Is there any way to improve gas mileage? Theres a lot of myths out there concerning this issue, but what measures can one actually take to make a noticeable difference?
I had a 3/4 ton C - 10 pickup truck with a Rochester Quadrojet carburetor and dual glass - pack exhaust. Great hauler, fast when empty, ate gasoline like it was going out of style. I sold it. Now I drive a Honda Odyssey that easily gets 23 mpg highway. That is how I got better gas mileage. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! When they bring it out as a hybrid I will trade it in for one of those.
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If you mean "improving the fuel economy of an existing vehicle" (like a vehicle you currently own and are trying to tweak it)...... One of the general terms for the practice is hypermiling --- where you make all kinds of performance adjustments and mechanical adjustments to maximize fuel efficiency. You could do things like: -eliminate weight -implement specific driving techniques -monkey with the engine performance etc
There is little doubt (and you can test this for yourself of course) that slow acceleration and avoiding braking will increase your mpg. Of course this only works for stop and go traffic. A tune up also may help, if you are not getting decent mpg already. I had a 28mpg car that I could get 32mpg by simply avoiding stopping. It meant driving slow enough to avoid most stops at lights. I could get 35mpg on the highway by simply doing the speed limit, rather than blasting down the highway at the normal speed, which means about 10 to 15 mph over the posted speed limit. Slower often means much better mpg Also keep the tire pressure as high as possible.
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Get really high quality, relatively narrow, and shallow tread tires, and keep the air pressure at the high end. (Compromise with winter here - if I were rich I'd have two sets of tires). Keep them aligned - all four wheels, if possible. Never accelerate quickly, drive slowly, change speeds as seldom and gently as possible (use cruise control whenever you can). That includes when going around turns and curves - those are accelerations, treat them as such. Keep your oil clean and stay on the lighter weights. I get a couple mpg better using synthetic oil of a certain brand or two - the higher buck stuff. That may be because I drive in cold weather more than most here. I worked out the numbers and it pays for itself that way, plus easier winter starts. Also, it allows me to set the idle a bit lower. And I get some benefit from keeping the electrical stuff - spark plugs and wires, especially - in good shape. If you drive an open pickup, use a web gate instead of a tailgate (and instead of removing the tailgate, no kidding). Don't jack the thing up - keep the undercarriage low to the ground (they are seldom streamlined, for some reason, but ground effects can reduce drag from all that crap under there). If you have a sense of adventure, try adding a couple of feet to the fuel line and wrapping a turn or two around the radiator hose - and insulate it. That is a winter trick - return to normal, with an installed valve or restoration of original, in summer. Don't carry extra weight - don't store your tools in your vehicle, say. If you really want to get into it, there are some fancy tricks you can pick up from speed shops and such. A lot of the modifications that increase power, the ones that extract more power from the given fuel, will work to increase mileage - tuning the exhaust and polishing up the manifolds and junctions, modifying the valve ports and seats and springs and cams in various ways, that kind of thing. That won't pay unless you can do it yourself, in which case you probably wouldn't be asking.
I get 70Mpg out of my new 400cc 45bhp motorcycle. It'll run on just about anything except diesel including methanol, ethanol based fuels and still beat the pants off of just about any car. If I ride like a lunatic, it goes down to about 60Mpg, but then if you ride like a lunatic on the roads around here - you're gonna die. I've nearly bought it twice here and I wasn't even racing around.
Hypermiling. Buy a ScanGauge II (assuming you have an OBD-II) and monitor how your driving habits affect the gas mileage. Over time, you'll improve your habits and you'll more than make up for the cost of the ScanGauge II in saved fuel.
I am not a big fan of gas , as petrol got more mileage than that of gas . If you love your car dont put it on GAS .
Definitions of Hypermiling on the Web: Hypermiling is the act of driving using techniques that maximize fuel economy. Those who practice these techniques are referred to as "hypermilers." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling Driving a car slowly so as to maximize fuel efficiency en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypermiling Hyper miling - Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors describe techniques that drivers can use to optimize their automobile fuel economy. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper_miling
We already had a thread about this, try to find it. --eliminate access weight --inflate tires --hypermill --dont' drive with windows down or something on the top --certain additions to the gas gives you better milage --turn off engine at redlights --don't stop or accelerate quickly etc.etc.
I hear a lot about the optimum speed for saving gas, but what matters more is it being a single, long journey, rather than lots of little ones. I get far more doing 90+ for a few hours on the motorway than going to work and back every day.:shrug:
