Before buying my Traverse I looked into purchasing a 2007 Suburban. I found out that due to engineering errors or something the cylinder deactivation program can cause a lack of lubrication especially for those folks who take a lax attitude towards oil changes. Seems that if the oil is not kept in good condition an issue arises with lubing the cylinder walls and the engine basically is worn down internally.
Supposedly fixed about 2014 or 2015 still the ideal makes me nervous. I really don't care about mileage unless it was really bad so the savings vs potential problems is not worth it to me. Before I bought my 2016 Traverse I checked to see if it had it. It did not. Same feeling about Idle stop and go.

OMG. Engines that turn off at stop lights. The very end of humanity. I'd rather get out of the car and walk.

I tried a harbor frieght panel with my 86 Toyota PU, and it helped, but over the long term couldn't keep up. The Fusion has a much greater "keep alive" drain, and I keep it in a car port, where it doesn't get full sunlight.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Cylinder deactivation works for me - its called a Geo Metro. I'd like to Kubota diesel swap one and get 80 mpg - 800 miles on the 10 gallon tank. They're safe if you don't hit stuff. Safer than a motorcycle.

PFFFFTTTTTT!

When gas was over $4 here I still had my Neon. Could reliably get nearly 50mpg, ran low 16's, and topped out at 136mph (I only know because I was young and dumb in my earlier days). Still miss that car.

And at least for now the new cars let you shut off the auto shuttoff at stops. If the a/c is on full blast it won't always engage or stay turned off.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/162600228@N03/

A nice example of bureaucratic technology.
Anyone remember the manual trans skip-shift solenoids that were foisted on owners of performance cars?
The easiest way to defeat them was to floor it in first gear

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O==\=/==O

"A mechanic is Somebody."
- Jim Preston

No but that sounds pretty dumb to me. Buy a 6 speed, then have it set up so you have to shift from 1st to 4th gear from what I read! No thanks

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

My SRT-8 came with Skip Shift. The previous owner had already disabled it. All it took was a little plug with a wire loop.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I'm reminded most times I drive my 1994 Corvette, yes. If you go past 2500 RPM in 1st you move past the 'window' that forces the 1-4 shift. Or you can shift to 2nd very quickly before entering said window. Or I could stop being lazy and reprogram the PCM to change the window conditions to those unlikely to be seen in normal driving, i.e. it activates only when coolant temp is over 220°F.

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Joshua

Under 2500 rpm,then 1st to 4th??? That has to be an awful lugging of the engine even in the corvette?

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Yeah, it' pretty bad. The car will do it without complaint (pinging or rattling), but it's Slow.

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Joshua

With a plethora of lower cost city car EVs on the horizon, I've thought of converting a Geo Metro to an EV. Currently, used $4,000 Volt batteries isn't in my hobby budget. I'd like 100 mile range. I could mount the motor in the rear, battery pack in the back seat - nobody rides in the back seat of a Metro. I could keep the gasoline motor so I'd have unlimited range. If I could switch on the EV motor when the accelerator were mashed to the floor the Metro could be pretty quick. EV hacking isn't mainstream yet, but it will be common. Buy a 250,000 Model 3 Tesla mile and upgrade it. Older Teslas don't cost anymore than an older BMW - people are afraid of the repair costs. Tesla will tell you to buy a new one.

The Tesla Battery Day is a lot of hype, 16 percent more range is not the end of fueled vehicles. Plus, that chemical battery is nearing the same limits as solar panels, they'll get cheaper to produce but the range will soon reach a bell curve. Some totally new battery tech is required before an electric Camry costs the same, has 500 mile range, and five minute charging. Until, then an EV owner has to carefully plan a trip by available chargers whenever they leave the city. Most EVs can't drive straight from where I live to Abilene TX on a single charge, otherwise they'd have to take a long Interstate trip because that's where the chargers are, and wait... More hassles than an OTR trucker faces. But as a city car, EVs will be fine for most people. Which means more gasoline for my cars.

The 1-4 skip shift, I think, was first invented for Corvettes. But while it's stupid, I think it's fair to 'thank' the automakers for it, and for making it easy to bypass. That's because they used it to get around the MPG standards that had been foisted upon performance cars....the idea being that the 1-4 shift allowed them to just avoid the threshold of gas guzzler penalties etc. Or maybe back then it was to even allow them to sell the car, I don't recall.

In light-foot driving, the 1-4 really is not all that bad. Sometimes I do it just to save the bother of going through 2 and 3.

just finished up a rental in FL with some non descript new Ford,,

The motor shutting down at stoplights was no big deal, granted this was a new car, had around 10,000 miles on it,
touch the gas pedal to pull away, the motor restarted immediately, first time I had driven one of these, the engine cycling off then back on was so transparent after a short while I don't remember reacting to it.

When the AC was on the and the car was stopped, the engine would shut down and the interior fan would continue to blow at whatever the blower was set to, moving residual coolness from the evaporator. The moment that circulating air warmed just a bit the engine re started and the normal AC function resumed.

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Doo Ron Ron and the Duke of Earl are friends of mine.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX8Nj8ABEI8