Various problems plague drivers at one time or another. In this chapter I have selected a few common problems that affect many people throughout the country.

• COST OF OPERATION

The most common problem that concerns practically all drivers is the high cost of operation—often resulting from high fuel consumption—compounded in recent years by huge increases in the cost of gasoline. Most authorities say we can expect higher prices for gas in the future, so what reasonable steps can be taken to cut operating costs?

Let’s analyze six areas that have the greatest effect on your driving expenses: car selection and options, car maintenance, tune-ups, driving techniques, personal habits, and insurance.

Car Selection and Options

If your car is relatively new and you plan to keep it a long time, you will have to live with your selection and most of the options. If you are planning to buy a car, take time to study different sizes, makes, and features, and buy a car that will meet your needs yet give you satisfactory mileage.

A law of physics states that the more pounds to be moved at a given speed the more energy (gasoline) will be required. Generally, the lighter the car (compact or subcompact size) the more miles per gallon you can expect. Nevertheless, safety may be more important to you than extra gas mileage, and the heavier the car the safer you are, especially at high speeds. Another consideration in favor of larger cars is the possibility of using the car in a car pool.

A car with manual transmission gets better gas mileage than the same car with automatic transmission. Shifting gears for yourself with manual transmission may give you up to 15 percent better gas mileage.

An air conditioner on your car will cut your gas mileage about one to three miles to the gallon, so use your air conditioner only when you absolutely need it, keeping in mind that it is costing you money.

Caution! Run your air conditioner at least fifteen minutes a week, all year round. Running it circulates the oil, which keeps the seal on the shaft lubricated. A dry seal permits freon gas to escape, which can require servicing or repair.

Radial tires give slightly better gas mileage than other tires, but do not rush down to swap your perfectly good bias or belted tires for radials, as the improvement is minor (about 7 percent for most cars).

Car Maintenance

Better gas mileage is a fringe benefit of proper maintenance. Having the engine tuned at regular intervals will directly improve your gas mileage. Changing your dirty air cleaner will also improve gas mileage, since a dirty air cleaner restricts the air flow to the carburetor, causing more gas to be drawn to the carburetor. The engine then has a richer mixture than normal, which wastes gas.

The cooling system thermostat influences gas consumption. The therrmostat should cause the engine to warm up quickly enough so that the heater gives off hot air after about five minutes in cold weather. Your engine will be slow to warm up if your thermostat is defective. 

While cold, the engine runs inefficiently, wasting gas. An engine at the proper operating temperature gives the best gas mileage, other factors being equal. Replace a defective thermostat at once with a new one designed for your car. To do this job yourself, see Chapter 18, Tips on Medium Tasks.

A dirty or faulty carburetor or a sticking automatic choke wastes gas and contributes to air pollution. A good mechanic will check these areas and correct any trouble when your car is tuned.

Underinflated tires cause increased fuel consumption and greater tire wear. Five pounds of underinflation can waste a half-gallon or more of gasoline out of every tankful.

Tune-ups

To get the best gas mileage, a tune-up is necessary periodically; it does not come under the warranty requirements. A tune-up usually includes: replacing the plugs, points, and condenser; adjusting the carburetor; checking and adjusting the timing; and inspecting the distributor cap, the rotor button, and the electrical wiring. 

How often a tune-up is needed varies with different makes and ages of cars and the driving conditions (stop-and-go driving, short trips, long trips, and high speed), but generally a car should have a tune-up approximately every 10,000 miles. 

Poor gas mileage, hard starting, and sluggish pickup are indications that you need a tune-up. When these conditions occur, have your car tuned to avoid a possible breakdown.

Tuning a car is not a job for the average driver. A person needs considerable experience and knowledge as a mechanic and must be familiar with a particular car to tune it properly. Antipollution equip-ment installed on newer cars presents additional complications for tuning an engine. A mechanic who tunes your car has a considerable investment in the proper equipment, which includes: technical manuals, a dwell meter, a feeler gauge for setting points, a timing light, a compression gauge, wrenches, and other tools.

Driving Techniques

Most experienced drivers resent being told how to drive. This section is only for those drivers who want to improve their gas mileage and who are willing to consider changes in their driving techniques to accomplish this goal.

The most rewarding change you can make is to drive slower. A highway speed of 50 mph yields up to four miles per gallon more than a speed of 70 mph; obviously, driving slower will conserve fuel. The national speed limit of 55 mph is designed to save fuel.

Try to maintain a steady speed, as braking and accelerating use more gas. You can also conserve fuel by anticipating signal light changes and slowing down to avoid a complete stop. Riding the brake makes your engine work harder, uses up more gas, and wears out the brake linings or pads.

Avoid jackrabbit starts. Every time you step on the accelerator a spurt of gas goes into the carburetor. Sudden spurts waste gas, since not all of it can be burned efficiently in the engine. “Scratching off” or “burning rubber” may be a teenager’s way of getting attention, but it wastes fuel and causes unnecessary wear on tires and other component parts of the auto.

Avoid long warm-ups. When the engine is first cranked, allow it to idle only long enough to ensure a satisfactory performance when you drive away. Racing the engine immediately after starting wastes gas and causes excessive wear on the engine. Turn the engine off when you are parked for more than a minute or two; idling gives you zero miles per gallon.

Buy the grade of gas recommended by your Owner’s Manual: unleaded, regular, or premium. If your car calls for unleaded gasoline, be certain to use only that; otherwise serious trouble will result. If your car is designed for regular gas, you are wasting money to burn premium fuel all the time. Large American cars manufactured before 1975 often need premium gas. 

Use only premium gasoline in such a car, because regular will probably cause “pinging” when you accelerate. This highpitched noise indicates the fuel is burning prematurely, which wastes gas and can be harmful to the engine.

Personal Habits

Personal habits are hard to change, and you can do so only if you have a strong desire to cut driving costs. Here are some suggestionsperhaps you can think of other things that you and your family can do.

To save money on driving, simply drive fewer miles. You probably feel it does not take very much gas to go short distances, but reports show that one-half of all the fuel used in passenger cars is consumed in trips of three miles or less.

 Buy your gas at cut-rate stations, preferably the self-service kind. Cutrate, unknown gas brands are usually just as high quality as well-known brands, and frequently it is the same gas from the same source. Drive your car more years before you trade or sell it; the depreciation cost is greatest in the early years of a car’s life.

Insurance

Review your car insurance; you may not really need collision in-surance if your car is four years old or older. If you have adequate hospital and medical insurance, you may not need medical coverage in your automobile insurance policy. (Do not confuse the above insurance with liability insurance, which every driver needs and which is required by many states.)

LIMITED LOCAL CAR USE AND SLOW DRIVING

Short trips, stop-and-go driving, and slow speeds are hard on a car. You use the brakes more frequently in driving around town than on longer trips. On short trips the exhaust system does not get hot enough to evaporate the moisture that has condensed in the muffler and tail-pipe, and because moisture causes rust, it will shorten the life of these parts.

Slow driving tends to increase the carbon build-up in the engine, particularly if you use regular leaded gasoline. Carbon build-up causes poor engine performance, such as less pickup and difficulty in starting the car. If you normally burn regular leaded gas, try using premium fuel about every fourth or fifth tank. Then take your car on the high-way and drive five or ten miles at the legal limit. Premium gasoline will help burn out the excess carbon and should improve engine performance.

Your tires may rot out before they wear out. After five years, the rubber valve stem may rot; one indication is that your tires keep losing air pressure. A service station can replace the valve stem at low cost.

It is important to stress that time as well as miles driven determine the frequency of service procedures such as lube jobs, oil and filter changes, and tune-ups. It is your responsibility to tell your mechanic when you want service done.

Every engine should be run at a medium-fast rate for ten to fifteen minutes each week. Doing this will keep the battery charged and ready to start the car. Do not just start the car and let the engine idle; keep the accelerator depressed slightly. It is important to run the air conditioner and the engine each week; do this yourself if your car is not driven for a week, or arrange for someone else to do it.

• WINDSHIELD WIPERS

Many drivers overlook or postpone one area of preventive main-tenance more than any other—the maintenance or replacement of windshield wiper blades. The rubber blades deteriorate from age, sun-light, and the road oil that gets on them by splashing on the windshield. As blades get older, the rubber cracks or hardens and fails to do its job. 

When you notice your wipers are not cleaning the wind shield as they should, it is time to correct the trouble. Do not postpone it. Another sign that blades need replacing is when the rubber splits and tears. Make sure you replace both wiper blades at the same time; if one wiper is worn out, the other one is about to go too.

Here are some visible or audible indicators that the wipers need attention:

1. Streaking—the blade leaves untouched moisture within its wiping arc.

2. Hazing—a thin film covers all or most of the wiping area even after you wipe the blade with a clean cloth. Try cleaning the inside of your window before replacing blades; tobacco smoke, in particular, will haze the inside of the windshield.

3. Chattering—a peculiar, intermittent, stuttering noise and a vibrating motion accompany the blade as it goes back and forth.

4. Rattling—the wiper blades give out a rattling noise, which sounds like the blade is loose.

Some drivers have new blades installed at the service station or garage. You can do this job yourself and save money.

All modern cars have an electric windshield washer device. A trans-lucent plastic container under the hood holds the solution that is sprayed on the windshield. When your windshield washer stops work-ing, the liquid is probably used up. 

Simply remove the top of the plastic container and refill with water or water and cleaning chemicals, such as Windex, or a preparation made for this purpose. Do not confuse this container with the coolant reserve container, which is clearly connected to the radiator by a hose.

If the supply container has plenty of liquid and the windshield washer still will not work, the most likely trouble is a stopped-up filter screen on the end of the hose connected to the container. Remove the filter screen and try the windshield washer; if it now works, then the filter screen is causing the trouble. Put it in a cup containing vinegar to soak overnight. If this does not dissolve the calcium and magnesium deposits that came from the water, you may have to buy a new filter screen from your auto parts store or the parts department of your car dealer.

The windshield washer, especially on an older car, still may not work after you try these troubleshooting techniques. The electric pump that powers the washer to spray liquid on the windshield may be worn out. If so, you can either buy a kit at an auto parts store or have a garage replace the pump. The kit consists of a replacement pump and hoses, which you can install with a few small hand tools.

DIESELING

This word means that an engine continues to run after you turn off the ignition; the condition may result from several causes. The spark timing may not be set properly or there may be an excessive amount of carbon build-up in the engine from slow, stop-and-go driving. Antipollution devices can also contribute to this problem. You may eliminate dieseling by having the timing set properly. Fill the tank with premium gas occasionally and drive at the legal highway speed for five or ten miles to help burn off the excess carbon in the engine. If the problem persists, you can stop dieseling by simply turning the engine off while the car is in gear.

INSECTS

In some areas of the country, insects create problems by accumulating in large numbers on the radiator, obstructing the flow of air and causing the engine to overheat. The best solution is to install a screen made of plastic net or other material that allows the air to pass through easily. Mount the screen on the front of the car to prevent the radiator from clogging and to protect the painted surface behind the screen.

Some insects, such as the love bug, can be harmful to the painted surface of the car. Acid in the bodies of the insects damages the paint if the bodies are left on the surface for more than a day. Wash all the insects off painted surfaces at least once a day. An occasional heavy application of paste wax will help protect the paint. You can also apply one of the supermarket products that help prevent sticking (Pam or Cooking Ease) to make it easier to wash off the insects. Reapply the protective material after washing the car.