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For those of us who enjoy working on our cars (or don’t particularly enjoy it but know that it’s a necessary evil) there are plenty of simple things we can do to help maintain our cars and keep them in peak running condition. Not surprisingly, cars that are properly maintained also tend to get much better gas mileage as well.
Here are some simple car maintenance things you can do yourself in your own driveway that will help keep your car in good condition as well as help to increase its gas mileage:
- Check your tire pressure. Improperly inflated tires can reduce your car’s gas mileage by up to 2%. Considering your tires will naturally lose roughly 3% of their air pressure each month, this is probably the task you’re going to have to do most often. Go ahead and spend a couple of bucks on an air pressure gauge, and when the pressure gets below what your car’s manufacturer recommends, go ahead and put some extra air in the tires the next time you’re at the gas station.
- Replace dirty air filters. An excessively dirty or clogged air filter can cause your car’s gas mileage to drop by as much as 10%. Most air filters are easy to check, take less than five minutes to replace and should set you back less than $15.
- Replace worn spark plugs. Driving around with worn or fouled spark plugs will cause your car’s air/fuel mixture to be ignited less efficiently, and will reduce your car’s performance and fuel economy. This job may take a little bit of time, but it shouldn’t take too much money.
- Check your gas cap’s gasket. If your car’s gas cap doesn’t get a proper seal, you’re going to let gas simply escape from your car. If the gasket looks old and cracked, go ahead and get a new gasket from your local auto parts store. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes and a couple of bucks to get the job done.
- Switch to synthetic motor oil. This one’s probably the most labor intensive and expensive job out of the five, but it should be enough to help you get an extra boost in fuel economy. Simply put, synthetic motor oils tend to do a better job reducing engine friction, meaning your car’s engine will run more efficiently. Translation: a more efficient engine tends to get better gas mileage.
Anyway, most of this stuff is pretty simple, even if you don’t know a ton about cars. That being said, if you don’t feel comfortable or have absolutely no idea what you’re doing, take your car up to your local mechanic and have them do this work for you.
Either way, it won’t take a lot of time or money to help your car get the best possible gas mileage.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
careful about synthetics in older cars,if there is oil leakage it will increase with synthetics.
I drive a fullsize van with a 5.2 liter V8 engine (Curb weight 5400 pounds). Conventional oil got me 10mpg, switching to synthetic and replacing my distributor cap bumped me up to 13mpg. Add a high-flow exhaust, air filter, transmission shift points…. I’ve gotten that full-size Dodge B2500 van to achieve over 20½ miles per gallon.
I can ignore confounds too, Paul; I just choose not to. As someone who tunes EFI systems I have a few comments to make. I find it interesting that engine size has very little to do with fuel economy, rather aerodynamic drag and the drivers normal acceleration rate (how fast the driver gets to the speed limit) are much more important factors. There exists a certain amount of power needed to propel or accelerate the car, power relates to fuel consumption almost directly.
If you have 3 cars moving down the highway – a 4, 6, and 8 cylinder model of the same car – they will all require the same amount of power be generated to keep them moving without speeding up or slowing down. There are two main things that impact the gas mileage. Differences will be mostly due to the ease with which changes in the fuel mixture can be achieved. IE: you have a set amount to move the gas pedal, but in the v8 car moving it x distance will yield more power made – and thus more fuel used – than you would find in the other models. That is entirely because the driver is choosing to accelerate at a higher rate. If both cars accelerated at the same rate, or didn’t accelerate at all, the difference in economy would come from within the engines. There are varying efficiencies with which the combustion event happens, and that will predict how well the fuel is used.
The efficiency of combustion is a function of the airflow through the intake stream into the head, the shape of the head, valves, and pistons – the shape of the combustion chamber – and the airflow out of the exhaust. While you can make the engine more efficient with an intake and an exhaust, it’s far more likely that you replaced faulty parts and changed your driving style at the same time. Your results are not typical, and statistically not worth bragging about. Anecdotally you are as rare as they come, god forbid we bring math into this.
Well, it’s not a CONSTANT 20½MPG, averages 15 city / 16 highway… but considering it’s rated for 12… and most other van owners report 11-12… it seems the changes did help, especially the oil.