Winter can be a difficult time for car owners. Winter does it's best to wreak havoc on your fuel economy. You may be an unwitting ally in hurting your fuel economy. How your car warms up in cold weather could burn 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.

Many car owners idle their car for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes in cold weather to let their cars warm up. You need no more than 30 seconds of idling to get your oil circulating before you can drive away. Do not let your car idle for more than 30 seconds.

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.

Therefore your car is idling for a minimum of 10 minutes a day. For illustrative purposes we consider winter to be four months long, or 120 days long. If a car is idling for 10 minutes a day for 120 days then it is idling for 1200 minutes during the winter period.

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.

To prevent the loss of fuel economy in the winter one of the easiest things you can do is warm your car not by idling it but by driving it. Changing the way you warm your car not only helps your fuel economy but it also is positive for the environment. There is less fuel burning and adding to the green house effect and there is less fuel burning a hole in your pocket.

Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual 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.

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

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