“I’ll go warm up the car.” A standard Canadian utterance, and a common
habit -- but it is no more 2004 than “I’ll go feed the horse.” As Toronto
area drivers wonder why it feels like Kapuskasing lately, they’re probably
running their cars more -- mostly to keep warm. The City of Toronto’s
idling bylaw applies if the “ambient” temperature inside your car is
between 5 and 27 degrees Celsius, but the outside temperature hasn’t even
cracked the freezing mark for ages. Toronto’s By-Law 673-1998 specifically
claims that “unnecessary idling” occurs whenever a parked vehicle idles
for more than 3 minutes within any 60 minute period.
Thanks to the cold,
the morning departure procedure has gotten longer, and now includes more
engine idling than we would feel comfortable with at other times of the
year. Yet we may not be giving credit to our vehicles -- they may be as
ready to drive in winter as in springtime. It gets worse: An idling
engine, depending on fuel type, uses between 2.5 and 3.5 litres of fuel an
hour. The experts say that restarting your engine uses less fuel that just
10 seconds of idling.
Several carmakers
have been testing their vehicles where it actually does feel like
Kapuskasing -- the northern Ontario town with more than its share of fancy
new wheels parading around. Instead of bravely visiting one of the cold
weather testing facilities up there, I spoke instead to John Healy,
Director of Engineering and Product Planning for General Motors of Canada.
Despite an increasing amount of anti-idling propaganda, er, warnings from
government, I suspect drivers need to have certain concerns addressed
before dismantling the habit of running the car for 10-20 minutes every
morning.
The main pro-idling
considerations are, in order, the engine, safe operation of the vehicle
and our tushes. We want to protect the engine components by warming them,
have a vehicle clear of snow and frost to drive safely -- and we’d prefer
to not stick to the seat. Mr. Healy says “For the most part, even down to
minus 40, you would start the vehicle and you could drive away very
quickly without doing any damage to your vehicle.” There are some caveats
-- keeping in mind that the average car in Canada is eight years old, and
not always in optimum shape. He warns that two things are very important:
the health of your battery and the quality of oil in the engine.
Batteries are a weak
point -- especially down near minus 20 degrees. The Canadian Automobile
Association suggests that you turn off all your accessories before trying
to start. That may make all the difference between between getting to work
on time -- or needing a boost. This January, CAA Central Ontario has
announced almost 20 “Code Red” alerts, where members must wait longer for
help. They had 20 all last winter.
We Golden Horseshoe
types are less likely to plug in our cars overnight -- unlike elsewhere in
Canada where even parking meters can have electrical outlets. All GM
vehicles have had standard block heaters for ten years now. Frigid
batteries may not deal well with repeated starts, but Mr. Healy says “The
fact that you sit there and idle probably will have very little bearing on
the battery temperature.”
In winter or summer
you may not need to sit for more than 30 seconds -- modern components and
lubricants simply don’t need it. “We feel pretty good about the
development that’s taken place in engine oils and lubrication” says the
engineer. GM vehicles, he notes tactfully, now have sophisticated oil
sensors that take into account the accelerated aging that occurs during
cold months.
What about safety?
Try piloting an early 90’s Honda Civic in Huntsville for example -- it is
like driving a small meat-locker with wooden chairs. Unless it has warmed
up for at least 10 minutes on a cold day, the steering is stiff and
unresponsive (plus you’re holding the steering wheel with gloves on) and
your breath sticks to the windshield. Even in tropical Toronto, you may
need five minutes to defrost. There are lots of tips to speed this up --
like open your window and clear snow away from any air intakes.
Finally the comfort
trade-off -- a warm vehicle interior versus the knowledge that for all
the advances to emission control, carbon dioxide still pours out the tail
pipe in great quantities. Even GM’s new remote starters are set to cut out
at 10 minutes. So listen to the Traffic Nanny -- finish your cereal, make
the calls, dress properly, clean the car off, start it, admire yourself in
the mirror, and leave.
Ed Drass and Eric
McConnachie, National Post