With Lovert Mafukure
Common myths about cars that aren’t true
ONE thing that I have learnt in life is that one can never learn enough, and one can never know everything. Learning is an everyday thing and when one embraces the art, he betters himself everyday. If not careful, however, one can easily be swept off their feet by common myths that are not true or not entirely true. I decided to come up with some myths about cars widely believed but not entirely true. Some of these myths are so embedded in automotive archaeology that even car gurus believe them.
Overdrive makes your car go faster Automatic transmissions have overdrive and when overdrive is on simply means the car will be able to shift into the final gear and run lower rpms therefore saving on fuel and reducing engine strain. It means a car will run into the final gear and if it’s off the car will have more pickup speed since it’s in a lower gear. It is good for overtaking on the highway. It is usually mistaken to some movie fantasy scene where if you press it the car will suddenly have some super magical power to propel itself to jet-like speeds. NO, it’s just there to help with acceleration when needed then saving fuel and reducing the strain on the engine. So theoretically, it does make the car go faster as it allows the car to shift into a final gear but it’s not there to release some magical Concorde powers.
Empty is not really empty There is a good percentage of people in the world that fill up their tanks when they get to half or perhaps quarter tank, then there’s the majority of us that fill up their tanks only when they are going on a long journey. It’s customary for Africans to ask if they see you with a full tank of fuel, are you going somewhere? If there is no journey, cars are always on empty and the light is always on but . . . they never run out of fuel because their answer is always . . . I know my car! But how well do you know your car? You many know it too well and how far it will go with the light on but what is that doing to your car? There may be no immediate disadvantage to driving with your fuel light on but in the end, it may cost you some bucks.
Firstly, running low on fuel means that your pump will suck up all the dirt at the bottom of the tank. Some may say that the filter will filter out the dirt but why suck dirty water at the bottom of the cup when you can drink clean water when the cup is full? Dirty or contaminated fuel can affect many things especially with fuel-injected cars. It’s better to be safe than sorry, fill up that tank.
Secondly, the fuel pump sits upright in the tank and it being an electric pump, it gets hot and most vehicles are designed in such a way that the fuel keeps the pump cool. When your fuel gauge goes to empty, it means your pump is exposed and no longer immersed in fuel. The result is that the pump will overheat and fail prematurely. A habit that is easy to groom is to keep your fuel level high or at least above quarter, in the end, you will have less problems. It is also good to keep the low fuel light off. That way you can be able to gauge if you have sufficient fuel to keep your pump cool. Apart from that, you don’t really want to run out of fuel at a traffic light or in traffic jam so keep your tank filled.
Newer cars do not need to warm up New cars are definitely better than the old, in the sense that they do not really behave funny when cold. Older cars needed to warm up first before they could run normally. Because of technology and programmed fuel injection engines, engines just run well from first start. Computers enrich fuel mixture when cold to avoid stalling and ideally, these newer cars may not need to warm up to drive well. However, that does not mean they should not warm up. An engine works well when operated at optimum temperature. It’s wise to start up your car and let it idle for a few minutes before taking off. Its wise to also take it easy on the driving until the engine warms up fully. Do not race a cold engine. It reduces the lifespan of the engine.
Manual cars are the best but . . . It’s always better for someone to buy a manual transmission ex-Japanese car for some very simple reasons. Manual transmissions are easy on maintenance and last longer than automatics. Manual transmissions are always better but some may not be good because some people have a hard time driving them. With a manual transmission it’s all about timing and shifting, you have to shift correctly at the right time into the correct gear at the correct speed. If you do not, you mess up the gearbox or the clutch setup. Therefore, while manual transmissions are always the best be wary of cars from not very skilled drivers. They will give you problems you do not want to experience.
These are some of the most common myths about cars I could come up with. Most of the times we ignore them until the problems arise but practising a good habit will prove a worthy investment in the long run. Till next time, happy motoring.
Feedback: lovert10@gmail.com /www.facebook.com/ automartzimbabwe