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What Each Dad Must Know About Today's Cars

By: Adam Wolfe The job to school children about several of the little aspects of life is perhaps one of the most testing feature of being a father. We usually see ourselves giving those lectures or advice on their education,women,sports and family to our kids as they become adults.

One of the things that lots of dads’ set aside to teach their children are about cars. Every father attempts to be a little competent at this area, tendering what appears like encyclopedic knowledge to his kids. As the technology that concerns automotives develops over the years, and as we obtain our individual understanding with the modern cars that we have the privilege of owning, we observe ourselves making out some flaws to our Father's nuggets of car wisdom.

Tech magazine Popular Mechanics has been probing into some of the many errors that dads hold on to as accurate. With the help of specialists in the automotive industry Popular Mechanics came up to setting staright ten well held myths that have to do with our vehicles.

MYTH: Idling can warm up the engines during icy days.

TRUTH: "Engines runs most excellently at their design temperature." By driving at fair speeds this ideal temperature can be realized faster. Recent oils are not influenced as much by the chilly temperature and flows just as well. This makes idling just wear away 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 previously, especially for cars that were tricky to restart or for those with repeatedly flooded carburetors, this may no longer be true today. Experts say that approximately no fuel is in reality taken up in such instance. When a car is already running and the engine is already warm, restarting ones engine does not utilize as much fuel as earlier thought. This is the cause why new line ups of hybrids shut down at the traffic lights.

MYTH: Cleaning the wiper blades will be better than finding a replacement.

TRUTH: Wiper blades are exposed to several elements that bring them age. Some mineral spirits and petroleum based solvents even break the rubber further destroying these. Sunlight, heat as well as different chemicals will make your blades unsuitable for prolonged use after a while. Though cleaning them regularly with solvent will get rid of the dirt, this does not imply that one can overlook 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 keep one's engine clean and may even do well for some cars which run on premium. Though a number of owners manual advocate this, doing so may prove to be foolish.

MYTH: Keep cinder blocks in the trunk for added traction

TRUTH: Though true for pick up trucks or rear drive cars, this may not be valid for several of our cars today. Many new cars already have load on their drive wheels. When one lays some extra weight on the trunk, this may lower the weight on the drive wheels hurting vehicle traction. Handling and mileage may also be affected.

MYTH: In icy weather, pump the pedal prior to starting

TRUTH: This error actually was true when cars had auto parts like carburetors and chokes. Pumping before starting the car sets the choke and produces a nicer starting mixture. With the advent of fuel injected engines, pumping the pedals may not do anything extra.

MYTH: Putting antifreeze in the radiator

TRUTH: Water may be more efficient than glycol in eliminating heat from engines. Glycol makes up most coolants. This chemical proves to be damaging to gaskets and may harden before a mixture of glycol and water offering less protection for cold weather.

MYTH: Oil does not wear out and necessitate a just little topping off every now and then.

TRUTH: Though true technically, some of oil's critical additives get exhausted over time. The benefits of changing a car's oil and filter and eliminating crud may also increase ones engine performance.

MYTH: Disconnect the batteries when parking for an extended period of 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 attention. The driveability of the car may suffer when the computer seeks to reprogram itself. The use of trickle charge may prove to be a better alternative today.

MYTH: Use all season tire so there is no need to buy snow tires

TRUTH: This is all about marketing The manufacturers of the all season tires were good in persuading people of how they are effective all year round. Tire makers today, however, explicate that snow tires have threads that stay pliable in the cold and are aggressive to catch on the road surface.