Don’t let the cold starve your engine

Don’t let the cold starve your engine – refuel often

An internal combustion engine, which, unless you’ve purchased a new electric car, is probably what you drive, must have fuel in order to run. If you let the tank run dry, you’ll find yourself coasting to the side of the road with an engine that’s stopped running.

In the winter time, it’s a good idea, not only to make sure you have gasoline in your tank, but to keep the tank from becoming too low on fuel. The reason this is important is that air, often containing humidity, can mix with your gasoline. While the gasoline won’t freeze until 97-degrees below zero, the water mixed with the air in the gasoline will freeze at 32-degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, when you have less gasoline in the tank, and more moisture-rich air, you are a greater risk of having frozen liquids interfere with the gasoline’s ability to flow.

You don’t merely need to worry about the gasoline in your tank – you also have to worry about it in your fuel lines. This is particularly true where moisturized air has already infiltrated into your gasoline. One way to avoid this problem is to periodically use a gasoline additive that dries the gasoline (removes the moisture) and helps to prevent the gasoline from freezing.

Some of these products claim to help clean your fuel injectors, improve winter starts and improve your mileage. Those benefits are nice, if true, but if all the additive does is to keep your fuel lines dry, it’s well worth the effort. Manufacturers may recommend adding a bottle of their additive with every fill up. That, however, can prove expensive. Every two or three tank full is probably enough.

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