T-13, 1.35: Gas Guzzling

This will partially duplicate (or develop) a list on car maintenance from a coupla weeks ago, but only partially:

13 Ways to Improve Your MPG

Of course, the best thing to do in to lower gasoline expenses these days of high-priced oil would be to take commonsense steps toward energy independence as a nation (and as much as possible, as an individual), including holding President Fifi Mohammed Bush to his word to make the sponsors of Islamic terrorism PAY for their crimes (which would mean deposing the Saudis and buying their oil for the Saudis’ lifting cost of $5/barrel), build a ton of pebble bed reactors (well-known, hyper safe technology) like the Chinese are doing, telling the green idiots to go pi$$ up a rope in general and in particular whenever they open their pie holes to place barriers in the way of building refineries, nuke plants, etc.

But where the rubber meets the road, we can all stretch our petro use (and our gas dollars) by doing some simple things.

N.B. My current “most driven” car, used for the majority of driving errands, is a 1997 Saturn SL 1.9L, 5-speed manual transmission. Current mpg, combined real world city/hiway: between 40 and 44 mpg, depending on variables.

Car maintenance:

1. Make sure your ignition system–spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition modules, etc.–are in good condition. Clean and regap (or replace and properly gap) spark plugs to proper tolerances (this tool is really handy if you have an air compressor). CHeck, or have checked, the spark plug wires for proper conductivity and resistance. One missing or weak spark can make a big difference! Check spark plugs for signs indicating other problems.

2. Check your air filter. Your car needs air to “breathe” just as badly as you do. Most car manuals recommend changing your air filter at least once a year or every 15,000 mioles, whichever comes first. I prefer changing it earlier if it looks dirty. Just take your air filter out and shine a flashlight from the inside pointing out. You’ll be able to see if there’s significant dirt accumulation. If your air filter is clogged, your fuel mixture may be too rich, wasting gas.

3. Make absolutely certain that your coolant system is working correctly! If your car is running too hot or too cold, or even if your onboard computer thinks it’s running too hot or too cold, your car will likely not be working efficiently. You may need a mechanic to determine this, but an inexpensive OBDII reader can help you out here, too (as well as in other areas of car maintenance and repair). $75 ought to buy a “good enough” OBDII reader. With that and a decent repair manual, you’ll be $$ ahead in the mileage and repais game.

4. Engine oil and tranny fluids. Change your engine oil regularly and use a good oil filter, not the cheapo crap “made by the same folks just not as well” brand. And do consider spending more on a really good oil. Mobil 1 and some of the other name brand synthetics will pay for themselves, IMO, as long as your car doesn’t already burn oil or have oil leaks–problems you should address anyway. BAd tranny fluids? Probably transmission problems that will not only suck the life out of your mpg but also drain your pocket books to the tune of a couple of thousand $$ is you let it go too long.

5. Tires. Keep them properly inflated, with wheels balanced and properly aligned. Check your tires at least once a week for proper inflation. Remember: after your car’s been driven a while, the tires will be hot and register a higher pressure. Check them at the same time of day, after the same or similar amount/kind of driving each time for consistent measurement. How much pressure? Depends on your tires, your car and your driving, really. I usually go with the car manufacturer’s recommendation (usually a bit onb the “soft” side of what the tire manufacturer lists as acceptable) while I’m “breaking in” a new set of tires, but after they are well “driven in” (maybe a couple of hundred miles) I not only have the balance rechecked, but I start modifying the pressure toward the “max inflation” listed on the tire. I then watch tire wear, “feel” and listen to and observe driveability at the new inflation pressure. Pressure, alignment and balance not only affect tire wear, safety and driveability but fuel economy as well.

6. Clean, efficient fuel system. You don’t want crap from a dirty fuel line or system lousing up your car’s efficiency. At the very elast, change the fuel filter as recommended in your car’s maintenance manual. USe a gasohol mix in the winter and you’ll probably have fewer problems year round with corrosion. Just sayin’–it’ll remove water and you’ll “burn” more of it to be exhausted out your tailpipe (of course, cheap exhaust system parts might not “like” that. So?).

Driving Habits

By far, the most neglected means of improving fuel economy lie in improving driving habits.

7. Getcher stikin’ foot outa the fuel injectors! (Dumbass!) Yeh, you! I can still vividly recall sitting in a Shell Oil driving simulator at an auto show in the early ’70s–some time before the oil embargo and “soaring” gas prices, gas lines (resulting from Jiminy Carter’s price freeze idiocy) and a national frenzy about fuel economy. No, this was quite some time before all that hit, so I had lotsa time without anyone jogging my elbow to sit in that simulator and get feedback on my “driving”… from a fuel economy-oriented perspective (makes me wonder in retrospect just what SHell knew about upcoming events… ). The chief lesson learned? Imagining a raw egg between my foot and the accelerator really does work to improve fuel economy. Unless I’m in a mood for scrambled eggs…

8. PLAN your route for the greatest efficiency. Know where you’re going ahead of time and plan for as little (or as manageable as possible) traffic as you can. That might mean planning the time you drive or the route itself or both. Plan to avoid as many bottlenecks, slowdowns and stops as possible.

9. Drive ahead. Sure, keep a close eye (and ear!) as possible on the traffic nearest to you, but also keep an eye out for upcoming bottlenecks, needs for lane changes, etc. Plan ahead, drive ahead.

10. Make your driving as smooth as possible. Accelerate as quickly as you safely can (with a notional raw egg between your foot and the accelerator! :-)) to merge with traffic safely and as seamlessly as possible when entering a freeway; when exiting, again try to match the flow of traffic.

11. Avoid traffic lights, except when entering a busy throughfare from a less-busy sidestreet. If traffic lights are unavoidable, try to drive far enough ahead to avoid stopping at as many as possible, even to “floating” to a near stop, while continuing to move, waiting for the traffic ahead to move. Accelerating from even 10mph costs less gas than accelerating from 0mph.

12. If you’re driving a manual transmission car, “pulse and glide”when it is feasible. Coasting, out of gear, down a long hill at 70mph (and 800rpm) is much better use of fuel than driving down that same long hill at 70mph (and 2000 or more rpm).

13. Here’s the hard one for me. I’m pretty well-balanced as a kinesthetic-visual-audial perceptor. For me, the car I’m driving becomes an extension of my body–I “feel” and hear and see the road from the car’s perspective, as it were. That also means cars impinging on “my” space are like people impinging on my personal body space. So, it’s easy to become a tad emotional about the idiots making drive time into “push and shove time”. Can’t do that and drive efficiently. View it all as pattern recognition and manipulation. At most, a tennis game or baseball game or some such. Something removed from a race track, football, soccer or other competitive contact sport (*heh* racing=”contact sport” *heh*). Placement, control, planning, strategy and tactics. It pays off, not only in fuel economy but in safety.

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Noted at the Thursday Thirteen Hub