Why does car fuel consumption increase in winter? Don't spend money recklessly on repairs

Many people have found that in winter, the fuel consumption of vehicles increases, and the mileage traveled by vehicles with the same amount of fuel significantly decreases. The fuel consumption is higher than when the air conditioning is turned on in summer. So some people will go to the 4S store for a vehicle inspection, believing that the car has a malfunction. Especially for some new cars that have only driven 10000 to 20000 kilometers and some novice drivers, they will be more concerned. But the vehicle has been checked and there are no faults. Some people may also spend money unjustly on cleaning carbon deposits or replacing spark plugs, but it may not necessarily be effective.

In winter, the high fuel consumption of vehicles is directly related to the temperature, with the biggest impact being the longer warm-up time. In summer, the water temperature can reach normal within a few minutes, while in winter, it takes at least ten to twenty minutes. The process of warming up the car consumes a lot of fuel. At this point, there is a state where the cold car mixture is enriched. The computer controls the engine to inject more fuel to achieve the goal of quickly warming up the car and reaching the optimal operating temperature of the engine as soon as possible. As you can clearly see, the idle speed of the vehicle is relatively high every time it first catches fire, and it takes a long time to return to normal idle speed. The lower the temperature, the longer the high idle time, which is why the engine deliberately increases the speed to quickly increase the water temperature. Due to the longer warm-up time, the longer the mixture is enriched, and the longer the high idle time, the fuel consumption will definitely increase. This is a problem that occurs during the cold start phase of a vehicle. If the vehicle needs to cold start multiple times a day and has been parked for a few hours, the vehicle will just get completely cold. At this time, the vehicle needs to be used repeatedly, and the fuel consumption will become even higher.

In the normal use stage of vehicles, fuel consumption is also different from other seasons. Due to the low external temperature, the engine itself dissipates heat quickly, and it needs to maintain normal operating temperature. Many of the heat converted from gasoline is wasted and not used for work, which is also an important reason for the increase in fuel consumption. Energy conservation can be used to understand that when the temperature is low, the engine inevitably loses a lot of heat, which is generated by the combustion of gasoline. If this heat does not work, it is considered wasted. So, let me remind you here that vehicles with damaged thermostats and vehicles with water temperatures that cannot rise in winter must be repaired in a timely manner, otherwise besides not having heating, fuel consumption will be high.

Fuel consumption is also closely related to the length of each distance traveled by the vehicle. Assuming that the water temperature rises to normal after every five kilometers of driving and two kilometers of driving in summer, the fuel injection rate thereafter remains normal. During winter driving for five kilometers, the water temperature may not have reached normal yet, which means the whole journey is in a cold state. During driving, the mixture has both cold car enrichment and acceleration enrichment, and the fuel consumption has always been at a relatively high level. If you use this mode every day, the fuel consumption will definitely be much higher than in summer.

The high fuel consumption of vehicles caused by low temperatures in winter is inevitable, as is the case with any vehicle. Low temperatures require more gasoline to warm up the engine. If the vehicle does not exhibit any other special phenomena, such as shaking or malfunction lights, it does not require maintenance. Because there is no good way to take the vehicle for maintenance, just to clean the carbon deposits in various places and replace the spark plugs. It may have some effect on changing fuel consumption, but it will not have much improvement. There is no need to go to a separate 4S store for a vehicle inspection, as the vast majority of them cannot find any problems, especially for new cars with limited mileage. Of course, if there is not only a phenomenon of high fuel consumption, but also other problems, such as poor starting, severe shaking, decreased power, and consistently low water temperature, then there must be a problem with the car, which requires inspection and maintenance.

From: WONDEE Autoparts

2023-8-9