Driving down the street one day when I stopped at a red light

I thought I could smell oil and looked at the oil pressure gauge on the truck. It showed zero oil pressure. While lesser men might have panicked I simply took my foot off the brake, the engine started and the oil pressure returned to the normal operating range. Gotta love those silly auto stop/start features. I never did figure out where the oil smell was coming from.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

I wonder about the long-term effects of that feature on vehicles regularly on a lot of stop-start driving.

It must be hard work on the battery if nothing else.

Some of the buses used on my local services appear to have that auto stop-start too, which I suppose does reduce the exhaust fumes around those queuing to board it.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@ArishMell It is an interesting device. It seems to work well. By the time I move my foot from the brake to the accelerator the engine is running.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@hippyjoe1955 As instant as that!

I take you have cruise-control too. That's something none of my cars have had, but it would be very useful for the longer journeys I make occasionally.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@ArishMell I didn't want the stop/start but it was mandated by law. Yes my vehicles have cruise control and I must admit that cruise control has improved over the years. When I was a kid on the farm our tractors had a hand throttle that you set and forgot. Ditto the airplanes I flew. You set your RPM and the engine just kept turning over that quickly. For me cruise control is very similar and yes it does make driving long distance much easier. I set it to the speed I want and the vehicle does the hard work of keeping it at speed. Some of the newer ones actually adjust the speed automatically should you start to follow a slower vehicle. My vehicle is kind of nice in that it shows the set speed of the cruise and I can adjust it up or down by 1 kph increments.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@hippyjoe1955 Cars are becoming more and more complicated by law!

I once owned a Series Two Landrover that had a curious lever on the bulkhead below the dashboard. I thought it was some sort of ventilator until trying to move it made driving awkward.

I discovered it was a hand-throttle as an adjunct to the power take-off, fitted by a previous owner who had used it to drive a saw-bench in his farm fencing work!

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@ArishMell Yes there are all kinds of neat things that can be added to a basic vehicle. I was the passenger in my uncle's pickup truck. My cousin was driving and it was a hot day. My cousin liked to drive fast and while doing 80 miles an hour he began fumbling under the dash looking for the vent lever. Unfortunately he found the hood release instead. 80 miles an hour and the hood popped open blocking our view. My cousin didn't panic. He applied the brakes, pulled to the side, stopped and slammed the hood shut. I thought the wind would have done some severe damage but nothing was evident. We still laugh about it when we get together.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@hippyjoe1955 Oops! You were lucky there though to keep in control.