Q&A for How to Hypermile

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When I change gears my car wants to stop, what is wrong?

Community Answer

If it's a manual transmission (stick shift), then you're either not using the clutch or you're not pushing the clutch all the way down. If it's an automatic transmission, it's not you that's changing gears. So, take it to a mechanic.

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Question

Does turning on the heat in winter also affect the gas consumption?

Community Answer

Using the heater does affect gas consumption because running the fan takes about 50 watts electrical from the engine. But because the thermal losses from the engine are so significant the 3 KW thermal that your heater puts out is free, so in this respect the heater does not increase fuel consumption.

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How can I clear fog on the inside of my vehicle's windshield if I can't warm it first?

Community Answer

Dry air will remove fog from your window. So, use the air con, that's one of the reasons it's there.

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Question

In the cold winter turn your headlights on briefly before starting car to warm up the battery. Yes or no?

Clifford Johansen

Community Answer

No. The internal resistance of the car battery is too low, the battery will heat up slightly because there is current flowing through the cells, but almost all the energy will go into heating up the light bulbs principally, then some into heating up the wires, and lastly a little bit to heating up the battery. In the situation of winter starts, you will want all the energy you can get to turn the engine so minimizing losses to auxiliary loads is important.

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Question

Which is heaviest, petrol (gas) or diesel?

Clifford Johansen

Community Answer

To be specific, diesel is more dense than petrol. Diesel being roughly .85 kg/litre and petrol being .75 kg/litre. Interestingly enough, they both contain roughly the same amount of energy per unit mass but most often you purchase fuels by volume so this doesn’t concern us often.

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