Tips From Total On How to Keep Your Car Running This Winter

LONDON: November 30, 2009; Almost 7,000 cars breakdown every day in the UK,1 a number which increases as winter takes hold. When cold weather hits, cars take longer to warm up, oil takes longer to circulate, and the car battery may not have its full charge. Preparing your car in advance can make it easier than having to deal with trying to get a cold car started or even calling for road side assistance once winter has set in.

Fuel In the cold weather your car requires more fuel to warm up and reach an efficient operating temperature. Advanced fuels, such as TOTAL Excellium contain exclusive additives and detergents, which clean the most sensitive parts of modern engines, in particular, the areas involved with petrol injections and high pressure diesel injection.

Cars running on TOTAL Excellium fuels use on average 4%2 less fuel, giving drivers up to an extra 30 miles per tank and on average 14 extra miles per tank. TOTAL is 100% confident in Excellium and guarantees that, if customers do not see better fuel economy, TOTAL will refund the difference between the cost of standard TOTAL fuel and Excellium, �See the difference or we will refund the difference�.

Oils and Lubricants Throughout the year, oils and lubricants are vital to the correct operation of your engine but this is especially true during the winter months when the roads are gritted and salted. In particular, they reduce wear and tear, so it is essential to make sure you are using the correct lubricant for your vehicle. As well as making sure your car runs smoothly, lubricants also have other, less-well known functions, including: # Cooling hot areas of an engine and moving parts # TOTAL QUARTZ INEO ECS lubricant will help keep engine friction to a minimum, improving engine efficiency and reducing fuel consumption by three per cent. This reduction in friction protects mechanical parts against wear and corrosion; guaranteeing long life and efficiency of the engine # Keeping the engine clean, ensuring long engine life and keeping all engine parts in good condition, while evacuating any impurities to the oil filter and through oil changes

Improved engine technologies mean that your vehicle is expected to run for around 20,000 miles before servicing, compared with 10-12,000 in 2000. This has created a new responsibility for drivers to check and top-up the lubricant at least once between services. To help drivers, TOTAL has produced practical top-up packs of lubricants that can be kept in the car boot, and used when necessary.

Clean Car It is important to keep you car clean during the winter months. After the salting of icy roads all winter, there will be significant encrustations of road salt and mud on the underside of the vehicle and external paintwork. This salty, muddy grime causes the corrosion on both internal and external surfaces of the vehicle. The underside of the vehicle is of special concern as mud packing can block up the drainage holes that prevent corrosion inside the car body.

TOTAL has car washes on over 650 of its sites across the country, and offers competitive prices, making it easy for drivers to keep their cars clean and running efficiently over the winter months