Minor things/ideas for saving fuel

[JHZR2]

Ive been thinking about minor things to do to save a few drops of fuel... That is, semi out of the box things, besides slowing down, keeping the engine tuned. etc., which might have a good effect.

My first thought is that given how I log every tank of fuel, this means I fill up all the way each time. If I only calculated average MPG every, say, thousand miles or fifteen hundred miles, then I could just put nominal amounts of fuel in the tank over and over again (fill to half tank, say), and save a few pounds of mass.

Of course the balance would be more time at the pump, and a marginal savings. It might be penny wise and pound foolish.

That is why Im posting... marginally out of the box ideas to save a few drops of fuel without being a large inconvenience in anotherway.

What are you doing to save fuels, beyond the typical things?

JMH

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

The goal, of course, is to save money. A rebate credit card is a must.

 

[JHZR2]

yeah, lately amazon is giving me 5x points, which is decent. Most of the rebate cards are only at 2% from what Ive seen. Good one!

JMH

 

[Pablo]

Everybody laughed at my sorry assets but I'm telling you - do the research on tires, when it's time for new see if you can find the best for mileage and keep them rock hard. Mine at 44.5 psi are starting to boost my mileage.

Use the thinnest fluids in all cavities that you can get away with, without trading wear.

Is a four wheel alignment important now? You bet.

How about a clean waxed car? Well ok maybe the wax won't make any difference.....but...

Dragging brakes?

Use downhills to your advantage. Using the next gear up and more throttle helps me on the uphill side.

Plan, plan, plan your drives.

 

[Spitty]

Leave the spare tire, jack etc, at home, carry a can of Fix-a-Flat. When was the last time anyone changed a tire on the highway?

 

[rjundi]

Using the US postal service for things such as depositing checks. I also get postage by mail.

I tend to mail order significant amount more items. I even pay $5 shipping sometimes for a small/single item as once I think of time, fuel and aggravation involved and poor selection at stores.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Spitty
When was the last time anyone changed a tire on the highway?


August 2006

 

[Cheesehead]

I really have been wanting to take the plunge on inflating the tires from the 35psi I have them at now, to something like 44-45psi.

My concerns are:

1)When it gets hot this summer and the pressure expands from 44psi+, isn't that a recipe for a blown tire while driving down the highway?

2)Even more so than the first point, I get concerned with how much wear and tear on the front end will occur having rock hard tires. Large expansion joints, potholes, frost heaves, etc. on the interstate will be very pronounced with high pressure and it seems like the front end will take all of the abuse.

As a side note to Pablo's other point, my Corolla says 5w30 on the filler cap, but a TSB says 5w-20. Would any of you hesitate at all to switch to 5w-20 in the Corolla?

 

[Cutehumor]

buy a siphon hose and bucket...

but seriously, how about cruise control? I'm on vacation, I'm getting great mpg in my vibe by using the cruise control on the interstates.

 

[JHZR2]

yep, we have been using cruise even on city streets, setting it to 25. When there is no real grade, so the logic in the CC isnt doing dumb things, the savings can be large!

JMH

 

[Warlord]

I set up a sail in the back of my ranger for when I have a strong tailwind.

But seriously, I engine brake like crazy now and I drive as slow as I can without being pulled over. Also, a litre of shell seems to go a bit further than a litre of anything else.

 

[Pablo]

Running a single bottle of PI cleaned my combustion chambers and injectors enough to allow me to run regular.

On tires, it really depends on the car, the tire, the conditions etc. Mine allow me to go up to 44.5 psi with no ill effects, but it's not a one size fits all. Going from 38 to 40 or 42 is not some huge risk on most 44 psi or especially 51 psi tires.

 

[oilyriser]

Limit highway speed, not according to the speedo, but according to the speedo reading plus the headwind. Your average trip times will not change, but you will save more gas than just going a constant road speed.

eg. you decide to limit to 60 mph. If headwind is 5 mph, go 55 mph on the speedo. If tailwind is 5 mph, go 65.

 

[Shannow]

Ahhhh...fit a pitot tube to a cheap vacuum gauge and drive to the prevailing wind conditions.

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
yep, we have been using cruise even on city streets, setting it to 25. When there is no real grade, so the logic in the CC isnt doing dumb things, the savings can be large!

JMH


Actually, you'll probably find you can get better MPG if you don't use your cruise control. I recently watched an episode of Top Gear where Jeremy drove a diesel Audi from London to Edinburgh and back on a single tank of gas. It was an 800 mile round trip, so he needed to get over 40 MPG average, and he did it! But one of the things he mentioned was that he wasn't using the cruise control at all as he found it gave worse MPG. I suspect this is because with the cruise control on, the car would put too much pressure on the accelerator when going up inclines.

 

[Shannow]

That's what I always find with cruise control (and my partners)...no anticipation of hills and declines.

I'm happy to lose 15km.hr up a hill if I'm near the top, happy to gain 15 on the way down if I assess that there's no cops...cruise doesn't.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Patman


Actually, you'll probably find you can get better MPG if you don't use your cruise control. I recently watched an episode of Top Gear where Jeremy drove a diesel Audi from London to Edinburgh and back on a single tank of gas. It was an 800 mile round trip, so he needed to get over 40 MPG average, and he did it! But one of the things he mentioned was that he wasn't using the cruise control at all as he found it gave worse MPG. I suspect this is because with the cruise control on, the car would put too much pressure on the accelerator when going up inclines.


We were discussing this in another tread too. Some cruise control systems seem to be smarter than others. I too find that if the terrain is varied much at all, cruise hurts fuel economy, however, if the terrain is flat and consistent, cruise sets and minimizes throttle position and human error, so it helps.

So I totally agree about using it on inclines, etc. But for flats, according to the MPG meter and our tanks of fuel, it has helped by ~2 MPG in city only driving!

JMH

 

[buster]

I'm running 37 psi in all my tires.
Slowing down from 80 mph to 75 mph.
I should probably switch back to a 0w20 but I'm using SSO right now. Depending on how much makeup oil I will need, I'm going to extend my drain intervals.

 

[Patman]

One thing I've started doing lately is resetting the average MPG portion of my trip computer at the beginning of every day, and keeping my eye on it throughout my drive, trying to beat my previous day's average. It actually makes me drive a lot more gently. (and I've already been driving like a granny a lot more lately, now that cops are cracking down hard on speeders up here and that gas costs $5.25 a gallon for Sunoco 94 here right now)

 

[mpvue]

I use cruise on my commute and use the up/down button alot to adjust. I drop it 5mph going up hills and up5 or so going down. I really hate when I have to use my brakes now! someone is merging/slowing, and all I'm thinking about is how much it'll knock off my mpgs!
another money saver: I use my own travel mug at wawa in the morning. saves 30 cents!