BB’s Fuel Mileage Revival Tips

In today’s world fuel is expensive, plain and simple. Unless you are one of those environment purists who drives an electric car or something like that, this article might just help you. What I am going to do is cover some essentials on getting better fuel mileage. This can apply to any engine size but if you have a large V8 that sucks fuel like water then…. maybe you should consider getting something economical.

Starting Simple Covering Basics

I see people flying down the freeway in the furthest left hand lane (furthest right for some) at some really dumb speeds. I want to point this out as a first mistake, yes you can get better mileage on the highway rather then in the city but going 30kph over the speed limit really isn’t going to help. That among other ways that I have listed below will help you get some better fuel mileage out of your old beater or newer vehicle.

• Drive within reach of the speed limit – Honestly this one is crucial. The more RPMs you are registering the more fuel is getting thrown into the cylinders of your engine, which leads to worse fuel mileage. Take it easy and wave to those dummies flying by you, trust me it works.

• Keep Tires in Check – Make sure your tire pressure is at normal levels (always look on your tire for correct pressure ratings). Low tires will result in more rolling resistance, making the engine having to compensate.

• Stay Tuned Up – Keep your car or truck within respectable scheduled tune ups. If your car is older and the scheduled tune-ups are non-existant as far as you know, check this handy chart from PepBoys for reference. Things like oil changes, air filter changes etc are minor but still can reflect on gas mileage.

• Avoid Additives – You may have looked online at one point in time to see things like Methyl Hydrate and other fuel additives can give you a boost in your fuel mileage, however these products simply don’t work.

• Higher Octane If you Have to - Only if your vehicle requires it (some turbo model cars or high compression engines) put in a higher octane. Yes higher octane’s have a higher Ethanol percentage but this won’t necessarily help your fuel mileage, rather put you further behind in saving your money.

• Air Conditioning or Non-Air Conditioning – This one is a debatable, very debatable. Theoretically it should give you worse gas mileage, however some say it is better then having your windows down. The air conditioning compressor mounted on your engine puts quite a bit of load on it, making the engine work harder.. but I must say only use it if you have to .Really hot days put it on, enjoy the fresh air if you can and have your windows down, whatever works best.

Ok so we have covered some logical basics, next time we will cover more in-depth ways at saving fuel.