How to Improve your Vehicles Fuel Economy

Keep your tires properly inflated. Driving with your tires at the proper inflation can improve your efficiency by up to 3%. That’s a savings of $30 to $70 depending on how much you drive, and can reduce greenhouse gasses by 1.42% to 0.69 percent. Under-inflated tires alone cost the country more than $3.5 million gallons of gasoline each day.

Reduce excess vehicle weight. Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your trunk. Each 100 pounds can reduce your fuel economy by 2%. You can save up to 12 gallons of gasoline per year up to $40 – be removing an extra 100 pounds of unneeded items from the trunk.

Keep your car properly tuned. A well-tuned car can run 4% more efficiently than one that is out or tune or has failed its emissions test.

Check and replace air filters regularly. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your fuel economy by as much as 10%

Upgrade your air filter. More efficient brands of air filters cost a little more but will pay for themselves in most vehicles in fuel savings. Clogged air filters cause engines to work overtime which requires more fuel.

Make sure that you change the oil and maintain your car’s power train according to your owner’s manual. This will ensure that your car’s engine will operate at maximum efficiency, thus providing the best fuel economy. A properly-maintained engine uses less gas. Use a synthetic oil instead of mineral oil. This will cause your engine to run better and give you better mileage.

Use a fuel injector cleaner or complete fuel system treatment occasionally. Not only will you see a boost in gas mileage, but in your car’s overall performance. Fouled injectors vaporize fuel poorly, affecting how completely the fuel is burned.

Remove unneeded racks. If you have a bicycle or ski rack, remove it when you’re not using it. It causes drag and lowers mileage.

What Fuel is best for your car

Use the lowest recommended octane for your car. The lower octane gas is cheaper. Most modern cars are engineered to run most efficiently on lower octane fuel, and often recommend not using higher-octane fuel. Check your owner’s manual to be sure, as not all car engines should use lowest octane gas.

Mix octanes. In some areas, the lower octane may be too low for your car and the mid-grade or higher octane may be more than what you need. To avoid overpaying and still get the correct octane for your car you can mix the gas. For example, if your car takes 87 octane and the pumps have 85 octane and 89 octane, then when filling your car, fill half the tank with 85 octane and the other half with 89 octane and this will give you an equivalent of 87 octane plus it will save you money because the lower octane gas costs less.

Determine whether gas with ethanol is right for your vehicle

If there is a high proportion of ethanol, the lower energy content of the fuel will almost always lower mileage. However, 10% or less ethanol actually helps gasoline burn more completely, resulting in better economy.

Fuel with ethanol may be more expensive than standard gas, but the minimal price difference is often offset by lower fuel taxes or subsidies.

Ethanol is much better for the environment; however, fuels with ethanol additives can corrode fuel lines in vehicles not designed with ethanol fuels in mind.

Turbocharged cars often get better mileage with ethanol blends. This is because the higher (over 100!) octane of ethanol permits more boost, which means more efficient fuel usage.

How to buy gasoline

Buy gasoline during coolest time of day – early morning or late evening is best. During these times gasoline is densest. Keep in mind – gas pumps measure volumes of gasoline, not densities of fuel concentration. You are charged according to “volume of measurement”. Choose type and brand of gasoline carefully. Certain brands provide you with greater economy because of better quality. Use the brands which “seem” most beneficial.

Don’t fill until the last quarter tank. If you do this, it can extend your gas because you are hauling a lighter load as the tank nears empty. This also allows you to buy gas on low-cost days. However, in cold weather, you run an increased risk of condensation in the fuel tank. And you never know when you might be in an emergency and need some gasoline in your car!

Fill the tank full. If you need to fill up, fill up all the way. The more money you try to save by adding $10 today and then $20 tomorrow will be wasted since each time you will have to travel to the station and wait for a pump. Instead, do it all at once to save time and money.

Don’t top off the tank. It is wasted money and bad for the environment since the extra gas evaporates in 10 minutes of driving.

Buy gas on Wednesday. Gas prices are statistically the cheapest on Wednesdays, but this is only statistically true over a large number of days. It won’t be true every week.

Buy gas three days before a holiday. Gas prices almost always go up for holidays.