Newsletter No 40
February 2004
REFLECTION
Well,
we all survived last year – whew! I am very thankful that I have
a business with such thoughtful and wonderful people as clients.
Frankly, it makes it all worthwhile.
I know that we have been
somewhat harried and not quite as focused as normal – we expected that
to happen with a newborn in the mix. What came as such a
wonderful surprise was the tremendous support we got from you.
How can we thank you for: baby clothes, baby accessories such as
swings, thoughtful advice and most of all patience when we were a
little slow returning a call or getting to the phone.
WINTER THEMES
With this cold weather, it’s definitely time for a discussion of winter issues.
I
was listening to a Click and Clack episode the other week, and a caller
was wondering what could be wrong with her car. She took a little
trip out of town and burned through a tank full of gas in almost half
the normal number of miles. She was afraid something was terribly
wrong, but it “seemed to run fine”. The answers they gave were
pretty good. (It seems that they are either completely right or
completely wrong with their answers.) First, they asked her
what part of the country she was in, and how cold it was when she took
the trip. As it turned out, the weather was pretty cold.
Many
people don’t realize how much their fuel economy will drop when the
temperatures drop. My unofficial guide is this: you
will see a big change at temperatures below freezing, another big drop
below zero, and another big step down around fifteen to twenty below.
A STICKY SITUATION
One
of the reasons for the drop in fuel economy is that the mineral oils
and greases in the chassis and drive train become really sticky in the
cold weather. I know that when pushing “dead” cars into the
shop, they become unmovable (except with another vehicle) when
the temperature is below minus fifteen.
A car averaging thirty
mpg in the summer may drop into the low twenties for most of the winter
and down to fifteen mpg during really cold spells. Yup, that’s
right, just half of the normal mpg.
If your car gets better
mileage than this, you are doing well. One reason can be
that the manufacturers are using more synthetic (i.e., non-mineral)
oils and greases in building the cars. These help a vehicle roll
more easily.
Synthetic fluids are significantly more expensive
than mineral fluids, and they can add significantly to the cost of
maintenance. No gain without a pain, right?
What
about using synthetic oil in the engine? There are good
reasons and bad reasons for doing this. Bad reasons first.
Synthetics cost more, and that’s really their only flaw.
If
you want to use synthetic in the engine and expect to recover the added
cost of the oil by getting better fuel economy, it is just not going to
happen. If you think your engine will last
significantly longer, that’s not going to happen either. A
well-maintained modern engine is capable of 200,000 miles without the
use of synthetic engine oil.
However, there are some very good reasons for switching to synthetic oil .
Synthetic
oil is very pure, and does not pick up and hold moisture as
easily as a regular oil. Moisture and impurities in regular
oils are why you need to change the oil every four months, regardless
of the miles accumulated. The engine corrodes from the inside out
if you don’t change regular oil often enough.
Low mileage
drivers, take note! You should be using synthetic oil and
changing it based on mileage alone. I use synthetic oil in my
classic cars that get driven very little every year.
The second
quality of note of synthetic oils is, as discussed earlier, that they
do not thicken up as much when cold. This doesn’t do much for you
until the temperatures get really cold. If, for example,
you have a cabin on the Gunflint Trail where it can easily get to
thirty or forty below, the synthetic will make a difference when you
try to start your car.
So these are the two scenarios
where changing to synthetic engine oil is beneficial and
cost-effective: very low annual mileage and extreme cold
conditions.
PUMP IT UP
Now back to the Tappet
Brothers. Another question they asked the caller was whether she
had checked the tire pressures before she took off on her trip.
Okay, I would like a show of hands of everyone whose tires have
been checked within the last week. You get the Good Car Owner
Award if you answer yes!
Tires can create a significant
amount of drag. The higher the pressure in the tire, the lower
the drag. When the pressure gets below twenty psi, the drag increases
enormously. And this is going to decrease fuel economy.
Low tire
pressure can lead to blowouts, and if you have a top-heavy car like an
SUV, it can cause a roll over. Low pressure makes the tire more
vulnerable to damage from objects or potholes in the road, too.
So,
if high pressure is so good, why not pump them up to fifty or so?
Every tire made has a maximum inflation pressure molded into the
side. You should never exceed this pressure (when checked cold,
before driving). Most passenger car tires are 36 psi maximum,
with an increasing number of the so-called low rolling resistance tires
having a maximum of 44 psi.
So, your tires were checked a month ago, and they never lose air. Why should you check them again so soon?
Tire
pressures can become dangerously low simply with temperature
changes. As the temperatures drop, the pressures drop. This
is known as Boyle’s Law. (And you thought your high school and
college chemistry classes weren’t relevant!) In the fall and
early winter, we see a surge of tire problems.
So what else
did Click and Clack have to say? Well, not too much more that was
really relevant. Wind was mentioned as a factor in fuel
consumption, and indeed it is. What they didn’t mention is the
density of the air, which is probably as significant as some of the
wind factors; but let’s move on, shall we?
PREHEATING
Another
“hot” winter issue I get asked about is whether to let the car warm up
before driving. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well,
that depends. The manufacturers universally say DON’T DO
IT. Those of us living in very cold climates universally DO IT
anyway. Who is right?
Here are some things to think about.
An unattended running car can do something bad, like start a fire or
self-destruct. Rarely, but I have seen it more than once.
Never run a car unattended in a garage or other enclosure (fire hazard
and a carbon monoxide hazard, too).
If a car has been
sitting outside and is cooler than the surrounding air, driving before
the heater is working can be a safety hazard. Your windows can
suddenly fog or frost on the outside, and blind you. This is
especially true in spring and fall with temperatures around freezing.
If
you pull out onto a sloppy road and get a load of slush on your cold
windshield, your wipers will have a hard time without a little warmth
from the heater and the interior.
And, some cars are
just hard to drive until they get a bit warm. This is especially
a problem with manual transmissions that won’t shift properly until
warm. If this is very apparent with your car, it may be that the
oil in the transmission is too old or the incorrect type. This is
a very easily fixed problem.
In summary, try to minimize the
time your car is idling. Cars were not designed to be rolling
saunas. Don’t go to the other extreme though. We have all
seen the guy who was in such a hurry that he scraped out just a small
porthole in the ice on the windshield before blindly driving away.
PRIUS UPDATE
Last
fall’s newsletter article about the Prius generated more interest
than I could possibly have imagined. With our information and
encouragement, at least three people have purchased or ordered new
Priuses. This makes me happy. (I only wish I got a
commission from Toyota…) Toyota has seen a level of demand for
the cars that they cannot possibly meet, so they’re ramping up
production. Maybe the other automakers will take notice and
reenergize (or energize) their hybrid programs.
With our
driving habits remaining the same, we saw a significant drop in our
fuel economy as winter blew in. Summer averages for a tank were a
little over fifty mpg. As the temperatures fell below freezing,
we slipped into the forties. The very short spell of below zero
temps put the meter on the thirty-eight and thirty-nine mpg
marks. It has gone up into the forties again since then.
BATTERY TENDERS
We
are now selling miniature battery chargers known as “Battery
Tenders”. These are designed for low mileage cars, or cars that
don’t necessarily get driven every day.
What these devices do is
keep a full charge in the battery. We install the leads into the
battery, and when you park the car in the garage, you plug the device
into an electrical outlet.
No more getting home from a great vacation only to discover a dead car!
If you’re interested, give us a call.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Stop in to visit us, or if you have any questions about your cars, call us at 651-635-0395.
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