Hello everyone, i wanted to ask about this from day one i had the mini... is there a gauge (or another way) like the Openometer but to measure how long the car is idling when the AutoStart button is used? Toyota iQ has such a way to measure idling time, so i guess why not for the mini?

 

did everyone get what im asking here? cause i see no responses

 

i ve made a mistake and put this in the wrong place, can it be transfered to the 2nd gen minis section? (no wonder why there were no responses)

 

Talking to yourself - that how I always feel on forums.

Why would you want to know that? My diesel truck has an engine hours counter, not sure why you would care how much of that was idle...... Actually only care about the mileage or calenedar dates for maintenance anyway.....

 

Are you talking about the stop/start feature they have in Europe? Cause we don't have that here in the States - yet.

If not, then I'm not sure what you're asking - you want to know how long your car idles? Why?

 

the answer is simple... cause i want to know how mutch fuel im saving when using the AutoStartStop button

 

What country are you in.........

Of course you can add cost of wear and tear to the starter, battery etc to the equation....



At anyrate, there's more to life than saving fuel, or we would all be riding bicycles........

 

You could always calculate your mpg for each tank for a few times, take an average and compare it to someone who doesn't use the stop / start feature in similar driving conditions.

 

no one said that all i do in my life is saving fuel...
BUT
1. i do live in a country where the perol is costly 1lt=1.55euro
2. i want to know when its worth to live your foot of the pedal so the engine stops worthfully
3. i do want the mini to help in saving the environment as much as possible

 

You save a little but if your car doesn't come with the (stop/start) fuction, it's not worth it to turn off the car at idle.

If you want crazy high mpg, I would get a diesel or another car, the mini probably isn't the most economical small cars available.

 

I know it isnt the most economical small car out there, but why not make the best of it while we have it?
id say lets make it a challenge and try to consume as less fuel as possible in a "fuel thirsty" car like our mini!

 

Genik,

Measuring idling time when Auto Start is engaged.

This is not a feature we are using in the US.

For background-
The Auto Start-Stop Function, available with manual transmission cars, automatically switches the engine off when the vehicle is stationary and the driver puts the car into neutral. To restart the driver only need engage the clutch again before pulling away in the normal manner. The system may be de-activated at the touch of a button when not required.

--------------------------

Why not for the MINI is because such a gauge would add to the cost and might not be something owners would want or want to pay for.

Basically you are wondering how good is the Auto Stop working in terms of saving you in fuel costs.

While you may not be able to measure that exactly and directly you might be able to get some data on fuel efficiency collected over a time period for comparison sake.

Using a Scan Gauge II you can use various features in the Trip Computer to collect data over the course of a Day using no Auto Start and during another comparible normal driving day using the feature then compare.

You can see instant fuel economy or over a Trip.
see
http://www.scangauge.com/features/tripcomputer.shtml
http://www.scangauge.com/features/digitalgauges.shtml

You can check how fuel thirsty your MINI is at idle using instant fuel economy but unless you have shut off for long enough it doesn't work in your favor to be off for short periods of time-the other concern being restarting might wear your battery out as it gets older.

See also
http://www.caranddriver.com/features...t_stops_page_7

For those with manual transmission you can stop and shift to neutral to let the engine idle at a lower rpm which helps to burn less fuel and not be on your brakes (use the hand brake).

see
http://money.howstuffworks.com/perso...nomically8.htm
Perhaps a 30-60 second stop would save enough fuel to make it worth it to not be idling but it may depend on how fuel efficient your MINI is at idle.

Hope this helps.

 

Ok i understand that but isnt the openometer a much useless gauge? and mini has it as standard

can scangauge measure me the idling time and fuel saved when stopped compared to being idle?

I dunno about battery wearing out cause if im not mistaking, the R56 charges the battery when the drives pushes the break padle.


Tried to find measuring about this but none found whatsoever

 

MINI made the openometer as a fun gauge and it is not serious.

Scan Gauge II cannot easily measure what you want directly.
It can measure instant and total fuel used for a trip or a day so if you use Auto Start or not the whole trip or day compared to another trip or day doing the same thing like commuting then you can see the difference.

If the R56 has regenerative braking to recharge the battery then that is good. Most OEM batterys last about 2 years then die.

 

Anyone else have any ideas to help this owner?

He wants to keep track of idle time and fuel saved as a result.

 

The fuel savings will be so miniman it wont have much of an effect, besides it takes more fuel for a car to start then it does to idl for a few min

 

I have covered this over on Mini 2, here is the link, I really can't see why Genic is so concerned about fuel used during real time idle VS real time auto stop start.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/second-ge...dleometer.html

 

Im concerned because its important to know why to use or not the *** button. If its useless concerning fuel consumption then there is no reason in using it, not to say that your starter will live longer.
Once again id like to thanking you for contributing to this wonder of mine, but still i think that its interesting to have two or more experts opinions on this matter rather than just one

Good to see you in this forum too my friend