DEAR TOM AND RAY: I am Kunaal from Mumbai, India, and I am a big fan of your show and column. I own a 2011 Skoda Fabia diesel hatchback that has covered 38,000 kilometers here, or 23,612 miles in your speak. Now, I know this car might not exist in America, but I quite love it. I am a car enthusiast and love my car and want it to last forever. It’s a turbo diesel 3-cylinder engine that makes about 79 horsepower. Now, that’s not a tarmac-tearing output, but in Mumbai, we have crazy, pothole-ridden roads and slow, bumper-to-bumper traffic most times, so the performance is good enough for use in the city. Every day when I start my car, I idle it for 30-60 seconds before driving off. And even after I start driving, I drive it slowly at first, without starting the AC for the first kilometer or two. The idea behind this is to minimize any damage to the turbo-charger and engine during its warmup phase. At the end of the day, I repeat the same exercise in reverse: I switch off the AC a kilometer or so before stopping, and get all the cold air out of the vents with only the fan running. I then idle the car for 30-60 seconds before shutting down for the day. My question: Am I being overly obsessive? Will these things help increase the life of the car, or am I just wasting precious time and fuel?
- Kunaal
TOM: Are you being overly obsessive? Yes. Will any of these things increase the life of your car? Unlikely. But on the plus side, you’re doing wonderful things for India’s diesel-fuel industry, Kunaal! I’m sure it’s grateful.
RAY: Modern cars really don’t need to be warmed up unless the temperature is well below freezing. Then 30-60 seconds of idling is fine. But generally speaking, if the car starts and doesn’t stall when you put it in gear, it’s ready to go. And driving it gently is the best way to warm it up.
TOM: Plus, I think the average daytime temperature in Mumbai is around 90 degrees year-round. So if you’re starting your car, and the outside temperature is well below freezing, you’ve got bigger problems to worry about - like how your roses are going to survive the oncoming ice age.
RAY: For cars with turbos, it’s actually not a bad idea to let them idle for 30-60 seconds after driving the car hard. When there’s a lot of demand on the turbo, it heats up. And allowing the oil to circulate through it for an extra minute or so allows it to cool down, which is beneficial.
TOM: But it sounds like you’re hardly using the turbo, Kunaal. If you’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic, that turbo probably is not kicking in at all. In which case, allowing it to cool off is completely unnecessary.
RAY: Turning off the air conditioner is hardly worth it, either. It does reduce the load on the engine a little bit, which means you use less fuel. But it makes very little to no difference in the life of the engine.
TOM: And besides, you have to think of the unintended consequences of what you’re doing.
RAY: For instance, if you refuse to use the AC, you’ll sweat more, which could send your dry-cleaning bills through the roof, putting a big dent in your beer budget, Kunaal. So be careful!
TOM: The best thing you can do to increase the life of your car is to simply drive it gently. Based on how much you obviously love the car, I’m guessing you already do that. And that’s great.
RAY: That’s what you should concentrate on, Kunaal. Avoid jackrabbit starts, sudden, hard acceleration and last-second braking when possible. Steer around a big, ugly pothole if you can do it safely. But otherwise, just enjoy the car - and the air conditioning. Happy motoring.
DEAR TOM AND RAY: The rear window of my 2000 Ford F-150 leaks from the top. Can I just have the seal/molding replaced, or should I have the whole window redone? And if so, can I use a window I find at the junkyard?
- Deb
TOM: Well, if you want the cheap solution, Deb, get one of those sailor’s rain hats, with the flap that goes down the back of your neck. That’ll at least keep the rain from running down your shirt and into your shorts.
RAY: But a better solution would be to replace the weatherstripping. Unless the glass is cracked, there shouldn’t be any need to replace the window.
TOM: But to replace the weatherstripping, the window has to be removed. So you just need to go to a mechanic or an auto-glass shop and tell them you want the window reinstalled with new weatherstripping.
RAY: They’ll pop it out, replace the old, dried-out, cracked weatherstripping with fresh new stuff, and put your window back in. If you’re right, and that’s where the water is coming from, that should take care of it.
TOM: And you definitely want new weatherstripping. It’s fine to get rear-window glass at a junkyard if you ever need it, but there’s no reason to buy old weatherstripping.
RAY: And besides, when you’re driving a 13-year-old truck, you really can’t risk parking at a junkyard. It’s just too easy for your truck to be mistaken for fresh “inventory.” Click & Clack (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) dispense advice about cars in Car Talk every Saturday. Email them by visiting cartalk.com
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