Hello all, welcome to the forum! I'm going to go over some basics about auto maintenance for higher gas mileage. If anyone has something to add, feel free to add to the topic.

First off, routine maintenance is your best friend to get good gas mileage. If your car hasn't been maintained over time, now is the time to perform a tune up. It's usually pretty inexpensive too, especially when you figure the gas you are saving. Alot of problems with poor performance, poor fuel economy, etc. can be remedied by keeping up with routine maintenance. The following are the most important parts to keep up with for gas mileage, and overall health of your car:

Spark plugs
Fuel filter
Spark plug wires
Ignition coil
Air filter
Distributor Cap/Rotor
PCV Valve
EGR Valve
Antifreeze/Coolant
Oxygen Sensors

These are all things that are in need of routine maintenance, and all these things can really cause a problem if not given proper attention. Keeping these items in regular rotational replacement will keep your fuel mileage as high as it can be, which is kind of important these days.

You should visually inspect your spark plugs when you remove them to look for abnormal wear/tear. This can be a good method for discovering something is not right within your engine. Click the link below for a spark plug color chart.

http://www.geocities.com/pscalc/eng_sp.htm

Tire pressure is also very important. Having improper tire pressure will not only cause your tires to wear irregularly, your gas mileage will also suffer. The proper tire pressure should be on the side-wall of your tire.

And lastly, keep your foot out of it. Hard accelerating and driving at high speeds will decrease your gas mileage significantly.

That's all I've got for right now. I've gotta go give my newborn daughter a bath, then have a nice drink of rum after hearing her scream for ten minutes, she hates baths. LOL. God Bless, and Happy Motoring!

Matthew

 

................gas additive to clean the valves and injectors does an admirable job and should be part of a monthly program. If you use Bosch platinum plugs (single electrode) gap them a tad wider.............big difference in performance and mileage.