Improve Gas Mileage

New and Improved scanguage II

2009-03-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

Now the scanguage II is even more powerful and useful than ever! I use the scanguage on my 2001 F-150 everyday and I cannot live without it now. The trip features are amazing and includes the ability to monitor and track items such as, maximum speed, average speed, coolant temp, driving distance, fuel used, and the fuel economy for that trip.

You can also use the scanguage II display as a set of digital gauges to display many of your vehicles important systems including,

Fuel Economy
Fuel Rate
Battery Voltage
Coolant Temperature
Engine Speed (RPM)
Vehicle speed (MPH)
Engine Load
Throttle Position

Using this information can not only help you improve your fuel mileage but can also help you find any mechanical failures before they leave you stranded on the side of the road.

I have found the best place to buy the scanguage and all of the accessories to mount it and install it in many different vehicles is through the following online store, Scanguage Store.

ScanGuage II

2007-09-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

With all this talk about fuel mileage I just realized that most people don't have an accurate way to measure their fuel mileage. For the past several months I have been using an awesome tool called the ScanGuage II to help me maximize my fuel mileage. The ScanGuage II plugs into your vehicle ODBII which all vehicles manufactured since 1996 are required to have. The OBDII port is usually under the dash on the drivers side or on the firewall behind the dash on the drivers side of the vehicle.

The ScanGuageII has two main functions for gas mileage, the first is the instant economy gauge that will show you what your fuel mileage is at any instant. This can help you notice any driving habits you have that may be causing some fuel economy issues. The second feature is a robust trip computer that can show you the distance of your trip how much fuel you used, your average fuel economy, the distance left until empty, and the amount of fuel remaining.

I have now purchased two of these wonderful products and I have found the best place to get them is through the following online store, Scanguage. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.

Know what to expect

2007-09-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

With all the talk of getting better fuel mileage and saving money I realize most people have no clue what they are currently getting for fuel mileage. Before you start trying any of the methods listed on this site you need to get a baseline for your car and your driving habits. Once you have this baseline you can compare that to what the EPA says your vehicle should get to make sure you don't have some major problem. Often times you will find you are getting considerably less fuel mileage than other people with the same model due to some mechanical problems. This baseline will also allow you to measure the increase in mileage after any changes you make.

New hydrogen engines

2006-12-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

I know this has nothing to do with saving you money right now but I thought this was some very interesting news from Ford Motor Company. The new hydrogen based engine will be a supercharged 6.8L V-10 which will power fords E-450 shuttle buses in early 2007. The engine will have forged pistons and connecting rods to handle the 20psi of boost provided by the 3.3L twin screw supercharger. Horsepower will be around 230hp and 310lb-ft of torque at 3000 RPM. There has been no mention of what kind of mileage will be expected and also how they will handle the issue of having no where to fill up. Currently there are only 3 hydrogen fuel stations in the world with only one of those being in the US at the ford plant in Detroit. The power numbers for this engine are very poor compared to a gas engine of the same displacement and boost numbers. A 6.8L supercharged gasoline engine would be expected to push somewhere close to 1000HP and 1000 ft-lb of torque at the rated 20psi of boost. The lack of power out of this engine leads me to believe it is very inefficient and will more than likely have a much higher operating cost than its gas counterpart.

Finding the best deal

2006-09-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

This tip will not increase your mpg but it will help you stretch your fuel dollars a little further. Once you have done everything you can to increase your mpg it is now time to find the best fuel prices in your area so you can get the maximum benefit from your changes. The main website I use to track fuel prices is http://www.fuelbuddy.com using this site you can view prices reported by other users and you can also post your own prices in your area. Using this site I often found gas that was .10-.15 cents cheaper and it was only a mile or two further than the gas I would have purchased. Another very good site is http://www.gaspricewatch.com I have not used this site as often as gasbuddy but it does have better data for some areas.

Fuel additives

2006-06-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a tip as much is it is a topic for discussion. I have been reading several sites that talk about adding small amounts of acetone to your fuel to improve the fuel mileage so I did a little research. To my surprise I was unable to find any proof that adding small amount of acetone to your fuel actually causes damage. Of course there are the people saying it destroys engines but they have no solid evidence to back it up. One site I found very helpful in the research of this topic was this one www.pureenergysystems.com

After reading this site and several others like it I am thinking of trying this in one of my vehicles but I can find any solid information on doing this with a supercharged engine. If anyone has actually done this in their vehicle please let me know what kind of results you experienced.

Nothing for today

2006-06-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today is my 4th anniversary so I will be taking the day off from posting. I will be back tommorow morning with another great tip.

Smart planning will save money

2006-06-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

This tip is yet another one that can save you money at the pump and wont cost you a dime! If you can combine as many of your daily errands into one trip as possible you will save fuel by keeping your engine warm and you will cut down on your overall mileage to get your errand done. It has been proven that a warm engine gets better fuel mileage than a cold engine due to the better atomization of fuel by the warm engine. So if you can keep your engine warm instead of letting it cool of between every errand you will increase your fuel mileage and it wont cost you a dime!

Use the correct fuel

2006-06-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

When you refuel your car be sure you use the octane level recommended by the vehicle manufacturer. Using a higher octane fuel will not only cost you more money but it will not improve your gas mileage at all and in some cases it can even have adverse effects on your MPG. Most gas companies advertise their "Premium" fuel as having special cleansing additives that will increase your MPG and your performance if you use it every time you refuel your vehicle. I have yet to see a case where using one of these premium fuels has done anything but cost more money! If you engine needs to be cleaned then it is best to take it to a professional and have it done right don't rely on some fuel to do it for you.

Exhale

2006-06-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Now that we have changed our intake to allow our engines to breath easier we need to change our exhaust so that we can get rid of exhaust gasses a little better. There are several ways to accomplish this task, the most common is too purchase a cat-back kit from someone like flowmaster or magnaflow. I personally prefer flowmaster because they have shown the biggest increase in MPG while keeping the noise increase minimal. A flowmaster kit can be installed in your driveway with some ramps, handtools, and a lot of patience or you can have it installed professionally for less than one hundred dollars in most cases. Another option is to have an exhaust shop custom fab an exhaust for you. While it may sound expensive you can usually have this done cheaper than you can buy a cat-back kit and have it installed.

Inhale

2006-05-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Once you understand an internal combustion engine you soon realize that it is actually not very efficient due both to its design and to manufactures trying to make them as quite and smooth as possible. If you can improve the efficiency of the engine you will both increase the horsepower and also increase the gas mileage. The first place I like to start is with the intake if you can remove some of the restrictions placed on the intake by the factory you can easily increase the efficiency of the motor. There are two common ways to reduce the intake restriction of a modern fuel injected vehicle. The first is by simply replacing the air filter with a filter that is less restrictive than the factory paper filter. There are several different filters to choose from such as K&N or Fram Airhog, I personally prefer the K&N because it has given me the best results in my test and they have a filter for almost every application including motorcycles. If you want a larger increase in fuel mileage and performance you can go with a full aftermarket intake for your vehicle. These intakes usually cost several hundred dollars and can be installed in your garage with simple hand tools in most cases. Fram and K&N both make full intake kits that can offer an increase of several MPG in most cases and they wont void your warranty. These intakes claim to be 50 state emissions legal and most of them are safe even for California but if you have any doubt please contact your local mechanic to make sure. Either way these two simple modifications to your vehicle will allow you to squeeze a few more miles out of every gallon.

Just cruisin!

2006-05-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Another very simple but often overlooked way to increase your gas mileage is by using your vehicles cruise control. If you use the cruise control everytime you get on open road and just let it take care of itself you can often see increases of up to 15% depending on the terrain. If you vehicle came without cruise control you can have an aftermarket unit installed for around $250 in most cases. Depending on the amount of highway driving you do it may well be worth the $250 price tag to have cruise control installed.

Squeaky clean!

2006-05-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

In my never ending search to improve my fuel mileage I came across several articles from respectable sources that indicate washing and waxing your car regularly could improve gas mileage by 7%. Obviously I was skeptical because I cant believe a fresh wax job could cause such an aerodynamic improvment to increase your gas mileage by 7%. I decided it was time for a bath on the dirty old truck anyway so I figured I might as well document the fuel mileage before and after, before the wash I went on my same 200 mile loop around the wonderful city of Austin and recorded an average MPG of 19. I wrote all of my data down and headed to the car wash with a bottle of mothers wax and a sponge in hand! After roughly 4 hours of washing an waxing it was time for the moment of truth ... I once again made the same 200 mile loop and to my absolute amazement my MPG this time was just over 20, thats about 6%!!! Now there are too many variable to say for sure if this was due to the wax job but it does support what many engineers have said in the past.

Calm down!

2006-05-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

One of the best ways to save money on your fuel bill is also the easiest and its FREE. Simply by changing your driving habits you can increase your fuel mileage by 10-33% thats like saving .30-.96/gallon!! Some of the behaviors that cause the worst fuel mileage are speeding, rapid acceleration and rapid braking, if you can cut down on all of these habits you will notice a much smaller fuel bill at the end of the month.

The Basics

2006-05-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ok lets get the basics out of the way before we start exploring any gadgets or off the wall ideas for improving gas mileage. In my opinion there are really seven important aspects that have the biggest affect on gas mileage. I know there are more than just these seven and many sites list many more than this but from my experience these are the seven that have the most impact in all situations I have seen.

1.)Keep your engine tuned up! Replace your air filter and spark plugs when reccommended by the manufacturer.

2.)Don't use your air conditioner unless you really need it. The A/C system creates extra drag on the engine that will greatly reduce fuel economy.

3.)Make sure your tires are properly inflated and maintained. Under inflated tires are by far the most common problem on American highways today. This problem alone is responsible for wasting millions of gallons of fuel a day!

4.)Keep your oil changes as recommended by your manufacturer. Also look into the use of synthetic oils, these have been found to increase fuel mileage up to %10 in some cases.

5.)Keep the weight in your vehicle to a minimum. If you carry more cargo than you need it will greatly benefit you to remove it from your vehicle.

6.)Use your cruise control whenever possible!!

7.)Remove accessories, such as luggage rack, ski rack, bike rack, etc. These items increase the drag on your vehicle as well as increase the weight. It is very common for this step alone to produce gains of up to 3-4 mpg!

By following this seven simple steps you can increase your gas mileage by up to %25 in some cases. These steps will give you the biggest increase in gas mileage and best of all most of them can be accomplished with little or no money and very little time as well!

Welcome!

2006-05-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog devoted entirely to helping you increase the fuel mileage of your car or truck. Along with tips on improving your fuel mileage I will also post my real world experiences with many of the gadgets advertised on TV and radio that are supposed to increase your fuel mileage.

I have been in the automotive industry for over 10 years as mechanic and also a service manager for a large dealership. During this time I have witnessed the years of absolute disregard of fuel prices and the recent shift to a fuel driven economy. I have seen the rise of the hybrid and have had many customers approach me about improving their fuel economy. After over a year of helping customers improve their fuel mileage I decided to try and help as many people as I could by offering this advice on the Internet.