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Pictures of My Car Heating System

November 25, 2007 by Simon

I thought some of your may not have seen any engine heating system if you live south and as this one is connected to the Finnish electricity grid you won’t recognice the electricity connectors if you live outsitde this part of Europe.

The first part is the timer that lets me connect the heating when I get home from work and have it turn on two to four hours before I go to work the next day. I use two hours during the mild part of winter and four hours when it’s really cold.

Then theres the cable connecting the mains from the timer to the car. Theres a small handy socket in the front left of the car where I plug in the power, we also have a couple of heating sockets at work so if I’m in time I can have heater on also before leaving for home.

Inside the car the cabling goes to the block heater and to the inside heating fan.

The cable outside the car should be made of oil and cold resistant material as otherwise it will get stiff as a stick and oil on the ground can eat through normal cabling.

I included a pic of the engine even though you can’t see the heater, it’s a block heater and if you could see it it would just be a cable going into the engine block as the heater is inside the engine heating the coolant.

As you can see it’s pretty crowded in the engine compartment so I didn’t find where the heater is located but it does work so I believe it’s where it’s supposed to be.

The other part of the heating system is a heating fan heating the inside of the car making it more comfortable and melting ice of the windows saving me five minutes of idling and manual ice-removal.

The block heater helps with mileage as the engine uses less fuel when warm and the inside heater lets me take off immediatly instead of idling for five minutes while taking the ice off the windows. It also make the driving a lot more comfortable as the engine does not heat up enought to provide much heat during my 15 mintue commute.

Dedicated to improving your mileage,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

Save Gas By Preparing Your Takeoff

November 23, 2007 by Simon

I just read this article at Daily Fuel Economy Tip about little things you can do before starting your car to avoid idling. Here’s the list with some additions of my own:

Put on your seat belt

Flip through your CDs and insert your mp3 memory stick 

Adjust side and rear view mirrors

Make sure children are buckled in

Roll down your windows (yes, some people, myself included, still have cars without automatic windows)

Remove ice from the car windows in winter

Wait for your spouse to get into the car

Over at the Daily Fuel Economy Tip they talk about saving 10-30 seconds of idling. I wouldn’t go through a lot of pains for just 30 seconds myself as I have a diesel that uses very little fuel at idle and the previous owner of the car recommended to idle for 30 seconds to let the turbo get lubrication before taking off.

If you have a gas car on the other hand, or if you idle for minutes waiting for a friend or spouse to join you, there is money to be had by not starting before all passengers are on board and ready to go.

I think I should make an idle savings calculator to complement the gas mileage calculator. What do you think? Post a comment with your ideas!

Dedicatied to improving your fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

7 Ways to Stay Safe on Roads Slippery From Snow and Ice

November 17, 2007 by Simon

Winter is here and where I live in Finland we have
just had our first snow with many drivers on slippery
roads on plain summer tires.

Yesterday I was doing a 60 mile trip on smaller
rural roads where the snow had not been melted
away by heavy traffic and salt, summer tires
still on, and I thought to myself:

It’s not really dangerous or difficult to drive on
slippery roads as long as you know what to do and
when, you just have to adopt a different style of
driving and you’ll be as safe as on dry summer roads.

Rule #1: Slow down

Whatever you do you can never reach the same speed
on a slippery road as on a dry one. Always plan
for lower speeds and longer travel times.

Rule #2: Be really soft on the pedals

Normally your car is rolling on four wheels, this
makes it possible to steer it in different directions
with your steering wheel.

On slippery roads if you press the gas pedal hard
to accelerate, or if you try to break aggressively
your wheels will lock.

This turns your car into an object sliding in stead
of rolling on the ice, you will have no control
over it and it will go straight forward, or if
the road is slanted it will slide off the road

Rule #3: Keep your distance and slow down in time

One of the most common accidents at winter is to
drive into the car in front of you when it’s breaking
and you notice too late.

The solution is to always maintain a good distance
to the car in front, 50-300feet depending on your
speed. If the car in front of you slows down, you
should slow down in time so you can keep the distance.

Always slow down when you come to a crossing, even
if you don’t see any other cars near. If there’s a
surprise you will still be able to stop or turn
if you go slow enough.

Rule #4: Break safely

If you lose control when breaking you will have to
quickly and temporarily release the breaks, get
control, steer the car in the right direction
and then continue breaking.

Sometimes the only way to avoid a accident is to not
break at all and instead steer clear of the obstacle.

If your car is equipped with automatic breaking
system (ABS) it’s often better to just break and
let the car maintain control. But if it’s really
slippery even your ABS might lose control and in
that case do as above, stop breaking for a second
or two and then when you’re in control try breaking
again. Read more about your ABS system in your
cars manual.

Rule #5: Accelerate safely

Basically your car can either steer or accelerate. On
dry roads there is enough grip to both steer and
accelerate at the same time, but not on snow and ice.

Never accelerate when the road is turning, you need
your grip to handle the turn. If you have to accelerate
do it slowly and if you lose grip pull back a little
on the accelerator until you regain control of your car.

When accelerating too aggressively a rear wheel drive
car will lose grip at the read with the risk of spinning
around while a fron wheel drive car will lose grip in
front and unable to turn it will go traight where it’s
heading.

In case you’re car is equipped with a traction control
system (TCS) it will help you maintain control during
acceleration. You will find more information in your
cars manual.

Rule #6: Use good winter tires

If you have snow and ice for over a month during
winter, consider getting good snow tires. They
will shorten your breaking distance and help you
keep control of the car on slippery surfaces.

You may also want to check your local laws and
regulations in case snow tires are mandatory, or
if snow tires with spikes are not allowed at all.

You can get good snow tires at a great price
from The Tire Rack, they have a good selection
of tires, wheels, brakes, suspension and other
peformance products

Rule #7: Practice and learn

If you have a safe place to practice ice driving,
do it! Nothing can prepare your for an emergency
like trying to break and avoid an obstacle on
slippery surface.

In another blog post from this fall I teach how
to save gas during winter, read that post for simple
ways to save gas when it’s cold.

To learn your true gas mileage try the free gas
calculator we have at milesgallon.com

Boeing 727 Made Into Street Legal Limo

November 6, 2007 by Simon

I just had to post this, someone has made a limo out of a Boeing 727 complete with living room and fireplace. It’s a 24,000 pound beast and apparently someone paid $270,000 for it on eBay recently.

You can read about it at the GroovyGreen Blog

It’s will not help your fuel economy though :)  You can use the Mileage Calculator for that.

How To Prepare Your Car For Winter

by Simon

The guys over at AutoAnything was kind enough to send me some tips on how to prepare your car for winter:

Tip 1:
Whether picking up your kids from football practice or heading home from a November hunt, muddy cleats and stained camos can destroy your upholstery. An ideal way to defend your interior is with Scotchgard or another stain-repellent treatment. For a stronger layer of defense, pick up some all-weather floor liners and seat covers.

Tip 2:
Keeping the effects of Old Man Winter at bay can be a tough job. Applying a layer of wax on top of newly cleaned paint will help keep dead leaves, road muck and more from scarring your finish.

This is a tip from us at MilesGallon.com: Remember to put on your snow tires before it gets slippery in case you live in an area with freezing winter weather.

And finally a tip from one of our newsletter subscibers: Check the status of the traffic light far in advance and slow down in case you see you’ll have to stop anyway.

This will help you in two ways:

1. In case you finally have to stop you got off the accelerator earlier thus you used less fuel.

2. Often if you slow down the status of the light will change before you reach it, thus saving your from a full stop. This saves even more fuel as you will not have to accelerate from a standstill.

Dedicated to improving your fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com