Add to that that gets cold up here in the Great White North ( -21 C
this am) and you have increased friction loads from cold drive
trains, stiff wheel bearing grease etc. The engine also has to put
out more power to push the alternator which is working hard to run
the lights ( short days and long nights in the winter) and heater
fans and heated glass etc. Plus it takes more fuel to push through
all that snow outside our igloos.  Oh, and there's the wheel-spin
which we use to polish the snow down to ice at all stop signs and
lights... Add to that that a lot of people let their vehicles idle
longer and yes, you will see reduced mileage.

Grinning and bearing it, but not baring it

On 26-Feb-09, at 10:00 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

>
> That is correct only when assuming that the engine is spending the =20
> bulk of its running time fully warmed up.
>
> Up here in Canada, that is not the case. Most winter (December -
> March =20
> in Toronto) days it takes my vanagon about 5-6 minutes to get the =20
> needle off the bottom of the gauge. Then, and only then, does the =20
> mixture normalize.