Newby needs advice

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by cfg83

... What is the wear and tear factor on the (rear drum?) brakes in that circumstance? CarloSW2

I wore down the e-brake on one of our cars by using it when the regular brakes were grinding.

The cars my family has been driving all have 4-wheel disk brakes with separate drum brakes in the rear for e-brakes. If yours is set up this way then I think the e-brakes probably not designed/built for regular frequent use. Aside from setting the brake when parking of course - there's no friction rubbing of the brake shoe/pad when parked.

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by cfg83

...
Would this mod work with Manual transmission Subarus? ...

I looked into Subarus as an alternative to the Volvos we've been driving since '95.

The auto-trans awd Subies can be forced into fwd mode by inserting that fuse. I'm pretty sure the standard tranny ones don't have it - but of course they give you better FE than the autos anyway.

FWD places its own "tax" on FE just by all the extra rotating mechanicals but if you need it for your climate or for a long steep snowy driveway, then a Subaru is better for FE than most other options.

[brucepick]

Somewhere I saw a list of gallons-per-hour fuel consumption for idling. Something like between .2 - .7 gal/hour, depending on engine. (A ScanGauge will show it.) So coasting in neutral while idling will get you something like 100-200 mpg. But of course the FE is even better if you don't run the engine at all.

I'd follow the manual's advice and not coast with engine off over 20 mph. Trannies are way too expensive.

By way of comparison the rear-drive Volvo trannies are flat towable only up to 40 mph for 40 miles. In regular use they're pretty much unkillable; they usually go 250-400 K miles before neglect and owner poverty kill the car off, and the tranny is still working (engine also!). So if a more typical auto tranny says to limit flat towing to 20 mph/20 miles, I'd believe the book.

[brucepick]

About the headlight thing...
Our Swede cars appear to have the same system.
No headlights unless ignition is on.

Headlight switch receives incoming power only when ignition is on.
Headlight switch output goes to a relay.
So there's no output from switch to relay unless ignition is on.

If you instead supply the headlight switch with power from another source you can have headlights any time. Assuming it's set up the same as on our cars...

A basic relay has four terminals. Two for input side, two for output side.

At the "input" side, one terminal is hot from the headlight switch, the other goes to ground. In between these is a coil which operates a magnetic switch which controls power through the relay's output side.

The switch defaults to the "off" position so when there's no power coming in from the headlight switch, the headlights are off.

Output side: One terminal is hot from the battery or fuse panel. The other feeds out to the headlights. When the magnetic switch closes, the hot power is fed out to the headlights.

Hope this helps.

[goodella@hartwick.edu]

I might stop using the EOC at higher speeds than. The car is pretty old with 180+k miles and worth under a thousand now, so I wouldn't cry if it died, but at the same time I don't want to be the killer. I don't see a reason to stop EOC in town when coming to a stop with slower speeds (such as coming to a stale green or red).

As for modifying the headlights to stay on, I think I'll just pass. Too much work for something I can live without. I rarely drive at night, so it's not a big issue.

[Raccoonjoe]

I have noticed that when trying to EOC into parking lots/stop lights with my Jeep, it will rev extremely high when I have to start it back up. I think that rolling with the engine off is causing some problems with my TPS.....I just don't shut down the motor now until she's under 5 MPH

[popimp]

In my manual it says TOWING THIS VEHICLE BEHIND ANOTHER
VEHICLE (Flat towing with all four wheels on the
ground)
Recreational towing for this vehicle is not recommended.
NOTE: If the vehicle requires towing make sure all four
wheels are off the ground.

Does this mean no EOC for my tranny?

[88HF]

Thats what it appears popimp, or they are covering their ***. If its under warranty maybe it wouldn't matter? As for the E-brake... cars with rear drums almost always use the same drum because its rather simple... but you might have to manually adjust them when they wear too far. If you don't adjust them occasionally, you will be wearing the front brakes more, especially if you are using it often. You can tell when its out of adjustment by how hard/far you can pull up on the lever.

[CO ZX2]

[quote=goodella@hartwick.edu;62930]
One annoying bit is that I hate turning the engine off at night because on my car the lights completely go out until I turn the key back for them. So if a car is coming and I want to power down, I have to flash them. [Edit: By that, I mean the lights are only out for a second] I don't think there's a way around that other than making some switch on the dash route power to the lights regardless of the engine on/off. I think that's fairly unique to Suby's. Anyone try that? [quote]

Sounds like you need an ignition kill switch or better yet an injector kill switch. On most cars, either of these will kill the engine without touching the ignition key and leave on everything else the ignition switch controls. I have read here on GS of this problem but don't recall types of cars, Honda maybe.

[GasSavers_StanleyD]

Originally Posted by goodella@hartwick.edu

I might stop using the EOC at higher speeds than. The car is pretty old with 180+k miles and worth under a thousand now, so I wouldn't cry if it died, but at the same time I don't want to be the killer. I don't see a reason to stop EOC in town when coming to a stop with slower speeds (such as coming to a stale green or red).

As for modifying the headlights to stay on, I think I'll just pass. Too much work for something I can live without. I rarely drive at night, so it's not a big issue.

I completely agree with you there. Once in a while I idle coast my 98 Camry, but Im so glad that you started this thread. I was considering a change to EOC every once in a while but now that I know you should NOT let a car with auto-tranny roll, I will avoid EOC. The only time I ever EOC is when Im rolling to a dead apot into a parking spot. I have to turn the car off anyway so I might at well do a ten seconds or so earlier. Now I must make sure that I dont cut off until Im below 20mph. I guess Ive been lucky that I was hesitant to make the change to EOC before. I tried it once on highway and it seemed to work just fine. But I'll never do that again. Only idle coasting from now on. You may have saved my tranny.
I think I have same issue with lights. As soon as I key off I lose lights buts its not big deal to switch back quickly to get back lights, although I end up 'flashing' someone. have you tried only turning key HALFWAY. I havent tried yet but maybe turning key just halfway into ACC instead of OFF will retain your lights. Im dont know as I never thought of that until now.