Saving on vehicle costs

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fanmail Thoughts on car color having an impact on absorbing heat in summer? What about tinted windows?

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound It's simple, at least here in the Southwest. With temperature as high as 120F in the shade, sunshine with blue sky and no hint of a wisp of cloud, having a black or dark color car is asking to be roasted. When I park my car outdoors, I always put on the windshield shade trying to reduce the interior temperature a few degrees as well as to reduce sun effect damages like an earlier poster noted. Tinted windows are almost a necessity here, and dealers usually just put them on before selling the car. We take these things for granted, and I still remember talking to a Canadian engineer who was visiting from Montreal 30 years ago; he was amused at our precautions.

I'm confused...was he talking about exterior car color or interior?

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound None of my cars have a remote starter. What's the range of the remote? There are add-on kits one can buy, but I never bothered.

Range is now up to about 1/2 mile, or if you are my DS you can start your car from anywhere there is telephone service. You're in Australia, want your NA car to start, no problem, pull out the smart phone. THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT.

I think you can get them from a dealer but I'm not sure if there are any manufacturers options. AFAIK (and it ain't far) it's 99% aftermarket.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave I'm confused...was he talking about exterior car color or interior?

I thought fanmail was asking about exterior paint, and I answered as such.

In my locale, I think (could be all my imagination here, as I have no statistics) that I see more light color cars on the road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kumquat Range is now up to about 1/2 mile, or if you are my DS you can start your car from anywhere there is telephone service. You're in Australia, want your NA car to start, no problem, pull out the smart phone. THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT. I think you can get them from a dealer but I'm not sure if there are any manufacturers options. AFAIK (and it ain't far) it's 99% aftermarket.

Thanks for the clarification. I have not seen this offered as an option by car makers, and I thought I missed something.

The problem with this is that I would need to also install a "car in garage detector" to inhibit the remote start when it is not safe to do so. Else, I might call my car by mistake to start it while it is in my home garage, and subject the family to carbon monoxide poisoning.

[FANOFJESUS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave No direct knowledge of this, but who cares...why are you asking?

You want a black car in Alaska not Phoenix.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave New cars have something called a viscosity sensor. They can be either mechanical or electrical, although my experience is with mechanical ones (I helped design/test one of the first ones at our Fortune 200 MegaCorp back in the early 1990s) ...which accomplishes what you are talking about. Solid-State Acoustic Wave Viscosity Sensors: The Future of Oil Condition Monitoring | Sensors

Ah, that is definitely a useful device to detect that the engine oil is worn out and needs to be replaced.

But, if the oil is thinned, the bearings are worn, and the ambient temperature is high, causing the oil pressure to be too low when the engine is at idle, what do you do to get more oil flow? One could use a variable-displacement oil pump like what has been used in aerospace applications. That would be a complex and expensive device.

I say why not put in an oil pump with excess capacity so that one can be sure of having sufficient flow under the worst case conditions? My point was that it appeared to me that car makers did not do that in the 60s and 70s, and they do now. But of course I was just surmising, having no inside knowledge in the automotive industry.

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I thought fanmail was asking about exterior paint, and I answered as such.

Oh ok. I don't know of any relationship between EXTERIOR car color and the heat inside a car...but maybe it's a study I've not seen. As a matter of fact, I was wondering if a reflective color like silver may cause more heat inside the car.

I pick colors for my "special" cars based on appearance. I pick colors for my daily cars based on how they look when dirty so that if I don't wash it every week it doesn't look horrible. IMO white and black are the two prettiest colors when clean, but they look horrible when dirty. I like more of a beige/brown/champagne/silver and even many shades of other colors are fine. Even red isn't too bad depending on the shade.

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rec7 You want a black car in Alaska not Phoenix.

Again, I'm not sure why. If it's exterior color he's talking about...I know of no relationship to interior temperatures. If it's interior color, that's a different story.

Perhaps someone can share a link or something on how exterior car color affects the heat inside a car?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave No direct knowledge of this, but who cares...why are you asking?

Those of us who live where internal car temps can exceed 120 in the summer - and can kill - care a great deal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave Perhaps someone can share a link or something on how exterior car color affects the heat inside a car?

Depends on which "expert" you believe:

Curiosities: Does a dark-colored car heat up more in the sun than a light-colored car? (July 27, 2009)

Silver and white cars are cooler, says study

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Ah, that is definitely a useful device to detect that the engine oil is worn out and needs to be replaced. But, if the oil is thinned, the bearings are worn, and the ambient temperature is high, causing the oil pressure to be too low when the engine is at idle, what do you do to get more oil flow? One could use a variable-displacement oil pump like what has been used in aerospace applications. That would be a complex and expensive device. I say why not put in an oil pump with excess capacity so that one can be sure of having sufficient flow under the worst case conditions? My point was that it appeared to me that car makers did not do that in the 60s and 70s, and they do now. But of course I was just surmising, having no inside knowledge in the automotive industry.

I don't know if it predicts when the oil is worn out...not sure on that aspect. The ones I worked on were made so that at startup and after warm-up the oil pressures were nearly the same. On diesels (which is where I helped design ours in the early '90s), startups in cold weather would result in extremely high oil pressures that would have an adverse impact on engine wear, seals, piston ring performance (due to piston cooling nozzle spray), and so on. Then when the engine warmed up, the oil thinned and everything was ok. Our company designed the visco sensor to address this issue.

As far as not having enough capacity in the '60s...I don't know much about that. I do agree that in high-perf engines, most people replaced the stock pump with a higher capacity pump....which is what I did in my Camaro.

[Finance Dave]

7. Each year, before the winter in cold climates, spray a bit of powdered graphite into each exterior lock on your car. You’ll never have another frozen lock…at least not on the inside of the lock.
http://www.amazon.com/Panef-Corp-Powdered-Graphite-Lubricant/dp/B0016GZQ60

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Curiosities: Does a dark-colored car heat up more in the sun than a light-colored car? (July 27, 2009) Silver and white cars are cooler, says study

Well, the first expert made a statement while presenting no data.

The second actually took data, using two identical cars but of different colors.

Hmm... Whom do I believe?

Still, I would say that this is a good subject for a Myth Busters episode. I love no-nonsense stuff like this.

My guess is that dark color cars get their interior temperature higher due to heat transmission from the roof. The lining under a car roof is perhaps 1/4" inch thick. What's the R value of that? And everybody knows dark objects get hotter under the sun than a light object.

PS. How about a compromise for people who live in the SW and want a darker color for stylish reasons? A two-tone car, with a white top.

Oh yeah, they used to have that, and with a white top of a vinyl cover for a bit more R-valued insulation too.

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Those of us who live where internal car temps can exceed 120 in the summer - and can kill - care a great deal. Depends on which "expert" you believe: Curiosities: Does a dark-colored car heat up more in the sun than a light-colored car? (July 27, 2009) Silver and white cars are cooler, says study

Thanks for the links. My comment about "who cares" was based upon my hypothesis that the exterior color didn't matter, just the interior. I was not implying that I don't care about someone's life. As the subject is one of debate and the links posted are the first I've seen of it, I have no further opinion on this topic.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave 7. Each year, before the winter in cold climates, spray a bit of powdered graphite into each exterior lock on your car. You’ll never have another frozen lock…at least not on the inside of the lock. http://www.amazon.com/Panef-Corp-Powdered-Graphite-Lubricant/dp/B0016GZQ60

Another seasonal cold weather tip: Apply (and buff off) vehicle wax to the inside surfaces where the door seals meet the bodywork. This helps the seals "slip" into place better and reduces road noise, and the big value is that it reduces the chance that ice will "glue" the seal to the doorframe and prevent the door from opening.

(I can hear the snickers from the folks living in the 50th state from here . . .)

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave 7. Each year, before the winter in cold climates, spray a bit of powdered graphite into each exterior lock on your car. You’ll never have another frozen lock…at least not on the inside of the lock. http://www.amazon.com/Panef-Corp-Powdered-Graphite-Lubricant/dp/B0016GZQ60

I do not have problems with door locks freezing, but the heat of the SW has caused one of my cars, an 11-yr old, to have one of its electric door locks sticky.

I looked at that, and it appeared that grease had dried up and became gummy and the actuator could not provide enough force to operate it. After having to lock that door manually for a month or two, it irked me to the point where I had to do something about it.

So, I pulled off the door panel cover, and tried to see how to lube that mechanism. Boy, I could not see much though the openings in the inside door panel, and it appeared that I would have to take apart even more off that door.

Out of desperation, I got my WD-40 can, reached inside the door, and just sprayed liberally in the general direction of the door lock mechanism (which I could not see), while operating the electric lock up/down with my keyfob.

What do you know? That WD-40 literally and figuratively hit the spot. The door lock now works, excuse me, like they say, smooth as a baby's ass.

Let's see how long that lasts.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 I just left Walmart and bought a 5 qt container of 0W20 Synthetic Mobil One for $24.95. The filter for my 4 cyl Camry is about 4 bucks so with tax it's about $30 to change the oil and filter.

That is assuming you do it yourself. If you have it done, it may range from 50 on up. (If you look at adds for oil changes they say excludes synthetic oil). Of course the oil change place does charge extra for the synthetic oil compared to Walmart. But then you don't have to worry about oil disposal either.

[NW-Bound]

Regarding oil disposal, I have been taking it to O'Reilly (former CheckerAuto). And to make it fair, I also buy oil and filters from them. I understand that some Walmarts also collect used oil for recycling.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I understand that some Walmarts also collect used oil for recycling.

FWIW, I've read that only a tiny percent of waste motor oil is actually recycled, the stuff we turn in gets burned to make heat/energy. Nothing wrong with that (except maybe the heavy metals going into the atmosphere).

[rbmrtn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde That is assuming you do it yourself. If you have it done, it may range from 50 on up. (If you look at adds for oil changes they say excludes synthetic oil). Of course the oil change place does charge extra for the synthetic oil compared to Walmart. But then you don't have to worry about oil disposal either.

I get oil mostly free after rebates and sales. Filters almost free after rebates. Drop the used oil at Walmart when convenient.

[73ss454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meierlde That is assuming you do it yourself. If you have it done, it may range from 50 on up. (If you look at adds for oil changes they say excludes synthetic oil). Of course the oil change place does charge extra for the synthetic oil compared to Walmart. But then you don't have to worry about oil disposal either.

I've always done my own oil changes and most other work also. Disposing of the old oil is no big deal. About 1 mile from the house is an auto parts store that gladly takes the old oil.

[fanmail]

I was asking about exterior car color for keeping the interior cooler. Thanks guys.