Idling vs. shutting off
 

i pick up my g/f from work almost every day and of course i'm usually the one waiting. usually for less than 10min definately less than 15min. my question is should i shut the car off or let it idle... found this on a canadian website:

"If you are going to be parked for more than 10 seconds, turn off the engine. Ten seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it"
^how true is this?

and if shutting off is better then my second question is, how long can a system run for with sub and amp, on a optima red top with the car shut off without worrying about total battery drain?

Shut it off. Wont hurt anything. And you can usually run your stereo for quiet sometime before it does enough damage to the battery, like 1/2 hour maybe more depending on the drain...a good guess. I've ran mine like that for 45 min or so no problem.

i've heard something like that before too, but not 10 seconds, i think i read it was 30 seconds....but eithe way, you should shut it off....you should be plenty fine to run your system with no issues in that time...i ran mine at ass for about an hour and a half or 2 hours on a stock battery befor eit died

oh hell ive had all my interior lighting on and my stereo going for over 45 mins one night and the battery was still fine ^_^ i would say your good man, just shut her off when you idol

thanks for the input. i guess i'll just turn the car off from now on. but all your examples seem to be one timers, i'll be doing this everday it still should be okay right since when ever i drive it should charge it back up again?

I heard more like 1.5 minutes which makes more sense.

10 seconds, 30 seconds? Then why not, Turn the car off at every red light? lol

lol.... that makes sense

thanks for the help.... i was wondering the samething....

Unless your doing to stay cool/warm shut it down. Watch that your area doesn't have an anti-idling law. Some states have them, but they can be a local by-law aw well.

well that quote up top was from a canadian environmental site so i'm sure they will say anything to get ppl to shut off... and i live in chicago so i can do pretty much anything as long as i'm not double parked while i'm doing it (and if we did have an idle law i think the city would be banking off all the taxis)

and i think i did read something about shutting off at lights but it's just ridiculous so ppl dont do it. but then again if have a hybrid it's doing it automatically for you. thanks for the input guys, and i do have a self jumper if i ever need it :)

Not just a Canadian thing but theres at least 1 state (NY) that has idling laws. I've had people shut it off behind me in the drive thru. There geting a little carried away I think.