Fix It and keep it

The most popular car question on peoples minds lately is ‘what can I do to my car to improve gas mileage”. Since fuel prices have skyrocketed, and come back down, and soon may skyrocket again with no clear ceiling in sight, drivers are looking for ways to improve their fuel economy until they can afford to replace their aging vehicles. While it might be depressing to look at the total on the fuel pump after you have filled your tank, there are some things you can do to make sure that you are getting the most out of your engine.

To begin with, maintenance is key. A few simple steps regarding the upkeep of your engine can go a long way towards lowering the amount of gas that it uses.

1) One of the first things to check is your air filter. The air filter is located in or at the front of the plastic tube that feeds air to your car’s intake. This filter is made of paper, and it is designed to keep particles of dirt and dust from making their way inside the engine, where they could cause damage. Eventually, this filter becomes clogged with all of the debris that it has been protecting your motor from, and when this happens, it is no longer effective at letting air pass through. This causes the efficiency of the engine to drop, using more fuel and lowering the power being generated. Regular filter replacement can help you maintain strong fuel economy.

2) Change the fuel filter at regular intervals to keep the fuel volume and pressure consistent going into the engine. If the engine gets starved for fuel because the fuel filter is clogged the engines computer will compensate by enriching the fuel/air mixture that will cause your vehicle to use more fuel than necessary. Some cars have more than one fuel filter, and they are usually located in the engine compartment and / or, at or in the fuel tank attached to the electric fuel pump, as I the Toyota Matrix. An example of a fuel filter in neither the engine compartment or attached to the fuel pump is the 1995 Ford Taurus where it is attached under the driver’s side floor. The purpose of the fuel filter is to keep any gunk, and/or foreign particles from getting into the engine and fuel injectors. Like the air filter, these materials eventually will block the fuel filter, and when that happens, the engine can get starved for fuel, causing a similar drop in fuel mileage.

3) Another factor in gas mileage is the vacuum in your engine when you drive. The vacuum fluctuates when you press down on the gas pedal and let it up. To word it better the vacuum changes as the engine speed or RPM changes. When the engine becomes under a load from acceleration or going up a hill the vacuum in the engine will drop and as the vacuum drops so will the gas mileage.

You can improve the your gas mileage if you know what your engines vacuum is reading and adjust your driving accordingly. Some of us accelerate too fast which causes a drop in engine vacuum and bad gas mileage. The fast acceleration is unnecessary most of the time and is really then just a habit. If you are serious about improving your gas mileage you will need to lighten up your foot on the gas pedal.

There is a neat little gauge called a Scangauge II that all you have to do to hook it up is plug it into a connector under your dashboard. The Scangauge II will tell you your engines vacuum and RPM as you drive and help you break the habit of fast acceleration. On the Scangauge II there are four digital gauges on one display and you select which readings you would like from a menu. For example, RPM, and MPG are two useful readings along with manifold pressure/vacuum. On the fourth reading you can use your speed to check the accuracy of your speedometer.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Automotive, gas mileage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.