars that look like a half full dumpster inside make me a little

My Corvette is perfectly clean inside but my Civic tends to have more junk inside of it, especially during the part of the year when I’m so busy with my Niagara tours and always eating on the run. I need to stop and clean it out more often than I do

 

[RobbS]

My engine surges when a/c is turned on. I turn off a/c half a block away and cruise on in with fan on some free a/c till I park. I shut down all accessories before turning off the car.

 

[Wylie6G72]

I turn off the A/C about half a mile from the destination, turn the fan up, and recirculate off to raise the temperature of the core so it can begin drying out, and not attract any more condensation. If I'm parking in my garage, I set the parking brake to service mode so that it won't set when I shut the car off. I let it set if I'm parked at the train station or anywhere else on a slope. I usually power down the radio as sometimes I don't want it to come on at startup.

 

[RobbS]

Every time

 

[KrisZ]

I would be concerned about wearing out the switches and knobs from all of that turning and pressing.

 

[billt460]

I have been doing this for years. A very good mechanic told me to do this, and I have done it ever since. He was one of those guys that could diagnose and fix quirky electrical problems in cars that no one else could. So I valued his opinion when it came to anything electrical involving vehicles.

Shut off A/C, fans, radio, lights, everything. I then let it idle for 10 to 15 seconds, then kill the engine last. Same after start up. Start, allow to run for 15 seconds or so, then start turning things on.... Slowly, one at a time. I've never had an electrical issue doing this. So I figure it can't hurt.

 

[MCompact]

Wiper blades off, music volume down, blower fan speed down. I kind or reset everything for the next time I get in to drive. I like it to be the same, but I wouldn’t say I’m ocd about it…

I also like my interior to be clean and tidy. Helps me enjoy the vehicle more and keeps it looking nice and new

My wife worked at my son's old school and when she was responsible for the car line she came home with stories of how the interiors of the parents' cars were just nasty and disgusting- sometimes trash would fall out when their doors opened.
My son was never allowed to make messes or leave trash in the car. A few years ago some guy posted on BITOG that he gave up keeping his car clean once he had kids and that he "joined in the fun." I replied that I saw nothing "fun" about driving a car with an interior that that looked like the inside of a rubbish bin.

 

[svtrit]

My wife worked at my son's old school and when she was responsible for the car line she came home with stories of how the interiors of the parents' cars were just nasty and disgusting- sometimes trash would fall out when their doors opened.
My son was never allowed to make messes or leave trash in the car. A few years ago some guy posted on BITOG that he gave up keeping his car clean once he had kids and that he "joined in the fun." I replied that I saw nothing "fun" about driving a car with an interior that that looked like the inside of a rubbish bin.

Detail Geek has quite a few nasty clean up detail videos where the kids are to blame. As bad as the cars are, the kids are not the ones to blame.