What do you do to save gas?

[Barnacle_Bill]

Here is what I've come up with so far.

Be sure tires are inflated to max as written on side of tire.

If you look ahead and see that you are going to have to stop, take your foot off the gas and coast till you have to hit the breaks. Saves wear and tear on the brakes too.

Keep a clean air filter installed.

Any more??

 

[WizeOne]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Only run my boat in my driveway?

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Change the oil regularly...

Swap out the paper air filter with a sponge filter... like the K&N ones.

"Draft" off of 18 wheelers (just don't get too close, stay far enough back that you can see the drivers side rearview mirror, but no farther) The decreased wind resistance will do wonders for your mileage.

Drive at 55mph on the interstate, but no faster... and roll up the windows, the a/c is cheaper on the interstate.

Turn off the a/c at least 5 miles before your destination (the car will stay cool at least that long).

Run fuel system cleaner through it at regular intervals (I usually do it every other oil change, but it might pay off to run it through at every oil change).

Carpool when possible, and combine errands.

Pre-plan your errands too, and arrange them in the shortest trip.

Call stores to make sure they have what you're going to get, that way you don't make a wasted trip.

... and the best one of all ...

~STAY HOME~

That's all I've got.
SgtMaj

PS - I usually overinflate my tires by about 5-10psi above max...

 

[JCF350]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Be sure tires are inflated to max as written on side of tire.

Wrong thing to do. It leads to accelerated tire wear(takes oil to make a tire), and the vehicle may not be designed for that tire pressure (Ford/Firestone). Use what is on the manufacturers sticker for maximum benefits (it may be the same as the max on tire).

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Wrong thing to do. It leads to accelerated tire wear(takes oil to make a tire), and the vehicle may not be designed for that tire pressure (Ford/Firestone). Use what is on the manufacturers sticker for maximum benefits (it may be the same as the max on tire).

Two different tire manufacturers have told me to run max. Since I started doing that tire wear has been much more even. I think the vehicle manufacturers are more concerned about the ride than they are tire wear. But that is just my opinion.

 

[frankie g]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Two different tire manufacturers have told me to run max. Since I started doing that tire wear has been much more even. I think the vehicle manufacturers are more concerned about the ride than they are tire wear. But that is just my opinion.

I agree!

 

[Nos4r2]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Here is what I've come up with so far.

Be sure tires are inflated to max as written on side of tire.

If you look ahead and see that you are going to have to stop, take your foot off the gas and coast till you have to hit the breaks. Saves wear and tear on the brakes too.

Keep a clean air filter installed.

Any more??

Rather than looking ahead to see that you're going to have to stop, back off the throttle a bit on the way up to the lights so you don't have to stop at all. Getting moving from rest uses a lot of fuel.

Drive a stick shift and keep the revs down and in high gear.

Don't change speeds-if you can safely take the corner at your current speed then don't brake.

Diesel for my SUV has now hit the equivalent of $12 per gallon. Soon it'll be cheaper for me to tie a tag on my nose and post myself to work.

 

[Vlad D Impeller]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

I have not done anything as yet, however in my foreseeable future i do plan to radically change my lifestyle.

 

[tommays]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Went back to sailboat WHICH was already planed and plan on very little if any use of power boat


Changed sailing area from Greenport 70 mile round trip to Northport 10 mile round trip ,Which is already working out much better as we have been using the boat at least 2 times a week and in 5 weeks did use 1 gallon so far

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

I have started trying to make one trip getting stuff and not 2 or 3 and and stop sitting in drive thrus with the engine running........go inside at the bank and McDs.I also stay in the slow lane and refuse to speed.The best thing is Im spending much more time at home working on my boat and car restorations...making good progress past several weeks

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Wrong thing to do. It leads to accelerated tire wear(takes oil to make a tire), and the vehicle may not be designed for that tire pressure (Ford/Firestone). Use what is on the manufacturers sticker for maximum benefits (it may be the same as the max on tire).

Running a tire within the manufacturers specs for it should not result in premature wear. If it does, it will be very obvious because all of the wear will be in the center of the tread.

The Ford/Firestone thing was related to the Explorers in particular, because they were prone to rolling over when the tires were properly inflated. The only problem with the "fix" that they came up with (under-inflating) is that it caused the tires to run hot and this resulted in higher than normal numbers of blowouts, which also caused rollover accidents.

I don't know what the staus of all of that is now, but the last I heard, both Ford and Firestone we getting their bu-tocks sued off.

 

[JCF350]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Running a tire within the manufacturers specs for it should not result in premature wear. If it does, it will be very obvious because all of the wear will be in the center of the tread.

The Ford/Firestone thing was related to the Explorers in particular, because they were prone to rolling over when the tires were properly inflated. The only problem with the "fix" that they came up with (under-inflating) is that it caused the tires to run hot and this resulted in higher than normal numbers of blowouts, which also caused rollover accidents.

I don't know what the staus of all of that is now, but the last I heard, both Ford and Firestone we getting their bu-tocks sued off.

It was the under inflating that caused the rollovers. to much side wall flex.
Firestone paid for everything. Ford spec'd a certain type tire, Firestone delivered something else.

Todays cars are optimized to operate with everything working together, an increase in pressure (even if it is within specs) will effectively increase the diameter of the tire. Tire makers can say anything they want with the tire pressure limits (CYA!). The tire is supposed to be designed for the vehicle. Plus your incurring greater suspension wear (over the long term) by running tires overinflated.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

This is my take on saving gas. Drive the right vehicle for the environment you are driving in. Don't drive a big truck in the city with lots of stop and go traffic. Don't use an under sized car/truck to tow your boat or pack large amounts of weight. When you drive ,drive smoothly and keep your vehicle tuned up like mentioned before. The mileage of your car/truck has not gone down but the gas prices have gone up.
Just my take on things.

 

[dave11]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Puddle Jumper

That is just good common sense. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be too common any more.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Don't let the cruise control do all the driving. Approaching a hill the cruise has no idea the vehicle will need extra power climbing the hill and downshifts after the car has lost speed and monentum.

For the past few months I have been accelerating a few MPH above the cruise control's set speed as I approach a hill. Most of the time I can keep the vehicle from downshifting while maintaining my desired speed. If the vehicle is approaching the threshold of where the cruise will downshift to maintain speed, I 'll turn the cruise off and let the vehicle pull the hill in top gear while slowly loosing speed. Once the hill has been crested it's easy to get back up to speed. This can't always be done as steep grades require downshifting, but for small hills it works great.

I drive on pretty desolate roads (NV, UT, AZ), so varying speed 5 MPH doesn't cause problems with other drivers. If I'm in traffic or other cars following me I don't drive like this as it can cause problems, 75-70-75-65-75 (WTH is this guy's problem...)

 

[Turin]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

The smallest tire size it doesn't look that good but it saves fuel.
Over inflate your tire but not to much saves fuel.
Drive a small or light weight car (older cars don't have all the S&*% you don't really need like air bags and A.C.) when you drive a diesel mix your fuel with 25 % or more sunflower oil reel cheep.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Thanks Dave.
Unless we do drastic life changes its not going to change.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

Gas is like money, if you don't use it, its worthless IMO.

I keep 80 lbs in my rear tires and 70 in my front. Rotate them every six months when I put on my snow tires. Still running the orginial Bridgestones that came on my van. They now have 52K and still another 15K left. Original brake pads as well with plenty of pad left. I don't drive 2 footed, but got to admit that I drive a bit on the fast side. I do agree that overinflating them will cause center tire wear, but that is usually if you overinflate way above the manufactures specs.

I keep as much tools and materials in my shop instead of hauling them around. Extra weight that is carried equals more gas consumption also.

If you have teens, the best way is to keep the keys in your pocket!

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: What do you do to save gas?

I never put more than $20 in my tank. I don't want to haul around the extra weight, nor do I want to be caught with a tank full of high-priced gas when the price falls.