[Mike]

The following message was sent to you via the EcoModder.com Contact Us form by Ryan
Martinez.
--------------------------------

Re: Your tips.
I was reading some of your tips, and have some feedback on them.
1. Some of them are untrue.
2. Some of them are very unsafe
3. Some of them will cause your car to break down early (I'm a professional mechanic.)

As for the untrue ones. Driving with your lights on does not decrease your fuel
efficiency. On any vehicle the alternator is turning at the same relative speed as
the vehicle's engine. That means that it's going to continue charging the battery
and shunting the excess voltage back into the alternator. Only when you're using a
HECK OF A LOT of power is it going to start using battery voltage to power it all.
And by a heck of a lot I mean neons, a sound system, and a multi-screen DVD display
in the car all running at the same time.
Also, when a vehicle is warm it does have greater efficiency in fuel usage, true,
but at the same time, the warmer the tires, the more they stick, causing a decrease
in mileage. To be honest, Cold Air Intake systems usually increase mileage because
of the cold air, the warmer the air the more of it has to pass through to get the
same effect as a smaller amount of cold air, and the amount of fuel injected depends
on the amount of air passing through. So down to about 30 degrees or so it's
actually more efficient to drive in the cold than the warm.
You also seem to like turning the engine off. While that does save gas to coast it
also takes an approximate fuel/air mixture of 8:1 for a cold engine and a mixture of
10:1 for a warm engine, compared with pedal to the metal acceleration of 12:1 ratio
and optimum cruising ratio of 16.7:1.

As for unsafe ones, turning off the engine is the most obvious one here. It kills
the brake lights, kills power steering (not many vehicles without it now), kills
power brakes, takes out any warning lights/indicators, and wears out your drivetrain
faster because oil is not circulating as designed.
As for killing the engine but leaving the key on. Your power steering and brakes
are still gone, plus that will kill your sparking system. If the vehicle had points
it'd be fine, but most have pulser coils now, and if they're powered but not being
used (as in engine off key on) it kills them fast.

Engine troubles also abound with putting the transmission in park after your key is
turned off. The engines now a days are almost exclusively fuel injected. That
means they have different fuel settings for different statuses/gears/etc. A vehicle
needs to be able to adjust for that, hence why the idle temporarily jumps when you
put it in park or neutral. It also prepares the electronics to be shut off.

Neutral while stopping. It may seem like a good idea, but it's doing the exact
opposite of what you want it to. If you look at your tachometer while you're idling
at a stop sign in drive it drops down to about 800 RPM on average. That's lower
than the average of 1000-1200 RPM for neutral. It also wears out your transmission
faster, instead of lasting 150K miles it might last 80 or 100K.

Other than the ones I pointed out I agree with and utilize most of those in my daily
driving. I drive a 1997 Toyota Camry that's completely stock with over 120K miles
on it and get an average of 20 MPG in city and 25-28 highway.

Also, if you have any responses or would like to refute my claims, please feel free
to contact me, I'm always open to debate and learning. And who knows, I may be
wrong on something and too thick to think about it! Have a great day!
Ryan
---
Go nuts guys...