Winter can be a difficult time for car owners. Winter does it's best to wreak havoc on your fuel economy. You may be an unwitting ally in hurting your fuel economy. How your car warms up in cold weather could burn a hole in your pocket.
Most drivers are in the habit of warming their cars up in cold weather. They are under the mistaken idea that their car needs to warm up for a considerable amount of time to operate properly. Older vehicles may have needed to warm up but current cars do not.
Many car owners idle their car for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes in cold weather to let their cars warm up. You need no more than 30 seconds of idling to get your oil circulating before you can drive away. Do not let your car idle for more than 30 seconds.
Idling is by definition burning gas but not going anywhere. When you idle, you are getting zero miles per gallon. You can't get worse gas mileage than that. Most drivers think that idling a car for just a few minutes is no big deal, but they are wrong.
To give yourself an idea about how much gas you would be burning by just letting your car idle for 5 minutes each time you start it think about this. Assume you idle for 5 minutes when you start your car in the morning. Assume you idle for 5 minutes again, sometime during the day when you start your car again to drive home.
That would be idling your car for 10 minutes per day. If we consider winter to be November, December, January and February, then winter would be considered to be 120 days long. If you idle your car for 10 minutes a day for 120 days that amounts to 1200 minutes of idling.
1200 Minutes is equivalent to 20 hours. Idling your car for only 5 minutes per start amounts to letting your car sit and burn gas going nowhere, for 20 hours. Can you imagine letting you car sit and idle for 20 hours? Of course not. Then why idle for the equivalent of 20 hours of burning gas if you don't have to?
Warm your car up by driving it. To operate efficiently your car needs to warm up other parts in addition to the engine. Tires, transmission, wheel bearings and other moving parts also need to warm up. Your car's catalytic converter doesn't function at its peak until it reaches between 400C and 800C. The only way these other parts warm up is by driving. The reality is, to warm your car up completely you have to drive it anyway.
To save gas and increase gas mileage in the winter one of the simplest things you can do is warm your car by driving it, not by idling. Not only will it save you gas and money but you will also be doing something positive for the environment. That warm car will stop burning a hole in your pocket.
Article Source: http://www.orbitaloc.com/
Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page book of industry insider information on saving gas and money at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to discover how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.
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