It’s True, You No Longer Need to Idle Your Car On Cold Mornings

It seems as though we’ve had more winter in the last month than in all of last year. With the weather getting cold early this year I thought it was a good idea to send out a reminder about not needing to idle your car on cold mornings.

Back in the day everybody would idle their vehicle to get the engine warm while waiting in the house. That’s when all cars had carburetors and needed to warm up before moving. However it’s been 30 years since that was commonplace. With today's fuel injectors, computer systems and thinner oils you don’t need to warm up your car’s engine like in the good old days.

The best way to warm up your car is to start it up, wait a no more than a minute and go. It takes 3-5 minutes to warm your engine so just don’t gun the engine at the start. I know on these cold mornings before I get to the first red light by the QT my car is already blowing hot air and that's less than 1 mile away.  

When your engine becomes warmer the computer sensors in your car will adjust the fuel mixture to be less rich until your car’s engine heats up to 40 degrees. Idling your car for more than a minute wastes gas, causes excessive wear to cylinders, piston rings, spark plugs and can even harm your exhaust system.

So to be clear with the point, idling your car is not an effective or wise way to warm up your car.

So unless you're driving a 1980’s vehicle which we assume your not, dress warm get in your car and go.

No Need to Idle Your Car in Cold Weather

This was originally sent out last winter however with the freezing weather I thought it was pertinent to send out again. It seems as though we’ve had more winter in the last month than the last 3 years combined.

Back in the day everybody would idle their vehicle to get the engine warm. That’s when all cars had carburetors. However it’s been 30 years since that was commonplace. With today's fuel injectors, computer systems and thinner oils you don’t need to warm up your car’s engine like in the good old days.

The best way to warm up your car is to start it up, wait a few seconds and go. It takes 3-10 minutes to warm your engine so just don’t gun the engine at the start. Just take it easy.  As your engine becomes warmer the computer sensors in your car will adjust the fuel mixture to be less rich until your car’s engine heats up to 40 degrees.

Idling your car for more than 30 seconds wastes gas, causes excessive wear to cylinders, piston rings, spark plugs and can even harm your exhaust system. So to be clear with the point, idling is not an effective or wise way to warm up your car.

So unless you're driving a 1980’s vehicle which we assume your not, dress warm get in your car and go.

( I will say last Thursday AM when it was 16 degrees I did sit in my car for 3-4 minutes. That was due more to me being so cold and not wanting to move.)

Don't forget about our other shop Atlanta Hybrid Repair. AHR is equipped to handle all your Toyota and Lexus service needs. AHR is smaller, so often it's easier to get an appointment. Gas powered and hybrids are welcome. Located at 5630 Peachtree Blvd. 1 mile away from the main shop across the street from Wendy’s and the Kia dealership. Call Kenny or Robbie for appointment at 770-492-7437

No Need to Idle Your Car in Cold Weather

Back in the day everybody would idle their vehicle to get the engine warm. That’s when all cars had carburetors. However it’s been 30 years since that was commonplace. With today's fuel injectors, computer systems and thinner oils you don’t need to warm up your car’s engine like in the good old days.

The best way to warm up your car is to start it up, wait a few seconds and go. It takes 3-10 minutes to warm your engine so just don’t gun the engine at the start. Just take it easy.  As your engine becomes warmer the computer sensors in your car will adjust the fuel mixture to be less rich until your car’s engine heats up to 40 degrees.

Idling your car for more than 30 seconds wastes gas, causes excessive wear to cylinders, piston rings, spark plugs and can even harm your exhaust system. So to be clear with the point, idling is not an effective or wise way to warm up your car.

So unless you're driving a 1980’s vehicle which we assume your not, dress warm get in your car and go.

Regular service and maintenance is the most important thing you can do for your car to keep it running better and longer.

Learning to Save Gas Without Driving Less

With gas prices still hovering above the $2 mark you don’t have to drive less to save gas. You can help control your gas mileage by following some simple and inexpensive vehicle maintenance tips.

Most of us don’t really have an option to drive less when gas prices go up however we can cancel out some of the increases by making sure our vehicle’s are getting the maximum fuel economy available. The amount of fuel used is directly related to vehicle maintenance and driver behavior. Both can have a huge impact on how much fuel is used.

Here are some simple steps we have put together to save gas without driving less.

• Keep your car properly tuned to improve gas mileage by an average of 4 percent.
• Keeping your tires properly inflated can improve gas mileage by 3 percent.
• Replace clogged and dirty air filters on older vehicles to improve gas mileage by as much as 14 percent.
• Replace old and dirty spark plugs. Dirty plugs reduce gas mileage by 2 miles per gallon
• Change your oil regularly and gain another mile per gallon.
• Check your gas cap. Damaged, loose or missing gas caps allows gas to vaporize into the air.
• Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly above 60 mph
• Avoid excessive idling. Idling gets Zero miles per gallon. Warming up the vehicle for 1 - 2 minutes is sufficient
• Avoid quick starts and stops. Aggressive driving can lower gas mileage by 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent in the city.
• Consolidate trips. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much gas as one longer multi-purpose trip
• Don’t haul around unneeded items in your trunk. An extra 100 pounds in the trunk reduces fuel economy by 1 - 2 percent.

I know recently as this past fall I had fallen behind on my own scheduled maintenance and on top of that I had a small oil leak (gasket) which meant I was using much more oil than I should of been using. My vehicle has a lot of miles on it and I questioned whether the money spent on maintenance and repairs would be worth it.

Many people including myself thought we were saving money by putting off needed vehicle maintenance and repairs. However what I now realize today is that by neglecting routine maintenance and repairs it could of ended up costing me a lot more in the end. I found that my own car was using a lot more oil and gas than I thought and am very fortunate that I did not blow up my engine.

So a new gasket and some spark plugs got my vehicle running amazingly like (almost) new. I have 294,000 miles on my 2011 Scion and my car really runs great and the expense of the repairs has been well worth it. I do get better gas mileage, my car runs smoother and has better get up and go !!

information supplied by The Car Care Council