Car talk
Dr. Edward P. Becker | TLT Automotive Tribology December 2015
How getting started has changed since the 1970s.
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / dmitrimaruta
FORE MORE THAN 30 YEARS, CAR TALK ON NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (NPR) featured the antics of Tom and Ray Magliozzi, a pair of car mechanics who fielded calls from listeners about their automotive questions, interspersed with a healthy dose of humor. Over the years the brothers notices several themes emerging, eventually creating collections of related car questions available on CD. One such collection is Why You Should Never Listen to Your Father, which features numerous examples of questionable (and outright wrong) conventional wisdom about automobiles.
For example, callers to the show would regularly ask whether it was wise or necessary to turn off all of a car’s accessories (lights, radio, windshield wipers, fan motor, etc.) before starting the car. The explanation was usually that the additional load from these accessories would cause undo wear on the starter or draw excessive current from the battery. I remember that my 1972 Pontiac Bonneville sometimes would not start on a cold Chicago winter morning unless I turned all those things off!
However, much has changed in 43 years. Recommended oil viscosity has dropped from 10W-40 to 5W-30 (or even 0W-20), so the oil is much less viscous on a cold morning now. Batteries and started motors are more powerful as well, so overcoming the inertia of the engine and accessories is less of an issue. The biggest change, however, is the fact that accessories are now controlled electronically by the various computers in the car rather than by the mechanical switches of the 1970s and earlier.
If your car is newer than the mid-1980s, try this: from the off position, turn the key to the run position, put the fan on the highest setting and hold your left hand over the nearest vent so that you can feel the air blowing. Now turn the key to the start or crank position. While the engine is cranking, does the air stop blowing? If so, the computer is automatically shutting off the fan (and all the other accessories) until after the engine starts, then the computer electronically energizes all those accessories again.
So if you are still manually turning all those accessories off before you start your car and on again once the car is running, you are not saving any wear and tear on the starter or the battery. The only thing you are doing is causing unnecessary wear to the switches themselves!
Unfortunately Tom Magliozzi passed away last year, so no new episodes of Car Talk are being produced. However, you can still hear classic episodes of the show (and by classic, they mean old) on most NPR stations. Just go to
www.cartalk.com to find the broadcast schedule for the station near you.
Ed Becker is an STLE Fellow and past president. He is president of Friction & Wear Solutions, LLC, in Brighton, Mich., and can be reached through his website at www.frictionandwearsolutions.com.