The price of gasoline and how much we consume are common topics of conversation around the globe and particularly in Canada. We thought it was time for an oil company to contribute to the discussion. Welcome to Petro-Canada’s PumpTalk blog.
The first in our series of vehicle maintenance posts is on an auto part that you can easily maintain yourself – your air filter! Keeping a clean air filter is crucial in maintaining proper engine performance and extending your engine longevity.
How does it work?
Air flows through your air filter into your vehicle’s engine. The air is then mixed with fuel in the vehicle’s cylinders. The cleaner the air filter is, the more air flows through to your engine, optimizing your fuel mixture and gas mileage. You heard right, making sure your air filter is clean can help you save on fuel too.
There have been many times when I’ve had a quick look at my air filter only to find old cigarette butts picked up from the road, dust, insects and grimy dirt. Yuck! I certainly don’t want my engine breathing that stuff, so I make a point to check my air filter at the time of an oil change – probably more frequently than necessary. You can refer to your owner’s manual to see how often you should replace your air filter. Here's a good trick to see if your air filter needs to be replaced - hold it up to the sunlight and if you cannot see light coming through it, it's time to change it. Also, most filters are light coloured - similar to your furnace filter. If it's grey or black - yep, you guessed it - time to replace.
Air filters are also one of the few auto parts that you can easily change yourself – even if you’re a novice!
Do you remember your air filter when you think of vehicle maintenance? Would you attempt to change your air filter yourself… or leave it to the experts?
Many of my childhood memories growing up in Edmonton involve winter driving - mainly in my father's silver 1977 Aspen. This car was a neighborhood legend. The local mechanics down the street would literally come out and applaud when we drove by, because they couldn't believe the Aspen (a.k.a. The Grey Ghost) was still moving.
The Aspen was particularly finicky in the winter and we had all kinds of tips and tricks to keep her on the road. I thought I knew everything there was to know about preparing the car for safe and successful winter driving. But with the advent of modern car technology, I've had to radically change my approach to cold weather car care and driving preparation.
Here are a few of my tips for those of us who still have an old school approach to cold weather driving:
We've all done it - hopped in the car to drive to the corner store for a quick errand and not bothered with a seatbelt. It's such a hassle! It's just a few blocks away! What could happen?
While it's true that not putting on your seatbelt may save you valuable nanoseconds, it is also true that accidents can happen anywhere. And wearing your seatbelt is the single most effective way to increase your chance of surviving a collision. According to the US-based National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), seatbelts reduce the risk of death to front seat occupants by 45% and the risk of serious or critical injury by 50%.
Seatbelts are a powerful safety system - but only when they're used correctly. When I began researching this subject, I thought - are there any details we really need to know, how difficult is it to buckle up? After doing some digging, I realized that there are a few key things you need to make sure you are doing - some I wasn't even aware of!
Remember that first feeling of getting behind the wheel? That feeling of control and power, knowing that you could feel the vehicle respond at the slight touch of your foot on the accelerator. For me, that feeling is almost always present when I'm driving a manual transmission. I love being able to control the vehicle, knowing exactly when I want to shift for more power to the wheels, and commanding when to pull it back a notch. And of course, who can ignore that great feeling of a perfectly mastered rev-matched downshift. Nowadays, with more and more emphasis placed on multi-tasking, it may be tough to focus on shifting while you sip your coffee, talk on your Bluetooth and keep one eye on your three year old in the backseat who insists on opening that box of cookies! Understandably, most people I talk to have never driven a manual transmission - nor do they care to!
There are some actual economic benefits to driving a manual transmission which many people forget:
We recently had a comment come into PumpTalk regarding synthetic oil. The question was "Why is it necessary to use traditional oils in the new engines. If synthetics are so good should we not use them from the get go instead of transitioning at higher kms? As these lubricants are more expensive than traditional oils, would it not be more cost efficient to use them at the start and keep maintenance costs down in the long run?"
We thank you John for your comment and decided to answer your question by going right to our experts - the Petro-Canada Lubricants team.
With the advent of all-season tires, many drivers don’t feel they need to change out their tires for the winter. After all, they’re called “all-season tires”! Not “all but one season” tires! Ha ha! But seriously, folks, if you live in an area that sees regular snowfall throughout the winter, it’s best to have winter tires for your car.
That said, sometimes even your winter tires, with their wider, deeper grooves and better flexibility at lower temperatures, can’t get you out of the snowy ditch you just slid into. There are few things more frustrating – or panic-inducing – than feeling those wheels spinning out while your vehicle stays put.
The progression in automotive technology over the last fifty years has certainly been beneficial and impressive - moving from carburetors to fuel injectors, enhancements in safety technology like ABS, traction control, stability control, electronic brake force distribution and of course, improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions. But lately, I feel like we may be going a little too far in our technological innovations, possibly at the expense of the "joy" of driving.
There was a time when diesel was a bad word. It conjured up images of black, dirty smoke and a heavier, oilier smell when you filled up. I recently saw this ad on TV and it got me thinking about how diesel has changed in the last 30 plus years.
I am not a casual driver. I take driving very seriously, engage in it daily, and am interested in enhancing my performance in reasonable ways. This has included things like completing Advanced Driving Training with BMW, taking part in comparison drives and learning from the experts. One thing I've often wondered about is octane boosters. Since I work for Suncor, I decided to seek out our Petro-Canada fuel experts and put the question to them! Here’s the great info they shared with me.
This week, I wanted to talk about cruise control. Given all the driving that many of us will do this summer - whether to cottages, camps or road trips - there is often the potential to benefit from using it. This is something that I'm very passionate about - especially over a long drive when I set my speed and end up passing, being passed by and then RE-passing drivers who cannot maintain a steady speed. Anyway, let's get into the benefits, and there are several!
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