Everyone wants to find ways to ease the "gas pains" caused by high fuel prices. There are some simple things you can do to help your car use less gas.
Light on the Pedal: When you start from a red light, ease up on the gas pedal. Your car won't use as much gas and will run better. Save money by going about five miles under the speed limit on the highway.
"Turn up the air conditioner"
Once upon a time, it was true that not using the air conditioning (A/C) in the summer would save on gas. That's no longer true. With the way cars are made today, if you turn off the air conditioning and roll down the windows, the resistance from the wind makes the car go slower.
Use the Right Fuel: Don't use gasoline with a higher octane than your engine needs. It's like trying to fit 16 ounces of liquid into a glass that only holds 12 ounces. If you use the right octane, you can save at least a dime per gallon every time you fill up.
Keep the Pressure Up: Make sure each tyre has the right amount of air in it. If there isn't enough air in the tyres, the car has to work much harder to move, which wastes more gas.
Keep It Clean: Change your oil and fuel filter to keep dirt out of your engine.
Get It Together-
Most transmissions today are run by controllers that use electronics. If your transmission fluid is broken, your car might not be able to go into its highest gear. Between 36,000 and 50,000 miles, you should change the transmission fluid.
Stir It Up: There are a lot of gadgets on the market that claim to make your car use less gas. Except for one thing, we haven't found much improvement in anything we've tried. It's a thing called "Tornado" that goes in the air intake near the throttle plate and stirs up the air to make it very turbulent. This leads to good fuel atomization inside the engine. In the applications we tested, this led to an average increase of one to two miles per gallon in fuel economy.
With gas prices over $2 and getting close to $3, saving one or two miles per gallon every time you fill up can save you $300 or $400 per year under normal driving conditions. I think that's something everyone is interested in.
