Winter is fast approaching and once again I will go on my little rant about why you should not idle your car to warm it up in cold weater:

1) During cold starts and subsequent idling the engine runs very rich, producing far more pollutants.2) The rich condition continues during idling until the engine has warmed up. This excess fuel makes it way into the engine oil diluting it and negatively affects lubrication.3) Idling does not warm the transmission and drivetrain and you risk damage driving too quickly as soon as you back out the driveway.4) Excessive idling burns lots of gas... and gas isn't getting cheaper.

By idling for less than a minute and driving gently for the first few miles until it's warmed up, the car will warm up faster than idling alone and produces far less pollutants. This lets all of us breate a bit easier.

If you must have a warm vehicle, let me suggest the following:

1 - Use a block heater. All Rogue's sold in Canada come with one as standard equipment (the cord is located on the passenger side of the engine compartment near the headlight). You can also get one installed. Correct use of block heater will reduce engine warmup time significantly.

2 - Store your car in a garage. Even an unheated one will reduce the time needed to warm up the vehicle.

3 - Use a car interior warmer. I use one made by Pyroil and is sold at Canadian Tires stores in Canada. Not sure if they are still available:



ZeroStart (a cold weather diesel specialist) makes a similar product and is sold by JCWhitney and others:



JCWhitney catalog page:http://www.jcwhitney.com/ZEROS...1.jcw

Both of these heaters simply plug into a 120VAC outlet and within an hour can melt frost and ice from the windows and take most of the chill out of the interior. I have mine mounted on a bracket that slips over the back seat. I then use a timer to activate the heater 1-2 hours before I leave for work. Since installing one, I almost never scrape frost off the windows anymore. Operating cost is minimal, less than 10 cents per hour.

Have heard it before but very good info.

The interior warmers pictured can be installed nearly anywhere. Here is the photo of my setup with the seat mount bracket:



The seat mount bracket is nothing more than 2 straps of 16ga steel bent in the form of a hook. This hooks over the back of the seat. It allows me to direct heated air towards the windshield for effective defrosting and interior heating and is portable so I can use on multiple vehicles. I route the 120V power cord out the bottom of the door and gently close it. It is then connected to a extension cord and timer.

Note: Care must be taken using an interior warmer. Ensure that airflow to/from the heater is never obstructed and keep any flammable material away from the outlet.