Performing Regular Maintenance Saves Gas

As all motorists are well aware, running a vehicle with proper maintenance is no easy task. Maintenance means checking, cleaning, servicing and/or effecting replacements when and where necessary. It may be an oil change, an air filter, a spark plug or even tires among many others that need replacement; but they all ultimately convert to money.

Since gas has to be refilled very frequently and it is the single most expensive recurring item in running a vehicle in the context of today’s gas prices taken as a cost per gallon or cost per mile, it is no wonder that quite a big percentage of today’s drivers seriously consider hibernating their vehicles until the sky rocketing gas prices come down-to-earth! But “Que Sera, Sera, when will it be, will be?” is a very pertinent question at this point and I am sure we cannot wait without going about our businesses and other necessities until that (hopefully) happens.

Gone are the days when some routine maintenance programs were frequently ignored doubting whether adhering rigidly to those specified periodic checking, adjustments, replacements etc. were actually necessary. But today, maintenance has assumed a completely different complexion in that even a slight improvement brought about by proper maintenance in the fuel-mileage ratio means a very big saving in costs. It is more so now because of the present very high price of gas.

How Does An Oil Change Increase Gas Mileage

One of the most frequent aspects of maintenance that arises is changing oil that may occur once in about 3 to 4 months or sooner depending on the actual mileage done. Since a timely oil change facilitates the smooth running of the engine, it would result in less fuel being consumed or achieving a higher mileage per gallon. Using the appropriate grade of oil as specified in the user manual would give a further minor boost to the improvement of your fuel-mileage ratio.

Engine tune-ups are not very frequent necessities, unless one is prompted by a poor engine performance over a considerable period of time that has not responded positively to any other maintenance measures taken in the recent past. However, a vehicle properly tuned up consumes about 4% less fuel than one that has gone out of tune or had not been tuned over a long time. If you consider a 4% improvement in your fuel efficiency is nothing significant to rave about, think of it in terms of the present gas price of $ 4.00 per gallon; add how it would add up over a month’s usage at $0.16 per gallon.

Some of the other areas that should be kept under constant check for maintaining an optimum level of fuel efficiency on a consistent basis are the air filter, carburetor, exhaust and silencer

Dirty Air Filter - Gas Saving Tip

Replacement of a clogged air filter can bring you an immediate fuel saving of 10%; and it is one of the cheapest and least problematical items to replace. The results more than compensate for the additional cost and effort involved.

Remember never to postpone or take regular maintenance schedules lightly; at least for the sake of the immediate benefits that you derive in the area of fuel economy. Improving the rate of mileage obtainable per gallon of gas is saving on fuel at the pump. Even one per cent increase works out to a significant amount at the end of a month. With replacement of an air filter at the proper time and keeping the carburetor, ignition and other related areas in top tuning consistently would bring you fantastic savings by giving you 10-20% improvement in fuel economy. 

Resources:
Tips for more efficient vechile
Ways to save fuel mileage via proper car maintenance