Stop Burning a Hole in Your Pocket Warming Your Car in Winter

Winter is a difficult time for drivers. It does it's best to wreak havoc on your gas mileage. You may be playing the part of an unwitting ally to winter's effect on your fuel economy. Improperly warming your car up could be burning a hole in your pocket.

Drivers are in the habit of warming their vehicle up in winter temperatures. Drivers seem to be under the mistaken idea that they need to warm up their car for it to operate properly. By warming up they mean idling the car for a considerable amount of time before driving. This misnomer is costing you money.

A great many car owners idle their car for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to let their cars warm up in cold temperatures. The fact is,it takes no more than 30 seconds of idling to get oil circulating in the engine before you can drive away. Do not idle your car for more than 30 seconds. Anything beyond that is a complete waste.

When you idle your car you are burning gas but not going anywhere. When that happens it means you are getting zero miles per gallon. You might think that idling your vehicle for just a few minutes or so is no big deal, but you are wrong.

To get an idea about how much fuel you are burning by letting your car idle for 5 to 10 minutes when you start it consider this. Assume you idle on the short side, only 5 minutes when you start your car in the morning. Most likely you idle for 5 minutes again, 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 of idling is equal to 20 hours. That means that by warming your car up by idling for only 5 minutes amounts to letting your car sit and idle, burning gas and going nowhere, for 20 hours. Would you ever let you car sit and idle for 20 hours? Of course not. Then why would you idle for the equivalent of 20 hours warming your car up 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.

One of the easiest things you can do to prevent the loss of fuel economy in the winter is letting your car warm up efficiently. Warm it by driving it not by idling it. Changing the way you warm your car is also good for the environment. You end up burning less fuel which slows down burning a hole in the ozone and stops the burning of that hole in your pocket.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

Scott Siegel has written a 143 page book of automotive industry insider secrets on saving gas and money at the pump (beatthegaspump.com). Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage.

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