1.  Your engine is never fuel efficient until it is completely warmed up.  And, remember, you will pollute more during the warm-up phase too, since the lowest pollution phase isn’t acheived until the engine has reached normal operating temperature.

2. Many people use their remote starter or start their vehicle and let them idle for long periods until the car is warmed up and/or the windows are defrosted.

3. People don’t drive the same distances in the winter as they in summer.  Often it is more shorter trips – grocery store and back, this type of thing.  For those that never drive for more than 15-20 minutes during freezing days, may find that they only drive during this  warm-up cycle, which is not as fuel efficient as when the engine is hot.

4. During winter months, your vehicle will also consume more electrical and horsepower energy in order to run your lights more during dark days, your wipers more during dirty winter days, your heater on full blast (your cars A/C will cycle during any defrost mode with air blowing up on the windshield), and even your rear defroster on more often.  These items consume energy which, in the end, is robbed from the vehicles horsepower demands and therefore more fuel is consumed to run them.

The ANSWER:

The best thing you can do is start your car and drive away as soon as the windows clear (within 30 seconds of starting is the best, if possible).  During this warm-up period, you should drive you car more gently, until the oil reaches its peak performance at full operating temperature.  The reason you should drive away as soon as possible is to reduce the amount of warm-up time required to get the engine hot.  When you step on the gas and go, you are increasing the RPM of the engine and it will warm up faster at these higher RPM’s.  At the same time, the fuel that you may have consumed just sitting in the driveway idling may be enough to carry you to work and back!

And lastly, avoid using your remote starter for any longer than a few minutes before you get outside to clean your windshield.  If you are one of those people that keep re-starting the vehicle after the remote starter has timed out from running too long, you know who I’m talking too   Bottom line is that if you have a remote starter and you never get in your car until it’s warm inside, prepare to stop more often for gas!

On the other hand, there may actually be something wrong with the fuel mileage.  There are many possiblities, but the most common culprits are degraded or failed oxygen sensors and weak thermostats.  The oxygen sensor(s) is one of the main sensors responsible for controlling fuel consumption.  The thermostat is the one part that controls the engine temperature.  If it is weak, it may not allow the engine to get to operating temperature on a cold day, keeping the engine running during the poor fuel economy phase of the warm-up cycle.

Phil

You can renew them online at the Service Ontario Website.

Also, there are now 3 locations in Kingston to get them:

(I recommend that you stay away from these during lunch time!)

1.  Service Ontario, northeast corner of Bath Rd. and Gardiners Rd., 1650 Bath Rd.  (Map)

2.  Service Ontari0, across from the Kingston Centre at Unit 401, 1055 Princess St. (Map)

3.  Service Ontario Kiosk in the Cataraqui Town Centre, beside Tim Hortons on the lower level, near the food court.

Don’t take my word for it, watch these six short videos.

1.  They will help preserve the condition of your summer wheels/rims in pristine condition

2.  Once the rims are paid for, they will save you time and money each spring and fall.  It will usually take less than half the time and likely only a third or less the cost to have your winter rims and tires bolted on in the spring and fall as opposed to having winter tires installed and balanced on your existing rims.  Usually the savings is anywhere from $60-80 less for installation, depending on where you have them installed.  After 2 years (on and off twice per year), most rims will pay for themselves in cost savings, let alone the time savings.

3.  Less wear and tear on your tires.  Every time tires are installed on rims, they are stretched at the bead area.  As tires get older, they can actually be torn during installation as they become more brittle.  There is also less where and tear on your rims as they will have to be re-balanced each time the tire is newly mounted on the rim.  The removal and application of these wheel weights can scratch your nice rims.

4.  More environmentally friendly.  Each time tires are mounted and balanced on your rims electricity is required to do so.  There is also the requirement for new lead wheel weights for balancing and this causes most of the old wheel weights to be disposed of.  At Car Medics, we recycle all of our waste products, including lead wheel weights

Save up to $100 on a set of 4 new winter tires!  And, this is on top of Car Medics already great prices.

Find us at 37 Rigney St., Kingston, Ontario.