Welcome to our Articles area. Over time we have researched and produced numerous articles informing our customers of driving tips, developing trends, items of interst, and auto related humor, among other things. Some of these articles are posted here. We hope you enjoy them.
* Save on Gas -- tips.
* Cell Phones and Driving
* Sienna AWD tires
* Ethanol
* Where we get good Used Cars
* FasTrak
* Avoid Check Engine Lights
* What will we do with More Drivers
* Engine Sludge
* Economic & Ecological factors in Choosing a Hyrid
* The Meaning of the Toyota Logo
* So You Think You Need and OIl Change & Tune-Up?
* Why buy a high MPG car?
* Parasites and Modern Cars
* Reduce $$ out of Pocket when getting Car.
* What's in a Barrell?
* Hot Weather Tip
* Hybrids and Extended Service Contracts
* Gas Prices Authorize your Prius Purchase
* Molly & Harry -- Bills
* Service Poem
* Molly & Harry go to Graduation
* Molly & Harry -- Driving too Closely
* Molly & Harry -- Name that Car
* Obituary of our Founder -- Jack Schafer
* WATCH OUT FOR WHEELCHAIRS, BIKES, AND WALKERS
HOW TO SAVE 10% OR MORE ON YOUR GASOLINE BILL
Aside from driving less there are a number of well proven tricks to reduce fuel consumption. Combine a few of these and it is easy to achieve a 10% or better increase in Miles Per Gallon. It is not just about the dollars saved, it is also about less dependence on foreign oil and leaving more resources for our children. If you burn less gas you will also put less pollutants and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
· Keep it under 70. Or better yet, try to drive 65-66 MPH instead of 70 – 71. It is amazing how much difference 5 MPH can make – wind resistance goes up dramatically at high speeds. Graph is illustrative. Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
· Use cruise control when possible. It will keep your speed more stable than most drivers.
· Don’t drive right up to stops or condition where you know you are going to have to brake or slow down. Instead, lift your foot early and let it coast down.
· Understand that braking throws away the energy! You spend gas to get to speed and when you brake you just waste it. Back off.
· Don’t tailgate. You use your brakes more when you tailgate – if you have to ask why then stop reading now and go shoot yourself.
· Keep the tire pressures above the owner’s manual suggestion. Set tire pressures when the tires are cool to your touch (not driven far) and keep them below the max. pressure listed on the tire. If front and rear have different suggestions, maintain the same difference when you set them higher.
· Roll the windows up on the highway and use the air conditioning. Yes, that’s right; the A/C is more efficient than the turbulence created by open windows.
· Avoid short, single trips. Combine trips. Each time you start the car cold you get awful MPG while it warms up – and we mean awful – for example a car that gets good mileage such as a Toyota Corolla stick-shift with a 2004 EPA fuel economy rating of 32 city, 40 MPH highway, will probably only get around 12 or 25 MPH for the 1st minute of cold operation!
· Be sure to shift into the highest gear. Do not set the automatic transmission switches for “power” and be sure the “overdrive off” switch (some models) is set so the light is off, indicating the overdrive is on.
· Don’t idle for long periods. Turn it off – modern cars start just fine.
· Get the regular suggested services. A simple low tire or a dirty air filter can make a lot of difference. A dirty air filter can cost you up to 10% of your gas mileage, under-inflated tires can cost up to 3%, and a malfunctioning emissions system with a “check engine” light on may cost you up to a 40% loss in MPG!
· Use the manufacturer’s suggested grade of oil. We at Toyota Walnut Creek use 5-30w oil which is what Toyota suggests for all recent model years. A heavier oil grade can cost as much as a 1% to 2% decrease in mileage.
Driving while ….What?
Dr. Seema Clifasefi of the University of Washington tested subjects to see if they noticed a gorilla in a 25 second film clip of a basketball game. The gorilla walked through the center of the game and waved. Half the subjects were tested while at a blood alcohol level of 0.04 – only 18% noticed the gorilla!
But even completely sober people only noticed the gorilla 46% of the time. OK, it sure proves that a little alcohol is not a good idea for driving, but what about the general inattention of the sober people?
I propose – maybe they were on their cell phones.
A study by a psychologist at the University of Utah found that a person talking on a phone while driving was 5.36 times more likely to have an accident than other non-distracted drivers. This accident rate, according to Frank Drews of the University, was even worse than that for people with a 0.08 blood alcohol level; and remember, at half that blood alcohol level, only 18% noticed a gorilla.
Hands free or not, the distraction was the problem was attention, not hands. Reaction time, if they see you at all, gets 9% slower for braking. The driving style becomes sluggish because attention is divided.
Attention is the key issue. The reason that so few people, drunk or sober, noticed the gorilla is that they were focused on the basketball play. How do magicians get their tricks past us? They focus our attention on the wrong thing. Magicians have proven again and again for thousands of year that we are deceiving ourselves and we really don’t multitask very well at all, we readily put all our attention on the wrong thing and don’t even know it.
In this case the wrong thing can kill.
The National Safety Council, in conclusion of study of the problem, stated: “We suggest that the cellular phone use disrupts performance by diverting attention to an engaging cognitive context other than the one immediately associated with driving.”
Now we know that everyone who reads this article is an exceptional person and will fall into that small percentage which notices the gorilla even when drunk, but suppose you don’t? Or suppose you are that good – most of the time – what about the time you aren’t?
Be careful out there, thanks.
Reference: NYT July 11, 2006 “side effects” by James Gorman
Reference: http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/feeds/hscout/2006/06/29/hscout533489.html
June 29, 2006 “Driving while on cell phone worse than driving while drunk.”
Reference: http://www.nsc.org/library/shelf/inincell.htm
Information for Sienna 4WD owners:
The 4WD Sienna uses run-flat tires because the 4WD system occupies the space under the rear floor where there would usually be a spare tire.
Run-flat tires use a very stiff sidewall and therefore visual inspection of inflation is impossible and deceiving. We suggest that if you drive a vehicle with run-flat tires you should carry a tire gauge and verify pressures during gas stops.
Premature wear and reduced handling may result from under inflated tires.
Ethanol – is it an answer to oil shortages?
There has been a lot of hype on ethanol lately and some manufactures are promoting 85% ethanol vehicles as being environmentally friendly. But unfortunately, with current technology, ethanol results in burning more fossil fuels, not less.
According to the University of California, Berkeley, more fossil energy is required to grow, harvest, and refine ethanol than the energy that the ethanol will produce. In fact there is a 65% net loss even when all the costs of industrial agriculture are not considered, and scientists are saying that the real costs are even higher.
The reality is that 85% ethanol fuel (E85 Flex-fuel) vehicles are produced because of a kink in federal rules that allows for CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) adjustments allowing a manufacturer to build more inefficient vehicles if they build some ethanol vehicles. The intention was well-meaning, after all, ethanol vehicles produce clean exhaust, the only problem is the lack of abatement of fossil consumption, leading to emissions displacement rather than elimination.
What ethanol is really good for is as a gasoline additive, replacing the highly toxic MTBE that was in California gasoline until recently.
Gasoline requires “oxygenates” – additives to help clean burning – in order to mean current emission standards. The primary chemical was, until recently, MTBE. Studies found the use of oxygenate additive to have reduced ozone in the San Francisco area by 10%, and in LA by 18%. The trouble was that MTBE found its way in to wells and lakes.
MTBE is highly water soluble, leading to easy migration of the chemical into drinking water supplies. As a result a bill was passed in 1999 for the removal of MTBE from California gasoline supplies by 2002. Now lower sulfer gasoline (which adds to refining costs) and the addition of ethanol has assisted in smog reduction without the use of MTBE.
So ethanol has its uses, good uses, but until we can grow, harvest, and refine vegetation with a much lower energy cost, ethanol is not a solution to oil shortages or a means of reducing fossil fuel imports and dependency. A NGO, GreenCar, estimates that the US has spent $30 billion dollars on subsidies for ethanol thus far, and yet without the intended result.
As always, we urge consumers to look at fuel efficient vehicles. Toyota has a wide range of both hybrids and conventional models with low emissions and high gas mileage numbers. We hope you make the best choice for your needs.
The future may hold solutions that make ethanol a better choice, for example, if rotting garbage methane is used to fuel an ethanol plant, then no fossil fuels would be burned. If waste straw and other cellulose raw materials are used instead of corn other food-like sources, costs may drop. Lets see what happens.
How does Brazil do it? -- They use sugar cane instead of corn. Future developments may allow the US to produce ethanol more efficiently. We should also not rule out the conversion of agricultural materials to bio-diesel. The question remains when, and how much. It may be more practical to work on producing electricity from sunlight, wind, and surf motion and then using more electric cars or plug in hybrids, or using the electricity to convert water to hydrogen which is then used as fuel. Should we divert our farming resources to fuel? Or should be remain a strong exporter of food to the world?
The only thing we do know is that Toyota has a huge research budget and will be developing technologies to utilize these varied options as they develop. While E-85 may never prove the real answer, Toyota has stated that they will develop an E-85 adapted Tundra Truck for 2008.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329132436.htm provides a summary overview of the costs of producing ethanol.
http://www.zymaxusa.com/oxygenates/ provides details on oxygenates.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/ph3cbg.htm the California Air Resources broad, explains “phase 3” gasoline without MTBE.
Where do they get all those great Toyota used cars?
It may be somewhat surprising to visit Toyota Walnut Creek and see just how many Toyota Certified Used Vehicles there are, and their “like-new” condition. After all, most Toyota owners hang onto their Toyotas for a long, long time.
Toyota Walnut Creek maintains a large fleet of new Toyota rental vehicles for our service customers. We turn these cars and trucks into certified used vehicles frequently, often after only 4 to 6 months of usage. You can identify prior rentals from the stickers on the car – you will see the words “ex-daily rental.” Service customers like you & I drive reasonably, the cars are serviced on factory schedule, and soon, barely used, they are available on the used car lot with better value than buying new – including the TCUV limited warranty which exceeds the warranty on a new car!
· 84 month/100,000 miles limited powertrain warranty from original new in-service date,
· 3 month/24,000 miles comprehensive limited warranty from date of TCUV purchase,
· Includes roadside assistance for entire TCUV warranty,
· CarFax vehicle history report included.
· 160 point quality assurance inspection,
· Like new-car financing rates available through Toyota Financial Services to qualified buyers.
[Use the certified logo.]
We also obtain TCUV vehicles from Toyota itself. Such vehicles may be ex-executive vehicles, corporate vehicles, or short-term lease returns. Or you may trade one in because you just couldn’t resist the appeal of that new hybrid! Whatever the case, we have a great selection of used Toyotas that we believe in because we know they are good.
Why you need FasTrak
Are you in line while others speed through the FasTrak lane? Not for you, you think, I only go across the bridge 3 or 4 times a month…. But what you don’t realize is that aside from 5 minutes of paperwork there is no cost to you!
Here is how it works. The transponder is loaned to you for free. Once it is in your car you can just drive through the FasTrak lanes of the toll booths of most local bridges without stopping. No looking for money, no waiting in the money lane. The transponder tells the sensors at the toll station that you have passed the toll area. Your credit card is then charged the bridge toll. Simple.
When you set up your FasTrak account, they ask for a credit card number and then take a pre-paid toll amount of $40.00. Each time you cross a FasTrak bridge the display at the toll will display messages to you. If your pre-paid balance gets low, “low balance” will be displayed. FasTrak will then learn your use patterns and replenish the balance to the average monthly use that you have shown in the last 90 days.
If you close your account your balance will be refunded upon completion of a form and the return of the transponder, which can be mailed in.
Only if you need more than three transponders is a transponder deposit requirement.
All the forms and information is on line at http://www.bayareafastrak.org but if you have a hybrid and plan to use the car pool lane you want to be sure to go to click on “sign up” and use the special hybrid link that will take you to http://www.bayareafastrak.org/static/info/hybrid_instructions.shtml where the application will print with “Hybrid” written across the face and all the hybrid information will be made clear.
If you are a bay bridge driver, even occasionally, you may have noticed that the three far-right lanes were converted in June of this year to FasTrak only to speed you along.
FasTrak now works many bay area bridges:
Dunbarton bridge, Oakland-SF Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Antioch Bridge, Benicia-Martinez Bridge, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Carquinez Bridge to Vallejo, and the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. That’s eight bridges to wiz you along.
Every time you don’t have to stop in a line is not only time saved but also gasoline!
Avoid “Check Engine” lights
The most frequent reason a Toyota comes in with a check engine light on is a loose gas cap. Please always turn the gas cap until you hear the clicking noise that indicates it is fully secure.
Once the light is triggered it takes a technician with a scan tool to clear the light. In order to assure that there is not another problem the tech should also perform a system check. Avoid all this. Tighten the cap.
=====================================================
What will we do with MORE drivers?
About 10 years ago I saw a red light runner strike and kill a pedestrian. It was dusk, when things are gray and hard to see. The light had just turned and the traffic had stopped, people stepped off the curb, the cars with a green light were starting to move. Then the light runner, who had been approaching the intersection in a clear lane, gunned it. The cross traffic was now moving into the path of the light runner and he swerved. In his concentration on traffic he did not see the pedestrian beyond and by the time he did it was too late. I have picture I cannot erase in my mind; another bystander, shirt covered with blood, holding the dead woman in her arms, weeping.
If I can’t get it out of my mind, I wonder what that driver felt and what he feels now even ten years later. How has his life been since? I know I don’t want to be in his shoes – ever. How many others are? As traffic goes up, impatience does too, bringing more risks. And yet our traffic is scheduled to get worse.
The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) forecasts 330,000 additional residents in the bay area by 2030. While this may not seem like an overwhelming increase, think about the time you spend at traffic stops now. . . . Have you ever not made it through a light because the cars in front were too many or too slow? Suppose we just added 2 cars to that mess, wouldn’t it be even worse?
Unfortunately we can see these population pressures reflected in how our local drivers behave. Due to the wish to make it through an intersection we see people accelerating up to a stop (which wastes gas) so as to maintain the best position when the light turns. We see people squeezing one more car though a yellow light or even attempting to make it through as the light is red. These are dangerous trends and people are dying as a result.
Is it worth it? Can’t we all plan ahead for traffic and leave a little sooner? Can’t we take a deep breath and hold back? So what if someone gets in front of you – that is their bad, don’t make it yours.
Good news for the coming growth is that many local communities are engaged in transit planning. ABAG estimates that 25% of households and 39% of all Bay Area jobs are near a transit station or a major transit corridor. Let’s use our transportation wisely when possible. If you do have to drive I ask that you have just a little flash as you turn that key and remember the death I can’t get our of my mind; the death that makes me stop for yellow lights. Take a deep breath when facing the road and what ever it is, let it go. What you may save is your own mind.
(ABAG is the association of Bay Area Governments and is available on line at http://www.abag.ca.gov/index.html )
SLUDGE – the silent killer.
We all know about Cholesterol. If Cholesterol were a brand name it would be doing pretty well…. And we probably have heard of various other arterial clogging materials. So are you eating better? Well, we will leave that one to you. But what about your car?
Vehicles are being made better and better today and our technicians are morphing into computer and electronics specialists as new cars seem to become NASA space shuttles loaded with electronics. But irrespective of the make of your car, the dealers are still keeping around techs who know how to repair or replace engines, transmissions, and other “heavy metal.” Sure, some of the work is due to extreme mileage and the old age of the car, some of it may be due to other random failures, but for the past decade or so dealerships have also seen another group of repair issues caused by sludge.
Almost every manufacturer of automobiles has had consumer complaints about sludge and the consequences of sludge. Sludge is generally thought of as oil sludge, but coolant sludge and brake fluid sludge are also causes of failures.
First, oil sludge. Oil is harmed by air in the hot engine environment. Oxidation results, creating acidity, increased viscosity, darker color, surface deposits, and varnish. Increased viscosity means the oil gets thicker, that is, it turns into sludge. This may be surprising to people over fifty who remember oil getting thinner and gushing out of their car like water, but things just aren’t the same anymore. Paraffin (a form of wax) come from petroleum and unless you are buying a synthetic, your engine contains cycloparaffins that are not completely stable.
At the lowest level oils are solvent refined and are not rebuilt for durability – these are the oils of yesterday but you need to read the oil can and avoid them – the next level up is hydrocracked oil (refining crude at 750f and 500 psi hydrogen), producing GF-3 oils – current normal engine oil with SL classification on the oil can. This is the normal engine oil of today. Some oils are a blend of types and contain enough of the better oil to meet specifications, but still partially vulnerable because of their weaker partial blend. Other than the specifications on the can, there is no way for the consumer to know all the details of an oil.
In the fall of 2004 the oil companies responded to auto manufacturers requests by supplying GF-4 specification oil. This oil has more hydrocracked blend and specific additives adapted to the new specification. Note that even this new specification is generally only to allow an oil change interval not to exceed 7,500 miles because of the changed demands of modern engines. Toyota Walnut Creek uses GF-4 spec’ed oil unless a customer requests the more expensive synthetic product.
As auto manufacturers push to reduce maintenance, suggested oil change intervals may leave the 5,000 or 7,500 interval behind and end up at as much as 25,000 miles – but only if severe hydrocracking is performed at 800 to 900f with 1,500 to 3,000 psi of hydrogen. Then the waxy straight-chain paraffins are converted into more stable saturated paraffins. These new oils require typically a half-billion dollar refinery investment to support the more complex cracking process and the resultant oils are synthetic oil equivalents. We expect to see a trend towards these expensive oils in the future, especially for the high-line pricey cars.
Modern engines expose oils differently and modern oils are made differently. Depending on what you are driving you may be shocked to learn that as little as 15,000 miles without an oil change can lead to serious problems! But we also consider the 3,000 mile oil change as too soon.
Modern oils have additives to reduce oxidation and acidity but wear particles and soot from combustion blow-by will still accumulate. Even with additives some engines and driving conditions expose oil in ways that accelerate oxidation and sludge. Oil filters are not all the same and the filtration of particulate matter is important. We suggest using Toyota oil filters. Cut open a cheap oil filter and see the difference.
Secondly, what about those other fluids? While some Toyota product contains long-life coolant and needs less frequent coolant changes, for most of us the coolant must be flushed out every several years to avoid corrosion and accompanying sludge in the cooling system.
Brake fluid is another often under-addressed area. Brake fluid traps moisture and as it does so the acid balance (ph) changes and the expensive pieces of the system can corrode, leading to failures. While Toyota does not make a specific suggestion for brake fluid replacement intervals, color and ph can be checked to determine when it is time for a flush – we suggest every couple years.
Too bad we can’t just flush out our bodies, right?
When is it economically justifiable to buy a hybrid? Or when is it ecologically justifiable?
Lets say you are driving a vehicle that gets 20 miles to the gallon. The average driver goes about 15,000 miles a year. Now, assume gasoline is $3.00 a gallon. If you switch to a 40 mpg vehicle, what happens to the annual cost of gasoline?
|
mileage |
miles |
gas consumed, gallons |
cost @ $3.00/ gallon |
|
20 mpg |
15,000 |
750 |
$ 2,250.00 |
|
40 mpg |
15,000 |
375 |
$ 1,125 |
|
savings |
|
375 |
$ 1,125.00 |
What if gasoline goes to $4.00 a gallon?
|
mileage |
miles |
gas consumed, gallons |
cost @ $4.00/ gallon |
|
20 mpg |
15,000 |
750 |
$ 3,000.00 |
|
40 mpg |
15,000 |
375 |
$ 1,500 |
|
savings |
|
375 |
$ 1,500.00 |
If we assume that you pay $5,000 more for the hybrid than the non-hybrid, if gasoline is at $3.00 per gallon, it will take 4 years and a little under 6 months to recover the investment, after which there will be a savings of $1,125 per year.
At $4.00 a gallon the break-even is in about 3 years and three months!
Now, looking from an ecological point of view: when a gallon of gasoline is burned it creates about 22 pounds of CO2. At sea level this 22 lbs of CO2, as a gas, occupies 1342 gallons of air! That is 6.64 cubic yards.
|
mileage |
miles |
gas consumed |
co2 in lbs |
co2 in cubic yards |
|
20 mpg |
20 |
one gallon |
22 lbs |
6.64 cubic yards |
|
40 mpg |
20 |
one half gallon |
11 lbs |
3.32 cubic yards |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20 mpg |
15,000 |
750 |
16,500 |
109,560 |
|
40 mpg |
15,000 |
375 |
8,250 |
54,780 |
A 20 mpg vehicle driven 15,000 miles a year creates 8.25 TONS of CO2 and that, as a gas, expands in to a volume of 109,560 cubic yards at sea level. You have just covered about two and a quarter acres with 100% CO2 to a depth of ten feet.
In the last ten years the US fleet of passenger car vehicles (cars & light trucks) has decreased in average fuel efficiency. The US currently sends over $200,000 a minute overseas to buy oil for vehicles. In the last twenty-five years we in the US have doubled the total number of vehicle miles driven compared to the 1980 year. In the US and Canada it is estimated that there are 258 million vehicles on the roads. At 15,000 miles a year, if all vehicles got 20 MPG we would cover 1/3 of the total land mass of the US to a depth of ten feet with pure CO2! Now, we know the average fuel economy is better than that, but not a whole lot. Plus cars and trucks contribute about one-third of the CO2 production of the US.
We look forward to more hybrid and other efficient and emission reducing vehicles. The reasons are overwhelming.
Meaning of Toyota logo: In 1990, Toyota debuted the three overlapping Ellipses logo on American vehicles. The Toyota Ellipses symbolize the unification of the hearts of our customers and the heart of Toyota products. The background space represents Toyota’s technological advancement and the boundless opportunities ahead.
So you think you need an oil change and a “tune up?” Well, think again…
So when is that last time we cracked open the Owner’s manuals and read about our car? Well, we don’t, do we? Just like we don’t read the manual to our computer or to the new toaster or the warning labels glued all over our new step ladder. Isn’t all this stuff just the noise of modern society?
Don’t we just change the oil every 3,000 miles?
-- NO. Toyota and many other manufacturers have been busy and service recommendations have been changing. Here is what our new Owner’s Manuals say now:
* Service every 5,000 miles including:
Rotate the tires
Oil and filter
Check fluids
Check tire pressures
Notice that it says: “Rotate the tires,” something you may not have considered as part of an oil change service!
In the past it was too frequently true that tires only got rotated every 7,500 miles at best, and many owners simply changed oil and waited until 15,000 miles or more. The result was often a set of mis-matched tires, with the fronts worn excessively on the edges and the rears worn more on the centers. The lack of rotation and uneven wear exacerbated pulling, balance and other driveability problems and lead to premature need for tire replacement.
Why buy a high gas mileage car like a Prius ?
Well, how long do you think that gas prices will stay where they are?
· China and other emerging economies are beginning to demand a larger share of the earth’s natural resources in oil, metals, and other basic building block materials of our modern life.
· Most sources state that oil will only become scarcer in the future; no huge unfound reserves are likely to save the day.
· Oil analysts who have deeply studied oil trends are forecasting large oil price increases – the only dispute is when.
· According to a recent Sacramento Bee article citing several analysts, oil prices will rise significantly following inevitable interruptions in supply such as hurricanes disrupting shipping or Gulf of Mexico processing, or terrorists reducing source output, or other political events or surprises. The analyst’s advice: buy conservatively in stocks because of the economic impact of oil prices, and buy some oil stocks.
Our advice, from an auto-related point of view, is buy an efficient vehicle appropriate for the uses that you have for it in your daily life.
Some may not have considered the Prius because of size considerations – but have you sat in one? It has surprising interior room. As far as other uses, with the passenger seat pushed forward and the back down, there is over an eight-foot length available from rear hatch to dash. One Prius owner reports buying over 400 board feet of decking in 8-foot lengths and putting it inside the Prius and shutting the hatch behind! A passenger still fit in the seat behind the driver and there was ample room for tools and boxes in the large space still unused behind the passenger.
The Hybrid Highlander is out now as well and while purchasing this vehicle is still on an order basis, it is worth checking out for future use. It looks and drives a lot like a regular Highlander but gets better mileage, better acceleration, and puts out fewer emissions.
Other high efficiency Toyota and Scion (a marque of Toyota sold at TWC) deserve examination as well. Without the hybrid technology and the expense of that technology, cars like the Scion Xa and Xb, the Echo and Corolla all offer great value, dependability, and fuel efficiency. The entire Toyota product line uses a variety of advanced feature in engine and transmission design and controls for maximum economy. Additionally, all Toyota truck or SUV models use advanced sensing and control systems to reduce skidding and roll-over.
When comparing mileages we remind you that the EPA mandated MPG figures posted on all USA sold vehicles is inaccurate. The treadmill test does not consider many normal driving factors such as hills, traffic, or wind. According to the NY Times, the EPA number is likely to be 18 to 20% greater than a likely real-world average for most drivers.
But since the same EPA test is done to all vehicles, it is valid for comparisons.
What is your analysis? Choose wisely and cross your fingers!
Parasites and modern cars.
No, we are not talking about bugs. All modern cars use computers to control many functions – in fact some cars have as many as 60 computer chips in them. Just like your home TV, stereo, and many other gadgets, some of these computer chips remain alive, remembering your settings and maintaining alertness to serve you instantly. Well, if they are awake you have to feed them electricity.
In the home it has been estimated that as much as 10% of a home’s electric consumption may be consumed by devices that stay “on” when you turn them “off.” Many pundits of conservation say unplug them all and you will save a lot! But we can’t do that on our cars.
In all new vehicles sold in approximately the last decade there has been, year by year, increasing demands placed upon a car’s battery when the vehicle is supposedly “off.”
Consequently consumer complaints have risen about dead batteries after sometimes very short periods of non-use, even just a long weekend.
It is not just the parasitic drain that occurred on the long weekend that lead to the surprise that the car wouldn’t start without a jump, it is often the type of use that the vehicle had the week before the long weekend. If a car is driven only at night, with the lights and wipers and defroster, heater, and/or air conditioner on, and it was a short trip, chances are that the battery never got charged. Multiply this by a week of short trips or trips with very heavy electrical use and perhaps the battery is in a partially discharged state before that long weekend of relaxation even begins.
During an interval of non-driving, the car may continue to be alert to sense your alarm button to unlock, maintain information on your driving style in the main engine and transmission computers, remember radio stations, and so on. Some cars are more electronic than others – the more gizmos, the more parasitic drains on the parked car.
What to do? Don’t change your life. Know where your battery is and how to disconnect it or jump it. For vacations of over a week we suggest either a trickle charger (available at car parts stores for under $50) or disconnecting the battery. If you disconnect the battery you will have to reset your radio, etc. upon return.
Never connect both jumper or charger wires to the battery. This can lead to a spark and the battery will then likely explode and spray your eyes and face with acid. Always first connect the red (+) terminal to the red jumper wire and then find some bare metal well away from the battery (like something on the engine) and lastly put the black jumper on there. Connecting lastly away from the battery assures that any spark of compete connection is away from the explosive battery.
When removing a jumper always first remove the black wire that is connected to metal away from the battery. This puts any spark of disconnection away from the battery. Follow the same procedure for a charger.
Hybrid vehicles are not immune to parasites! This is because they have a regular small battery just like any other car and this small battery is not connected to the high-voltage hybrid system. Know where your auxiliary battery is located. For most, it is in the trunk on the side or bottom. Take out the removable coverings to find it.
For more specific information please check with our service consultants who will be glad to explain more.
Toyota Walnut Creek service is open 7 DAYS a week except for major holidays and Mon-Fri is open from 6am to MIDNIGHT, Saturday from 7am to 5pm, Sunday from 9am to 5pm, so please call us if you have any questions. 925-933-7440.