[quote=“Omniloquacious”]When I bought my first scooter and the mechanic was running over the basics of keeping the thing in good nick, he stressed that I must not turn the engine off as soon as I stop, but must let it run for something like half a minute to a minute. I had also heard much the same from a Chinese friend, so took it as the gospel truth. Hence, I have always done exactly what you have described, leaving the engine running while I take off my helmet and gloves, put on the bike lock, and fiddle about with other things. Is it really possible that this is quite unnecessary after all? I know nothing about how scooters work, so I haven’t a clue either way. Perhaps one of our mechanically minded Forumosans can tell us if there really is a good reason for it, or if it’s a load of codswallop?[/quote]I’ve read that if you switch off the engine directly after running it quite hard, it gets even hotter for a little while, because the oil isn’t circulating to cool it down. Not sure whether this would shorten the life of an engine, though, at least after the first 1000km or so.
Upon starting the engine, I do try to let it run for a little while before riding the scooter, so that it can warm up properly. This is supposed to be better for it than riding it straight away.
That really gets on my nerves!
And they don’t just do it after the light turns green ; they ride like that all the time.
Also, amazingly many of them can keep balance at speeds most people would topple over at.
They often leave food out after meals to cool before putting it in the fridge. My wife says it’s because the food will go bad if you don’t. So why leave it out for several hours in sweltering heat?
Well I think I figured out this one after many years. A few days ago in the paper one of the energy saving tips was to let food cool to reduce a little less power used by the fridge.
Many of these things probably started out with logical reasons but then later certain myths devloped around them.
I remember some years ago people would always tell me if my scooter headlight was on during the day. I even had a cop wave me over for it.
I asked several people why and they told me becaue I was wasting electricity
[quote=“joesax”]I’ve read that if you switch off the engine directly after running it quite hard, it gets even hotter for a little while, because the oil isn’t circulating to cool it down. Not sure whether this would shorten the life of an engine, though, at least after the first 1000km or so.
Upon starting the engine, I do try to let it run for a little while before riding the scooter, so that it can warm up properly. This is supposed to be better for it than riding it straight away.[/quote]
Right, thanks for this info. At least there is a reason… Can we get the “Mystery Busters” work on this one please? Now that temperatures average 35 degrees Celsius during the day, it might be a good idea to let the engine cool of properly after “running it quite hard”. Will I do it and inhale the fumes? Nope…
[quote=“Hongda”]I remember some years ago people would always tell me if my scooter headlight was on during the day. I even had a cop wave me over for it.
I asked several people why and they told me becaue I was wasting electricity [/quote]
In many countries, motorcycles are required to have the headlight on during the day. I remember nearly failing my driving test, because I forgot to turn it on. After arguing with my Taiwanese wife for years about this issue, me insisting that it is safer because car drivers can spot you easier, and she insisting that even if it is not more energy-consuming, it is at least shortening the life expectancy of the lightbulbs, I now never turn the lights on during daytime.
Sometimes, you have less stress when simply doing like the Taiwanese do… sigh…
[quote=“hannes”] I now never turn the lights on during daytime.
Sometimes, you have less stress when simply doing like the Taiwanese do… sigh…[/quote]
I also gave into keeping the light off during the day. Mainly to prevent police from stopping me.
Most of the time you can counter these disagreements with some logic.
For example some people think they save gas by turning the scooter off at red lights. I ask them to roughly calculate a one years savings and with a little help they’ll quickly understand that they will end up spending at least double having to replace the starter alot earlier than with normal use.
Leaving your scooter running a few minutes to cool down is probably true and a good idea. The same goes for letting it warm up but I never see anyone doing that. They also seldom get tuneups, change filters, sparkplugs etc…so what’s the point? It’s good for me though because then I can buiy some “old wreck”, put a couple thousand into it and get another 8 years perfect use out of it :bravo:
I worked in an office a few years back and the new manager put into effect a rule that we had to sign a book and ask specifically for the amount of paper we needed to use the copy machine each time.
This was a “cost savings” idea.
The drawer for most copy machines where you load the paper into is somewhat complex with latches,slides, and springs.
I started laughing and asked her how long she figured the drawer would last before needing repair for a few thousand because of opening and closing it 75 times per day.
It was fully loaded after that.
All these “good ideas” always seem to be very superficial.
When I bought my first scooter and the mechanic was running over the basics of keeping the thing in good nick, he stressed that I must not turn the engine off as soon as I stop, but must let it run for something like half a minute to a minute. I had also heard much the same from a Chinese friend, so took it as the gospel truth. [/quote]
Even if cooling of your scooter is poor I guess the adivce would apply to situations where there
was a period of heavy load on the engine (riding uphill) not the typicall low speed city riding.
The idling to warm up the engine is at least highly disputed. Most of start up damage happens
when the oil is still warming up (the engine oil mix of additives is designed to work optimally only after it reaches the normal operating temperature)
By idling you actually extend the time oil is in this lower range of temeratures where most of damage happens.
It is better to just ride without stressing the engine too much for the time it heats up instead of idling.
Long idling is actually bad for the engine.
