Improve Your Gas Mileage
Your recognized Authority On Ways to Improve Your Gas Mileage

Staying on top of vehicle maintenance is perhaps the best way to improve  gas mileage and avoid costly repairs down the road.

Although fuel prices have thankfully fallen from the lofty levels they occupied just last year, it seems that between the BP spill, the drilling moratorium and possibility of new energy legislation and regulations coming out of Washington, we could see new record prices at the pump at any time. Everything you can do to improve  gas mileage within reason should be done. This includes keeping your vehicle in top running condition through  regularly scheduled maintenance.

 When Does What Need To Be Done?

 If you ask several repair facilities about what vehicle maintenance needs to be done and how often it should be done, you will probably get as many answers as the number of repair facilities you ask. After all, they are in business to sell you services. The more they sell, the more they make. You know as well as I do that if you go into a shop for maintenance without knowing what you need, you will probably get taken to the cleaners.

 So back to the question at hand. What vehicle maintenance services need to be performed and when do these items need to be done. The best place to get that information is the owner’s vehicle maintenance schedule that came with the vehicle. It may be part of the Owner’s Manual, but it usually comes to you as a separate booklet. If you don’t have the vehicle maintenance schedule, you can always look it up on the manufacturer’s web site. Some manufacturers will even let you set up an account to track your vehicle maintenance. Others will go as far as notifying you of regular vehicle maintenance intervals as well as product recalls.

 Now that you have the information you need to be able to have regular vehicle maintenance performed, let’s look at some of the vehicle maintenance items that will improve your gas mileage.

 Keep Your Engine Properly Tuned

According to the US Department Of Transportation, just changing your spark plugs can improve your gas mileage by an average of 4% on most of today’s cars and light trucks. We did a tune-up on a 2004 Ford F150 with 105,000 miles. When we started, the average fuel mileage was 13.4 mpg. After we did the tune up, we jumped to 15.1 mpg. That’s an increase of 12.7%. As a side note, we recommend that you not go as long as the manufacturer recommends for tune-ups. On the example above, we had to pay extra to have the plugs removed because they broke off due to carbon buildup “welding” the plug and cylinder head together. Most repair shops now recommend not going over 90% of the mileage the manufacturer originally recommended.

 Other tune up related items will increase your gas mileage even more. For instance, replacing a faulty oxygen sensor can improve  gas mileage as much as 40%.

 Save $900.00 By Keeping Your Tires Properly Inflated

 It is estimated that 50 percent of vehicles have underinflated tires. You can’t guestimate tire pressure. You need to check it with a tire pressure gauge. You can usually purchase a cheap one for about $5.00.  It’s worth your time to check tires every other time you fill up your gas tank. Underinflated tires will affect your braking, acceleration, stability, cornering and can possibly cost you $750.00 a year in wasted gas. plus an additional $150 a year in tire wear. Conversely, Hypermilers will tell you to overinflate your tires in order to cut down on rolling resistance. This not only wastes money, it can be dangerous. Over inflating tires causes premature tire wear, decreased traction and the possibility of a blowout. The manufacturers recommended air pressure for your vehicle’s tires is on a decal pasted near the bottom of the driver’s door or pillar. Doing this DIY vehicle maintenance is probably the most inexpensive way to improve your gas mileage.

If you are not the type to check your tires regurarly, a neat item for you might be the firefly low tire flasher. The firefly is a valve cap replacement that monitors tire pressures for you and flashes when tire pressure is low. you can buy these on Amazon through the link we have provided at the very bottom of this page . They come in sets of 2, 4 and ten. BTW, you can  find a very accurate tire gauge there as well.

 Keep Your Wheels Aligned and Balanced

If your tires are only slightly out of alignment it’s just like of dragging your tire sideways for 102 miles for every 20,000 you drive. That’ll cost you $187.50 a year in wasted gas. It will wear your tires faster, costing you $70 more a year.

Although some will tell you that an easy way to check your alignment without taking your car in to the shop is to buy a tread depth gauge and measure the tread depth on both edges of all four tires. If one side of the tire is worn more than the other, your car needs to be aligned. To us, that’s like closing the barn door after the horse has run away. An alignment costs about $80, and you’ll improve your gas mileage enough to save about $177.50 the first year alone.

Wheel balancing is also a very important vehicle maintenance item. As tires wear it is likely that your tires/wheels will become unbalanced. Driving down the road with an unbalanced tire is like trying to accurately throw a beach ball that has sand inside. When you throw the ball it wobbles as it spins. If you let that happen to your tires, they will eventually need to be replaced due to uneven wear. That same uneven wear (cupping) can also cost you in gas mileage.

Change Your Air Cleaner?

Here’s a shocker for you. According to a study done for the U.S. Department of Energy, changing a clogged air filter on a newer computer controlled fuel injected engine will not improve your gas mileage at all. This covers almost all of the cars on the road today. The only cars that this does not hold true for are traditional carbureted engines. Because these types of cars have no onboard computers or other devices that help you improve gas mileage on today’s cars, it is imperative that you at least check your air filter every time you change your oil.

You will still probably want to keep that filter clean anyway. The study also showed that a clogged air cleaner can affect acceleration by up to 11% on today’s cars.

Change Your Oil

This is probably the most called for scheduled vehicle maintenance item. Keeping your engine properly lubricated is the most important vehicle maintenance item you can do to prolong engine life and improve your gas mileage. It is also important to use the type and weight oil that is specified in the vehicle maintenance schedule. Using 10W30 weight oil where a 5W30 is called for can lower your mpg by 1-2%. Also, look for motor oil that says “Energy Conserving” on the API performance symbol to be sure it contains friction-reducing additives.

 Like it or not, gas prices will climb again, but this time you can be ready with our vehicle maintenance tips to help you improve your gas mileage. You may not be able to make your mortgage payment with the savings, but every dime counts now more than ever.