What Each Dad Should Know About Today's Cars

A free article on Cars

By: Chris Rhines

The duty to teach children about lots of the little aspects of life is perhaps one of the most demanding facet of being a father. We usually see ourselves giving those sermon or advice on their education,sports,women and family to our kids as they grow.

Many dad's reserve to teach their children about cars. Every father attempts to be a little proficient at this area, giving what appears like encyclopedic knowledge to his kids. As the technology that governs automotives changes over the years, and as we acquire our own skills with the new cars that we have the opportunity of owning, we notice ourselves making out some flaws to our Father's nuggets of car wisdom.
order: :2:2:Tech magazine Popular Mechanics has been looking into some of the various mistaken beliefs that dads cling to as facts.
MYTH: Idling can prepare the engines during icy days.
TRUTH: "Engines operate most excellently at their design temperature." Current oils are not influenced as much by the cold temperature and flows just as well. This causes idling to just wear out the engine without budging the odometer.
MYTH: It is better to idle the engine than to restart it in terms of gas consumption
TRUTH: Though true some time ago, especially for cars that were hard to restart or for those with commonly flooded carburetors, this may no longer be accurate today. order: :3:3:When a car is already running and the engine is already warm, restarting ones engine does not use up as much fuel as before thought.
MYTH: Cleaning the wiper blades will be better than acquiring a replacement.
TRUTH: Some mineral spirits and petroleum based solvents even kill the rubber further destroying these. Though cleaning them often with solvent will get rid of the dirt, this does not indicate that one can flout replacing the wipers when they are already worn out.
MYTH: Every few tankfuls, fill up with Premium
TRUTH: Regular grade gas has the additives to maintain one's engine clean and may even do well for some cars which run on premium.
MYTH: Keep cinder blocks in the trunk for supplementary traction
TRUTH: Though accurate for pick up trucks or rear drive cars, this may not true for a lot of our cars today. When one places some added weight on the trunk, this may decrease the weight on the drive wheels hurting vehicle traction. Handling and mileage may also become a problem.
MYTH: In cold weather, pump the pedal prior to starting
TRUTH: order: :3:3:With the arrival of fuel injected engines, pumping the pedals may not produce anything extra.
MYTH: Putting antifreeze in the radiator
TRUTH: Glycol makes up most coolants.
MYTH: Oil does not wear out and require a just little topping off every now and then.
TRUTH: order: :2:2:Though true technically, some of oil's critical additives get depleted after some time.
MYTH: Disconnect the batteries when parking for a long time.
TRUTH: Though it is true that the car does not rest in drawing current from the batteries and may completely use it up in a month or so, disconnecting the batteries may result in further problems. Radio and clock may also require some resetting. Today, a trickle charge may be a better alternative to this practice.
MYTH: All season tires will be better than getting snow tires
TRUTH: This is all about marketing The manufacturers of the all season tires were good in swaying people of how they are capable all year round. Tire makers today, however, make clear that snow tires have threads that remain pliable in the cold and are aggressive to catch on the road surface.