Man are gas prices high or what these days. It's totally rediculous, especially if you drive a big 'ol truck like me. Although there is a good bit of things you can easilly do to your vehicle to help with gas mileage savings. First off an important factor to you vehicle, the engine's oil. Changing the engine's oil is absolutely necessary. You need to regularly change the engine's oil or it can be killing your fuel efficiency. Normally you should change it every 3,000-5,000 miles or every 3 months. Synthetic oil can also help save on gas, it creates less friciton than standard motor oil. Make sure you have a clean air filter. If you have a paper element then you'll need to buy a new one if it's dirty. If you have a reuseable type then you can get a cleaning kit to do so. Next your tires, make sure they are inflated at the correct level. You don't want them over inflated & surely not under inflated. The tire pressure can be determined for your vehicle by checking on the sidewall of the tire, in the door jam on a sticker, or in the owner's manual. Also don't forget to rotate them regularly. Make sure your gas cap is shut all the way, normally 3 clicks. By it not being shut all the way fuel can evaporate & also can trigger a check engine light. For some people window tint might be a good idea. This can reduce temperature inside the vehicle through blocking the sun light. Thus creating less need for the air conditioning. Be sure to check your local laws on tint before applying it. Having a steady foot can help you out a ton. Don't gun it from stops, don't pump the pedal, & go the legal speed limit. By going slower you can actually save a good bit of gas. Using the cruise control can help you out a lot, it will help you from pumping the pedal & speeding.. On newer cars there isn't a lot of need for warming up the engine. On cold days under a 50 seconds should be fine. Also starting a car consumes about the same amount of fuel as idiling for 60 seconds. So don't shut your vehicle off if your going to take off quickly. So windows up or air conditioning on? Well it's kind of hard to say but, if your going 50 mph or under having the windows down is probally more efficinet than the A/C. However if going faster than that the A/C is probally more efficient. Of course this all depends on the amount of windows & how theyr'e open & what the air conditioner settings are on. So what about the old myth of leaving you tailgate down? From what I understand that myth has been busted thanks to the guys at Myth Busters. It is more efficient to have the tailgate up than down. More drag is created when the tailgate is down, when it's up the air flows off the truck instead of hitting the tailgate. Though for most efficiency look into getting a bed cover, they work wonder. Some companies gaurantee from 2-5 mpg increase. Ok, ok you do all of this, & it's still not enough. Is there anything I can invest in that actually works? The answer is yes, this is where the performance aftermarket comes in place. Actually you can increase your performance on your vehicles while also increasing the mileage. The two best things for the performance/mileage increase & price is probally a cat-back exhaust system or an air intake. A cat-back exhaust system reduces back-pressure in the exhaust flow & this helps out with both performance & mileage. There is plenty of kits out there for just about any car. Most are simple bolt-on installations that any average Joe can do. They aren't priced badly neither. An air intake is also great. These help out by allowing more & soemtimes cooler air into the engine. Agains tons of brands for tons of vehicles avaliable at good prices. Superchargers & turbo chargers can actually help out fuel mileage. A lot of people doubt this, but allow me to explain. A supercharger only really kicks in when your hitting the throttle enough. Which normally won't happen on after-market kits unless stomping it or speeding. When it's not hiting boost it's basically working like a cold air intake, bringing more air into the engine. When it does hit boost it tells your car's computer to bring more fuel into the enigne, thus creating a loss in gas mileage. Again though it won't do that under normal circumstances on the streets. Headers along with high flow catalytic onverters can help you out also. They bring more exhaust out of the enigne & reduce the back pressure. Again though check local lawas on what you can put on your vehicle before doing so. Most air intakes & cat-backs are street legal in either 50 or 49 states, so you shouldn't have any problems.
