A lot of traditional automotive wisdom just doesn't hold up
by
Jim Dunne, Popular Mechanics, January 2007 DAD SAID: "Let the engine idle to warm up on cold days." BUT: Idling just wears the engine without budging the odo. Les Ryder, chief powertrain engineer at Ford, says, "Engines run best at their design temperature." To get there sooner, start by driving at moderate speeds. Your engine will be okey: Modern oils flow fine in cold weather.
"RESTARTING THE ENGINE USES MORE GAS THAN IDLING." Why do you think all these new hybrids shut down the engine at traffic lights? It takes almost no fuel to restart a warm engine. If you had a car that was hard to restart, and the carburetor(remember them?) flooded regularly, this may have had a germ of truth, but no longer.
"DON'T REPLACE WIPER BLADES, JUST CLEAN THEM WITH SOLVENT."Mineral spirits and other petroleum-based solvents kill rubber. Occasionally wiping the blades with alcohol removes dirt, but the rubber blades still deteriorate with age and sunlight, and must be replaced regularly.
"FILL UP WITH PREMIUM EVERY FEW TANKFULS." Unless your owner's manual recommends it, you're wasting money. Regular-grade gas has the additives to keep your engine clean. In fact, modern engines rated for premium will run relatively well on regular-you'll lose a little zip, but you'll save a few bucks.
"KEEP CINDER BLOCKS IN THE TRUNK FOR TRACTION." If you have a pickup or rear drive car, some weight over the drivewheels can help in the slop. But a front-drive can already has the weight over the drivewheels: Junk in the trunk will unload them, hurting traction. Extra weight hurts handling and mileage, so don't overdo it.
"PUMP THE PEDAL BEFORE STARTING IN COLD WEATHER." This was true when cars had carburetors and chokes. A couple of extra squirts of gas meant a richer starting mixture. It also set the choke. Fuel-injected engines automatically adjust mixture-pumping the pedal does nothing. So fight that impulse and just turn the key.
"FILL THE RADIATOR WITH PURE ANTI-FREEZE." Wrong. Coolants are mostly glycol, and too much glycol can damage gaskets. Pure glycol freezes before a glyco/water mix does, so it provides less cold-weather protection. Also, glycol isn't as effective as water at removing heat from the engine.
"OIL NEVER WEARS OUT JUST TOP IT OFF ONCE IN A WHILE." Technically, this is true. But as Robert Sutherland of Pennzoil notes, "The oil's critical additives do get depleted." Besides, changing a car's oil and filter eliminates built up crud.
"IF YOU PARK FOR A LONG TIME, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY." The car always draws some current and can run down the battery in a month or so. But if the battery is disconnected, the engine computer has to reprogram itself-and driveability suffers until it does. Plus you'll have to reset the clock and radio. The fix? Attach a trickle charger.
"NO NEED FOR SNOW TIRES, ALL-SEASONS DO A FINE JOB." Don't blame Dad. When all-season tires appeared, the tiremakers spent a lot of time and money convincing us of their year-round capability. Today, they're happy to explain why snow tires are better. Bridge-stone engineering manager Mark Kuykendall says, "Snow tires have treads that remain pliable in the cold and are aggressive to catch the road surface."
