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Top 5 Reasons not to idle

To idle or not to idle. What every B.C. car owner should know
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Adrien Byrne

Sponsored by Chevron I Impress Branded Content

Waiting to drive your kids home from school? Quickly stopping for a friend to run into the store? Idling your vehicle may be tempting, but it’s bad for the engine and wastes fuel. Don’t be fooled by these common idling myths. Turn off your car.

According to available research:

Myth: Frequently restarting your vehicle will cause serious damage.
Fact: Restarting has little impact on the engine, including the battery and starter. You can reduce wear and tear when you turn off your vehicle instead of idling.
Myth: Turning off and restarting your vehicle uses up more fuel than if it’s left running. Fact: Just half a minute of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine. Turn off your vehicle when you stop, except in traffic.
Myth: It’s best to let your vehicle warm up for five minutes before driving it.
Fact: No. Idling is not an efficient way to warm up your vehicle. If it is cold outside, drive slower for the first kilometre to warm the vehicle’s transmission, suspension and tires.
Myth: Idling doesn't waste very much fuel.
Fact: Depending on the vehicle, an hour of idling consumes around 3.79 litres of fuel or more.
Myth: Extended idle warm-ups help to lubricate the car's engine.
Fact: Today's modern oils can flow well at temperatures as low as -40C.

Besides putting to rest common myths about idling, the team at Chevron is committed to making British Columbia a better place to live by contributing to social investment programs that focus primarily on health, education and economic development.Tooth

The Chevron Tooth Trolley, in partnership with the certified dental assistant program at Vancouver Community College, helps lower-income elementary school children in Vancouver and Burnaby develop life-long, good dental hygiene practices. Last year, Chevron donated $30,000 towards the program which over its nine year history has benefited nearly 1,000 school children.

Since 2013, Chevron’s “Fuel Your School” program has provided funding for 1,108 creative science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects benefitting over 53,700 students from 230 public schools throughout the Lower Mainland of B.C.. Through this program, Chevron has contributed over $1.3 million towards innovative classroom STEM materials such as 3D printers, robotics, construction kits, tablets, and circuit boards.SAR

“Investing in such important community initiatives is a top priority for us,” said Chevron spokesperson Adrien Byrne, adding that amongst the many charities and non-profits that Chevron supports in our local community, the company has also invested heavily in local search and rescue organizations over the past 2 years, including providing Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue with $20,000 in 2014/2015 towards improved volunteer safety and rescue equipment, as well as previously supporting the efforts of North Shore Rescue and Coquitlam Search and Rescue teams.

Thanks to Chevron, local communities in 29 countries have benefited from $1.7 billion in social investments over the past nine years. For great fuel efficiency tips, click here: http://www.smartfuelling.ca/