Saving Gas by Improving Mileage

If you can’t get or afford the price of gas and your fuel gauge looks like this often, you might want to try some different ideas to save gas or improve mileage. First always make sure your car is running as good as it can. This can be done by performing a tune up which generally consists of spark plugs, plug wires, air filter, fuel filter, and distributor cap and rotor if applicable. If you have a fuel injected car and the check engine light is on you may have a problem that is costing you a lot of extra fuel. The car will then be running in a “limp” mode which usually consists of using extra fuel for the safety of the engine. Things such as the oxygen sensor (o2) will cause the engine to use extra gas also.

 Improving the aerodynamics of you car can also help reduce gas usage. Things like ground effects, lowering your vehicle, lower front spoilers and even cowl induction hoods will help reduce drag on you car and use less fuel. Synthetic oils in engine transmission and differentials will reduce the parasitic drag on the vehicle thus using less fuel.  Changing gearing so that your top gear spins your engine at a lower speed will also save gas. Higher compression ratios in cars will also make them more efficient up to a point.

 The lesser thought of improvement to gas mileage comes from the way you drive. Optimum driving speed is in the range of 45 to 55 mph average on most vehicles. Driving 5 mph slower at 75 mph or higher speeds can make an even larger improvement. The wind or air drag is greatly increased above the optimum speeds. Also accelerating cars slower and letting off the gas much sooner before coming to a stop can help out a lot. Drive your vehicle as if you were driving on ice doing everything slower and smoother and you will see drastic improvements in you gas mileage.