Tips For Getting Best Gas Mileage From Your Car

You may have it on your schedule to take your car in regularly for an oil change. This is a good habit, but there are some other maintenance items you can have done to increase your fuel mileage. Each one may contribute only a small amount to the increase, but the cumulative effect could be several more miles per gallon. The following are some recommended auto repair shop items, and a few that you can do yourself, to get the most out of every gallon of gas.

Getting a Tune-Up to Improve Gas Mileage

Have the auto shop inspect, clean or replace those components involved in delivering fuel to the engine. If these aren't working efficiently, you might be wasting gas.

  • If your car has a fuel injection system, have the pressure tested to make sure that your car isn't working too hard to move gas through the lines. The fuel injectors themselves may need to be cleaned to get equal amounts of gas into the cylinders.
  • Have the fuel filter changed per the owner's manual schedule so gas is moving through it smoothly.
  • Make sure oil changes are done with the weight recommended in the owner's manual. Using a heavier oil will cut into the fuel mileage.
  • Have the oxygen sensor checked to make sure the correct ratio of fuel to oxygen is being delivered to your engine.
  • Have the air filter replaced when dirty so the fuel to air ratio is not affected.

Items You Can Do to Improve Gas Mileage

  • Keep your car aerodynamic by removing luggage, ski and bike racks off of your car when not needed. These items create wind drag on the car which reduces your gas mileage.
  • Keep the car as light as possible. Take items out of the car that aren't needed to reduce the weight. Lawn chairs, coolers, and tool boxes all add weight and reduce gas mileage.
  • Fill up the car with the recommended fuel grade for your car. Using a higher grade fuel doesn't make your car perform any better and it may burn more fuel for the same performance.
  • Keep fluid levels topped off between tune-ups. Allowing coolant and oil levels to go down makes your car run hotter and burn more gas.
  • Keep your tires inflated per the value stamped on the tires. Under-inflated tires put more rubber on the road, increasing friction and decreasing gas mileage.

By keeping your car tuned-up and maintained with these items in mind, and you'll get the best fuel efficiency from your car. For professional services, contact an automotive business, like Pete's Service Center.


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