Top 4 Car Myths – True or Untrue?

You hear the craziest things about how to maintain your car. And let’s admit it: most of us DO crazy things – or worse, we do things to our cars based on rumors and myths rather than concrete mechanical knowledge. In an age when most of us get 90% of our car knowledge from movies like “Gone in Sixty Seconds”, we could probably all use a little maintenance myth-busting that helps us know which mythical advice to follow and which to throw out the window.

1) Always keep your gas tank full. This is a major point of contention between my husband and me. Seeing how far I can get the needle to go below the big red E is like a sport for me – if worst comes to worst, I can always swerve to get the last remaining dregs into the combustion chamber. My husband is far more practical and points out the safety of having a full gas tank.

As it turns out, keeping a full gas tank not only means that you can jump in the car for trips to the emergency room without stopping for gas, but it also prevents water from getting in the tank. Particularly during cold winter months, condensed water forms on the inside of an empty tank, causing improper flow and, at times, stalling. I’ve had this happen numerous times; my poor little Focus even conked out on the freeway once when I’d been running it on fumes. Turns out, it just wanted a full tank to push the water out.

2) Premium gas will mean better mileage and fewer repairs. My penny-pinching side is happy to report that this is relatively bogus. With today’s fuel standards, even low and mid grades of gasoline have detergents and other additives that keep everything running smooth. Additionally, the mileage you’ll gain with premium isn’t nearly big enough to justify the cost. Unless you have a supercharged engine or a Hemi, premium doesn’t make much of a difference.

3) Always warm up your car. As unpleasant as it is to slosh through powder in your pajamas, this one is actually an excellent idea, as it benefits both driver and the car. Particularly on those nostril-freezing winter mornings Michigan is so famous for, giving your car a few minutes to warm allows it to move oil and other fluids to where they need to go. The difference in car function can be tantamount to the safety difference between a driver stepping into a warm interior and gazing out of a clear windshield and a driver gripping an icy steering wheel and asthmatically jerking from the cold.

4) Wait a while before going through a car wash after repairs. I was shocked to see in our analytics report that someone had searched the term “how long after repairs can I go through the carwash”, but hey – I’ve believed crazier myths. Let’s let Rob tackle this question: “I am surprised how frequently this question comes up and have found that most of the questioners have had body repairs done to their vehicles where the body man recommended waiting a certain period before washing the car. In the mechanical repair field, there are very few situations where the vehicle cannot be washed or driven right away. If such an occasion arises, typically, the vehicle is kept for follow-up and road testing to ensure a complete repair.”

Safe driving!

Know What You Are Doing

Many of today’s autos have timing belts. If you keep up with all the necessary services today’s automobiles are engineered to last well over 100,000 miles. Your auto, being in good shape now has 50,000 plus miles on it and you plan on keeping it. You will now have to consider the big expensive service. The Timing Belt.

This timing belt is made of the same basic materials that the other drive (fan) belts are made of. The timing belt is probably one of the more expensive and more important maintenance items you will have to do. Follow your manufacturer’s time and mileage recommendations for this service. Many of today’s engines are called “interference engines”. This means if your timing belt skips or breaks the valve and pistons are no longer in sync and will hit each other causing very extensive damage internally to the point of having to replace the complete engine itself.

If you plan on replacing the timing belt yourself you best be very mechanically inclined. Replacing this belt on a four cylinder engine is not all that difficult if you know what you are doing. Replacing this belt on a six cylinder engine, especially a transverse engine, can be over bearing for the average backyard do-it-yourselfer. If the engine is not an interference type and belt timing is off by a few teeth the worse that will happen is the engine not running properly and the belt has to be re-timed. If the engine is an interference type and the belt is off by too many teeth the valves and piston will hit each other, so by trying to save money you have just ruined the entire engine. Think twice or three times before attempting this belt replacement by yourself. Some things are better left to pros even if it costs more. Don’t forget, at least this way you have a certain warrantee on the repair should something go wrong.

Choosing not to do the timing belt when the service is due can lead to the same engine damage should this belt skip a few teeth or break from age

Differen types of car engines

Engine to a car is like a heart to a human person. It functions by the principle of combustion or burning the fuel. There are different methods of classifying car engines. This classification is usually done according to the number of cylinders, the type of fuel used, and the arrangement of cylinders.
Type of fuel used
A car engine may either use petrol (gasoline) or diesel. Petrol engines use spark plugs for ignition. Diesel engines on the other hand use compression for ignition. The diesel engine is quite heavier than the gasoline engine. The gasoline (petroleum) engines are more common than diesel engines.
Number of cylinders
A car engine can have from three to twelve cylinders. The number of cylinders affects the power of the car. An eight-cylinder engine would be more powerful than a four-cylinder engine, though it would also consume a lot more fuel.
Arrangement of cylinders
In a car engine, you will find the cylinders are usually arranged in one of two ways. The cylinders could be inclined in a ā€œVā€ shape or in a straight row. In that case, V-8 engine is an engine with eight cylinders inclined in a V shape. The earliest form of engine was known as the rotary cylinder engine. The cylinders in a rotary engine are arranged in a round manner with the crankshaft surrounded by a revolving block of cylinders. However, the rotary engines are quite rare today.
Other classifications
Engines may also be classified as to how they cool. A car may either use liquid coolant or air coolant. A car engine may also be classified according to the number of strokes, that is, four stroke, eight stroke and so on. Final thing to add here is that car engines can also have either a timing chain or a timing belt. Timing belt serves to regulate the timing of the valves of the engine. Timing chains may last longer than timing belts as they do not stretch and wear out due to tension.