Car tips from Car Talk

Get online advice about your vehicle.

Everyone knows something about taking care of cars, whether it’s how to change the oil, when to rotate the tires, or how to change a flat. But as with any complicated system or process–like buying or selling real estate–misinformation and bad advice abound.

Well-meaning people tell you all manner of things that will supposedly help your car run better: Warm up you car before driving it (unnecessary and wasteful), test the alternator by detaching the battery (dangerous and in newer cars harmful to the engine), put a magnet on your fuel line to improve mileage (never proven to work).

Where should you go for good advice? One place to start is the Car Talk Web site, http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns, where mechanics Tom and Ray Magliozzi, hosts of the popular National Public Radio show, post their answers to thousands of questions from car owners.

A quick search using the words air conditioning–always a popular topic in Texas during the summer–turned up hundreds of results. For example, does starting your car with the air conditioner blasting harm the engine? No, the car cuts off all power to major accessories like the air conditioner until the engine is running. Do you save gas while driving on the highway if you open the windows instead of running the air conditioner? No, at highway speeds you increase the air resistance by opening the windows; it’s more fuel efficient to run the air conditioner.

If searching the columns fails to locate an answer to your particular problem listed, submit a question of your own.

So, if you want to know how you can keep your most expensive business tool–your car–running and reliable for clients, search the site. Even if nothing’s wrong with your vehicle today, you may learn something that keeps it from breaking down tomorrow.

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