Chris Friesen wrote in
el:

On 02/27/2010 03:22 PM, .. wrote:

Driving Tips:- Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to
warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling
on winter days is needed.

I disagree with this one. At -40 and below, a few more minutes makes
the engine note even out and the car feels a lot happier. That said,
I also disagree with those that idle for long periods of time...there
was a guy across the street that used to idle his truck for half an
hour before leaving.

Well, to many people around here "winter day" means 20F-40F. Not -40F
and colder. ;-) Some cars just feel cold and stiff for the first few
minutes unless you do let them run several minutes, even at 20F.

Now when you're going to be sitting for several minutes, shut that
engine off. Unless something's broke or it's really windy, the average
car isn't going to go from 72F to 20F in 20 minutes.

The part about driving in 4th gear at 20mph is pushing it a bit...I
have a 1.8L engine that doesn't develop peak power until about
6000rpm. Driving anything below 30mph in 4th means its lugging badly.

Chris

Well... That's really what the overdrive is for. Not below 30mph (I
think most cars kick them in around 50-55mph), but to reduce engine RPM
at high speed. And actually many engines are supposed to be most
efficient running around 3/4 throttle.

Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.