Put the Car in Park or Neutral when Idling

 When you idle, put the car in Park or Neutral.  Keeping it in Drive puts torque on the torque converter. 

Replace Alternator, 2012 Camry, Friday, April 5, 2024

The mechanic charged me $520, down from $528.  Nice of her, eh?  Okay, so the weak alternator was draining my battery, and not the case of a weak battery draining the alternator.  The alternator charges the battery.  All of your car's appliances--seat controls, heating & air conditioning, 

IGNITION, BATTERY, STARTER, 

A starter-mounted solenoid has three terminals with three connections: the battery (B), start (S), and motor (M) terminals.

Yes, idling does charge car batteries, but not as quickly as when you’re out for a drive.

https://www.lesschwab.com/article/batteries/how-your-auto-battery-works.html. 

The ignition switch: starter button you press or where you insert your key.

The switch controls the starter relay (also called a solenoid). When you turn the ignition, it sends a small electrical current to the starter relay. This causes a pair of contacts to close.

When those contacts close, the battery sends voltage to the starter motor, which turns some gears to start the car.

The two types of auto batteries — flooded and AGM batteries — use lead-acid technology. A typical lead-acid car battery contains plates of lead alternating with plates of other materials, all immersed in an electrolyte solution of about one-third sulfuric acid and two-thirds water.

Turning the ignition triggers the acid in the liquid electrolyte solution to react with the active material on the plates (active material refers to any substance in the battery that reacts with the solution to discharge or recharge the battery). This generates a bigger electrical current. The current travels through the starting system in a chain of reactions that cues the engine to start.

STARTER

Pair of contact? 

2000 HONDA ACCORD, AUGUST 2017, R.I.P.

I owned this car for 10 years. Bought it in 2007 from a couple in Van Nuys. I paid cash, but asked my brother, Joe, to accompany me in the hopes of keeping the seller honest and to their word.  

Had 86,000 miles on it when I bought it. When it died in August 2017, it had 255,000 miles on it. So not bad.

That stain there at the lower-left corner of the driver's side door is from a sticker that I had placed there when I was working for QuickSilver in Denver, October 2016 to June 2017.  And it was Leif who helped me remove the stain, which was far larger than you see there.  That company was composed of the worst type of people.  It did seem that there were a bunch of vets who worked there, and I always felt out of place.    

DRIVING FOR POSTMATES

Once your account is activated, you’ll receive an email.

Ø 48 hours for them to approve your ID. 

Ø 7 days to link your bank account to the Postmates app.

Ø 7 days for background check. 

Ø So if you do everything they ask—and yes you need to upload a selfie—it’ll be 2 weeks before you can start driving and earning money.  Incredible.

The key is removed from my ignition but there is a clicking sound.  At first it was rhythmical, then it became repeated, sort of a non-stop rapid clicking where my starter is. 

I put the key back in the ignition and turn it and the clicking sound stops.  I withdraw the key and the rapid clicking sequence resumes.  WTF is going on?  Whenever I turn the key to the ON position, the clicking sound stops.  But with key in and at the LOCK position, the clicking continues.  Likewise when I have the key in and at the ACC position.  And, as I said, even when the key is completely removed from ignition. 

from yourmechanic.com,

A clicking noise when trying to start your car and no engine movement typically means that the battery is too low to crank the engine or there may be a bad connection at the battery. If the battery and the connections are fine, then the startermay have failed.Jan 30, 2016

POSITIONS on YOUR IGNITION 

Your vehicle is equipped with four different ignition positions.

LOCK/OFF 

To turn the engine off, stop your vehicle and shift into park, then turn your key in the ignition switch to the LOCK/OFF position by turning counterclockwise, or closest to you.

ACC/ACCESSORY 

The second position is the ACC/ACCESSORY position, which allows you to use your radio, windshield wipers, and other accessories while the engine is off. This position should also be used in the event that your vehicle is being pushed or towed. This position is one turn clockwise, or away from the driver, starting from the LOCK/OFF position.

ON/RUN 

The third position is the ON/RUN position, which allows you to operate accessories and use the instrument panel. This position should also be used when having your car looked at by a qualified mechanic, as this will allow them to properly run diagnostics and see if any malfunction indicator lights are on.

START 

The final position is the one you’ll probably be most familiar with: START. This position will start the engine. To start, keep your foot on the brake pedal (or on the clutch if your vehicle has a manual transmission) and turn the key clockwise, away from you. When you hear the engine start, release your grip on the key. The ignition switch will then automatically turn to the ‘ON/RUN’ position for driving. Please note, your engine will only start when your car is shifted into park or neutral in an automatic transmission, and neutral in a manual transition.

Tip

If you leave your ignition in the ACC/ACCESSORY or ON/RUN position too long without the engine on, you may be putting your battery at risk of draining. If you’re running these mode for an extended period of time, be sure to run the engine after 20 minutes or so.  

from Quora

The video in the answer by @Vaibhav Pathak shows how the ignition of air-fuel mixture is carried out in an engine while it is running.

However, when you start the engine from complete standstill, you actually power up a small starter motor, which turns the engine shaft for to start its feedback mechanism. 

On a 4-stroke Petrol engine, the 3rd stroke of the cycle produces power, and hence, is called the Power Stroke. Most of it is transmitted to the wheels while some of it is used to drive the cycle in adjoining cylinders. The power stroke of one cylinder moves the cycle of adjoining cylinders which reach their own power strokes and feed the first cylinder and so on and so forth. But you need something to start the power stroke of the first cylinder, some external force. 

This force was initially provided by cranking. Cranking is the process of rotating the crankshaft of the engine by hand or legs (also called kick-starting). Two-wheelers still employ this method of starting the engine. To circumvent this method, an auxiliary electric motor is used to do the hard work. 

When you turn the key once, you power up the battery. This allows you to run the stereo, headlights, wipers etc.

When you turn the key twice, you connect the spark plugs in the engine to the battery and the ignition coil.When you turn the ignition of the car all the way to the end, it powers the electric motor. The motor runs as long as you keep the key twisted. When the power stroke kicks in, you hear and feel the engine drone and you instinctively let go of the key because the motor has done its job of starting the engine and now the engine can sustain itself as long as it has fuel in its belly.

VIN NUMBER EXPLAINED

This is good to know. 

3HGCG6650YG700365  Y is 2000.  

Check an Engine Before You Buy