With the weather getting colder, you might be tempted to start your vehicle up, let it idle for 15 or 20 minutes and then get in the nice, cozy cabin.  Some vehicles offer remote starting that let you do that from the comfort of your home or apartment.  But is letting your vehicle idle like that good for it?

Manufacturers say it doesn’t harm the vehicle.  They say it’s because modern vehicles are made differently from those in the past.  Just about all newer vehicles employ fuel injection which uses computers to adjust the amount of gasoline that goes into the cylinders.  The engine gets only the fuel it needs, taking conditions into account.

Older vehicles, on the other hand, used to use carburetors.  When you started a cold engine, the carburetor wasn’t able to adjust the gasoline amount depending on conditions.  Some of the gasoline would mix with oil and the pistons wouldn’t get the same lubrication as they would with undiluted oil.

So yes, you can warm up your newer vehicle for your own personal comfort.  But consider how much fuel you are wasting.  That is not only throwing away money, it’s a waste of natural resources.  And it puts more carbon into the atmosphere. 

Automakers have to be mindful of what fuel economy their vehicles can achieve.  So the flip side of the remote starts they offer is a “stop-start” feature.  When you stop your vehicle, even at a stoplight, your vehicle will turn the engine off.  When you take your foot off the brake and step on the accelerator, it starts up right away.  That feature can save as much as 10 percent of the fuel your vehicle uses. 

Your vehicle may not have that start-stop feature, but you can still save fuel by shutting off your engine manually if you are waiting somewhere, like a parking lot or perhaps sitting outside your child’s school waiting to pick him or her up.  It saves you money and contributes to a healthier atmosphere for our planet.

In your engine, valves over each combustion chamber open to allow fresh air in, close during the combustion event, and then other valves open to let out the exhaust. All of this happens over and over thousands of times a minute when you are driving around St. Peter. The timing belt’s important job is to make sure that all of this happens as it should – at precisely the right time. If the timing is off, your engine won’t run efficiently or maybe not at all – so a good timing belt is important. If it should break, you could end up at Autotronics of St. Peter with expensive engine damage.

Ask your friendly and professional Autotronics of St. Peter service advisor when your timing belt is scheduled for replacement.

Give us a call.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com

Higher St. Peter fuel prices aren’t going away any time soon. That’s not good news for our wallets. A lot of St. Peter drivers are trying to find ways to cut down on fuel consumption and hang on to some of their hard-earned money.

North Americans drive billions of miles less during months of high fuel prices. That’s right, billions. Of course MN vehicle owners can’t stop driving altogether, so we still need to find other ways to cut fuel bills.

Preventive maintenance at Autotronics of St. Peter in St. Peter and good vehicle care can actually pay for themselves by lowering our fuel consumption. Here’s a real-life example of how that can work.

A family planned a four-day camping trip. Before leaving, they took their SUV into Autotronics of St. Peter for an oil change. They flushed the cooling system, serviced all three differentials and cleaned the fuel system. They replaced the PCV valve and breather element. Then they checked the tires to ensure they had enough air.

This was several hundred dollars in maintenance and repair. You may be thinking how the family could possibly recoup the cost in gas and save money. First of all, the repairs all needed to be done anyway. Even if the costs aren’t recouped, many of them will pay for themselves by preventing even more costly repairs later. Also, the family had planned and budgeted for the routine maintenance, so it didn’t cut into their trip allowance.

The SUV pulled a one-ton trailer and hauled everything the family needed on their camping trip. At the end of the trip, the owner was surprised to learn the SUV had actually gotten better gas mileage than it ever had before—even with that heavy load. The repairs and maintenance at Autotronics of St. Peter had improved the gas mileage by 25%! The family saved $48.00 in gas on their four-day trip. And they are continuing to reap rewards from the improved mileage.

So what can you do to save fuel? First, stay caught up on routine maintenance at Autotronics of St. Peter. Almost every maintenance item listed in your owner’s manual will maintain or improve your fuel economy. Second, take your vehicle into Autotronics of St. Peter for scheduled tune-ups. And third, take care of needed repairs. You may be surprised at how much you save at the pump and probably with the improved vehicle performance as well.

If your Check Engine light is on, find out why and take care of it. Some of the problems that set off that warning light can seriously reduce fuel efficiency.

As you schedule preventive maintenance, don’t forget your tires. Proper tire pressure and wheel alignment are both essential to good fuel economy.

Here’s some more auto advice about some simple things you can do to improve fuel economy, beyond maintenance and repairs:

Dump the junk. More weight in your car equals more fuel. You’d be surprised how much stuff people carry around in their cars. That adds up to a lot of extra fuel. One hundred pounds of extra stuff in your vehicle can add up to the loss of one mile per gallon of fuel.

Get the lead out. No, don’t speed up, slow down. Get the lead out of your right foot. The single biggest drain for most St. Peter vehicles is speeding or sudden accelerations. Slow down and go easy on turns and lane changes, and don’t treat every stoplight and stop sign like a green flag. These small changes can add up to quite a bit of change in your pockets.

We haven’t mentioned the pills you can drop in your gas tank or special devices you can hook on your fuel line in order to increase fuel efficiency. There’s a simple reason for that: they don’t exist. There may be some truth behind some of these claims, but most of them are full-out scams. And if any of these things do actually help, it’s not nearly as much as the things we’ve listed here.

Be smart. Your vehicle and your wallet will thank you for it.

Autotronics of St. Peter
111 Jefferson Avenue
St. Peter, MN 56082
507.934.9290
http://autotronicsstpeter.com