Maintenance for Fuel Efficiency

Maintenance for Fuel Efficiency

Car maintenance is one of the most important things you can do to help reduce gasoline consumption:

• Check Tire Pressure. Check your tire pressure at least once a month, when the tires are cold. Under-inflated tires can increase fuel consumption by 3 - 5% and are a safety risk too!
• Oil and Filter Changes. Perform these regularly. Oil breaks down over time, creating an inefficient, fuel-wasting vehicle. Clogged filters also disrupt the engine's natural flow.
• Tune Up. Follow a regular schedule for tune-ups. Keeping your car healthy will not only save you money, but also reduces gasoline consumption and emissions. A poorly tuned vehicle can burn up to twice as much fuel as a well-maintained one!

Idling gets you Nowhere

If you are going to be idling for 10 seconds or more, turn your engine off!

Canadian drivers idle their engines for an average of 5 - 10 minutes a day. Add these minutes together and that's enough time to keep one car running for 144 years! This needless idling means millions of litres of fuel (not to mention money) are simply being burned away. Contrary to popular belief, idling your car will actually damage your engine! And in areas where excessive idling is common (like around school zones) serious health effects have been exposed.

Damaging Your Car

You may think you need to warm up your car by letting the motor run (especially in the winter) but this is not the case. Idling will damage your car, no matter how you look at it. Not only will you needlessly pay more in gas costs, but also in maintenance from wear and tear on your vehicle's engine.

When you idle your car, the engine is not operating at its full capacity. The fuel combustion process is incomplete and the fuel is not being burned efficiently. Incomplete combustion means you need more gas than you would ordinarily need and this costs you more money.

Incomplete combustion leaves fuel residues inside your engine that can condense on cylinder walls. Once condensed on these walls, this residue can contaminate your car's oil and damage other parts of the engine (such as the spark plugs) where residue tends to deposit. Dirty spark plugs can increase your fuel consumption by four to five percent. Idling can also lead to water condensation in your vehicles exhaust system, leading to corrosion.

It is a common myth that turning your engine off and on will do more damage than idling. In fact, it is quite the opposite. Damage to the starting components adds only an estimated $10 a year to your driving costs. This will be made up many times over in fuel and maintenance savings from not idling!

The Cold Start

With today's technology you need no more than 30 seconds of idling to warm up your vehicle's engine. Even on winter days!

Idling your engine to warm it up does ONLY that! The wheels, wheel bearings, steering, suspension, transmission and tires also need to warm up! Idling does not do this! The best way to warm up your ENTIRE car in the colder months is to drive it after starting the engine for 30 seconds.

How Can You Minimize Your Idling?

• Minimize your warm-up idling.
• Do all your ice scraping before you turn on your car.
• Use the defogger!
• Use a block heater on a timer.
• Stopped for more than 10 seconds? Turn it off!
• Avoid the use of drive-thrus.
• Avoid the use of remote car starters.