> A useful tip that (apparently) not many people know, is that if you've 
> broken down in a dangerous location you can use the starter motor to 
> move along at slow speeds in *any* car (ok maybe not in those american 
> automatics).  Just put it in 1st gear and try to start the engine - it 
> will allow you to move the car to a safer location (assuming you don't 
> also have a flat battery!).

The thing I find interesting is that my car weighs easily enough to 
crush every single bone on your body... and yet it's not actually that 
hard to push it along a road. If it's parked on the drive and I need to 
move it a few feet to open the guarage door or something, take the 
brakes off and push it... it moves surprisingly easily for such a damn 
heavy object. (I guess my wheel baring work really well?)

OTOH, if there's a hill... forget it.

(Also curios is the fact that the car doesn't accelerate when you drive 
it down a hill... You'd think it would.)

>> The big advantage being that waiting at traffic lights uses no fuel.
> 
> My car does that already - as soon as you are stationary, in neutral, 
> and let go of the clutch pedal, the engine stops.

Mmm, interesting.

I would think this electric motor trickery probably also saves fuel on 
low-speed manovers like trying to park. [Think how much you have to rev 
the engine to make a car move that slowly...]

>> [Actually, having computed that my car uses 10^(-6) L of fuel per 
>> minute even when it's flying down the road at 75 MPH,
> 
> Wow! What car do you have with such great fuel economy? ;-)

...OK, so maybe it wasn't exactly 10^(-6). But it worked out to be some 
absurdly small figure anyway.

>> I wonder just how much fuel it can possibly be wasting on tickover?
> 
> something like 1.5 litres per hour IIRC when stationary.

Interesthing. I thought it would be smaller...

>> And also, doesn't repeatedly starting up a petrol engine waste fuel 
>> anyway?]
> 
> Depends how warm the engine is and how often you restart it.

I've always wanted to know... An engine is a mechanical device. So why 
does temperature have any effect on anything?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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