Sunday, August 31, 2008

Car Tip of the Week #1

Car Tip of the Week: Fuel Efficient? For Real?

Simple, simple, simple, Its actually very simple on how to make your car much more fuel efficient, It doesn't matter what kind of car do you have, what year, there are ways to make your car much more efficient...Here's how:

- Fill up your gas in the morning, or even better earlier

Its always better to fill up your gas in the morning, when the air is still cold, and not in the daytime when the air is hot, The reason? the hotter the temperature is, the hotter the surface is, Gas are stored under the Gas Station, and it follows the same temperature as the surface's temperature, when Gasoline gets hot, it evaporates, and creates a vapor in the storage, So really when you fill up gas, most of the time you'd fill up vapor, and not the whole liquid gasoline, it still will tell you the same price at the Station, but with reduced amount, when the air is cold, Gasoline becomes a whole gas again, and it does not vaporize

- Drive at Low RPM

Drive at the lowest RPM as possible, now I'm not saying you should go "turtle" on the road, but try not to accelerate so harshly, The slower you drive, the more efficient your car gets, If possible, switch gears at 2,000 ->3,500 RPM, for the 5th gear (If you're driving Manual transmission) its free, you can drive on whichever RPM because your engine has topped its Ratio, and try to be easy on the gas pedal, dont let your engine make that "revving" sound, Unless you're racing, No one has ever gotten a trophy to make it home first...so chill

- Higher Octane, the better it is

Higher Octane fuels are much better at increasing efficiency, Now I know Higher Octane fuels are pricy, but they are worth it, It is not wrong to fill up your gas with the Regular fuels, but the higher does it better, The Reason? Lets just say Octanes are the "endurance" level of your gasoline, The higher the octane is, the harder it is to burn under the engine's compression, that means you burn smaller amount of fuel to achieve the same power as the Regular fuels, and if you're driving as what I've told you for tip #2, it really means you're saving more gas.

- Regular check up, maintance and service

Do regular check ups on your car, make sure all lubricants are at their level of need, Change your Oils every 3-4 months or at 4,000 -> 5,000 KM, Do services, Tune your car to get the best of your engine, Check Valves and Springs, re-position them to get the best air volumetric as possible, Check your car's suspension, wheel positioning, Tyre air, and clean your engine, Its like keeping a healthy car, the healthier your car is, the more Efficient it is :) and the more power you get.

- The More weight you have on your car, the more it burns up fuel

The more weight you have on your car, reduces the car's torque, Lets say, when you are driving 60 MPH/100 KMH and your car weighs 1000 Kilos, Your car will use up a Litre of gas to go 15 KM, now at 60 MPH/100 KMH and your car weighs 1500 Kilos, your car will use up a Litre of gas to go 10 KM, FACT, thats the reason racing cars are de-weighted, they remove all unnecesarry parts out of the car, to reduce as much weight as possible.

Hope this helps

Thx

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think I can do #2,4,5... :-). No 1 - too early.... winter is especially no fun !