Eight car myths you probably believed rather like Chinese whispers car myths gets spread around gradually becoming more and more stupid as time goes on whether it’s a non car guy friend family member or annoying neighbor who’s told you one of these they’re usually based on a misinterpretation of basic physics let’s get right into the posts.
1 number one using a phone when refueling will
cause an explosion one of the most
common automotive myths is that mobile
phones and fuel pumps don’t mix well
often causing people cars or both to
catch fire or even explode while static
electricity can actually cause fires on
gas pumps such occurrences are extremely
rare and don’t actually have much to do
with mobile phones if there’s myth
turned out to be true we’d soon be all
out of fuel pumps because everyone uses
a mobile phone of some sort nowadays as
ridiculous as this myth sounds it stems
from the early days of the mobile phone
where they had antennas which could
occasionally cause a spark these days
however not likely.
2 number two filling up
your car in the morning saves money by
using the basic principles of physics
some people have concluded that it’s
better to fill your car up in the
morning than later during the day the
reasoning behind this myth is simple
liquids expand in heat
so in theory you’ll have some more
gasoline if you fuel your car early in
the morning while it’s colder and then
let the physics do its thing there are
quite a few facts that bust this myth
the first of them being that the fuel
still has the same energy content
regardless of slight increase in volume
secondly fuel stations store their fuel
underground where temperatures don’t
vary much during the day so there’s no
real difference whether you fill up
during hotter or colder times of the day
nice try but it ain’t happening.
3 number three overdrive makes you go faster while
overdrive increases your top speed in
theory it is primarily there to help
improve your fuel consumption by
decreasing rpm overdrive is a gear
system which switches you to the higher
gear whenever it’s possible in order to
decrease your revs at lower revs the
engine consumes less fuel while running
at the same speed
everything about overdrive making the
car faster is just an illusion because
you’ll have to make your engine work
very hard to reach higher rpms on
overdrive overdrive might sound like
it’s warp speed for your car but
unfortunately it’s just a
boring fuel-saving measure.
4 number four 3000 mile oil change a lot of mechanics
tell you that you should change engine
oil on every 3,000 miles while that
doesn’t hurt the engine at all it
doesn’t really benefit it much either
this myth was conceived by the mechanics
who wanted to make some extra bucks by
creating a need when there isn’t one how
often should you change your engine oil
you might ask basically it depends on
the car so the best way to find out is
to consult your owners manual the
manufacturer knows their cars the best
better than your local mechanic so
there’s absolutely no need for you to
change engine oil every 3,000 miles
you’re probably not the smartest if you
believe this anyway but it will save you
both time and money in the long run now
you know oil nowadays is more advanced
than ever – so you’ll still have a
perfectly healthy engine and more money
in your wallet.
5 number five big SUVs are safer the bigger the car the better the
safety right well not necessarily SUVs
are heavy machines which makes them
safer in theory but harder to control in
real life due to its weights you’ll find
maneuvering and braking under high
speeds much more difficult and
high-speed crashes are usually the most
dangerous ones also their high center of
gravity makes SUVs prone to rollovers
cocooned in the feeling that they’re
invincible SUV drivers have been known
to drive carelessly endangering others
on the road especially pedestrians who
are more likely to get killed by an SUV
than a regular car SUVs tend to have
great safety equipment but that doesn’t
make them safe because they’re an SUV
you could get the same equipment in a
compact car or even a sports car.
6 number six jet fuel makes cars faster the
reasoning behind this crazy math is that
high octane ratings increase the engines
power output but what most people forget
is that jet fuel isn’t anywhere near
regular fuel
despite the etymology in fact jet fuel
has quite a lot in common with diesel so
it will do absolutely nothing if you
fill up your petrol car with litres of
it even if you put jet fuel in a diesel
car it won’t make any particular
difference but from the fact that you’ll
need to additionally lubricate your
engine so don’t try this at home because
it will leave you disappointed also
you’ll lose a few hours and quite a lot
of money so if your gas tank pipes and
engine drained cleaned.
7 number seven you should avoid
first-year production cars this myth can
be considered plausible when talking
about cars that were built in the past
but today it’s not exactly true
modern safety regulations and quality
control are so good now the
manufacturers can no longer afford to
mess up in the first year of production
sure as the model progresses through the
years there are always some improvements
to the car like new equipments and
features but for reliability sake
evidence suggests first-year cars are
not likely to be an issue if you’re
buying a second-hand car make sure it
was always properly serviced and don’t
necessarily judge it by its production
year because that’s unlikely so matter.
8 number eight leaving windows open hums mpg myths
regarding air conditioning and mpg as
some of the most pervasive ones but are
also the ones you can bust yourself over
the years research has proven that
aircon has a tiny affect on fuel
consumption but the difference is so
small that it really doesn’t matter
whether you have your air conditioning
on or off older cars are more lossy but
anything in the last twenty years will
be good the other myth regarding fuel
consumption and keeping yourself cool is
that open windows harm mpg to the physics
behind this myth state that open windows
have an effect on aerodynamics which
increases fuel consumption due to higher
drag coefficient even I believe this one.
but research actually suggests otherwise
under normal operating conditions at the
car whatever you do to keep yourself
cool during hot summer months it’s not
likely to harm your wallet so feel free
to blast the AC or open all the windows
or both so there you are eight common
comments some of which you may have
believed what other dumb myths are there
out there.
