Another Life Hack For QC Winters: How to Warm Up Your Car the Right Way
I bet you never realized you were warming up your car the wrong way. Not only that, but you've most likely wasted gas, time, and energy in the process.
I just came across this supposedly life-changing hack for warming up the car. I know, between this and the windshield defrosting hack, I'm becoming some sort of a winter weather expert (not really). According to Tip Hero, instead of turning on your engine and letting the car run while waiting for it to heat up, you should do this instead:
- Get into your car. Turn the ignition on but don’t start the engine just yet.
- In 3-5 seconds, you should hear the fuel pump priming the engine. Start the car when this happens. (A primed engine=an engine that's ready to produce heat)
- Idle for about 10-20 seconds at the most. (Don't turn the heat on just yet.)
- Slowly ease out of your parking spot and ease into driving. (You can now turn the vent on.)
That's it. The car supposedly heats up in less than a minute, so you can expect warm air when you turn on the vent. I will put a giant disclaimer that I don't expect this trick to work for every make and model of car, but it did, in fact, work for me. I didn't hear the fuel pump (not sure what that sounds like anyway?), but I when I turned the heat on after about 30 seconds of idling (I gave it extra time to be sure), it was pretty warm. I honestly did not expect this to be successful, so color me impressed.
My car is about three years old, but again, no clue if this trick would do the trick for older cars. I'm interested in hearing feedback from others if this worked for them!