A little routine maintenance might help drivers have their SUVs and drive them, too.
Energy-saving tips from a variety of on-line sources listed ways that drivers can improve vehicle performance and gas mileage as well, and many of them can be done by the vehicle owners.
Veteran mechanic, race-car builder and former driver Steve Eckman took time Thursday to explain why attention to those seemingly small details can make a considerable difference in the life of any passenger vehicle. Eckman, owner of Quik-Lube at Sixth Avenue and Congress Street, also added a few gas-saving tips of his own.
Changing the air filter, oil and oil filter and giving the car a tune-up is a good start toward improving engine efficiency and burning less fuel, he said. Clean oil, in the weight recommended by the manufacturer, helps the engine parts move smoothly and keeps the engine cleaner and more efficient.
Old spark plugs that have become dirty, weak and worn aren’t adequate to ignite the fuel and air mixture efficiently in the engine’s cylinders and results in greater gas consumption.
Because the engine requires air to operate, a dirty air filter — especially on computer-controlled cars — will cause the engine to use more fuel to compensate.
“An engine consumes about 40 to 50 percent of the power that it produces to run itself, so the less friction you have in the engine, the more power you get out of the engine. People don’t really understand that,” he said.
“The cleaner you can keep an engine internally, it just flat makes them more efficient. ... It’s just a natural fact.”
Unless an engine is turbocharged, it draws its air off a vacuum, he said; the more air that can be sent to the engine, the better it performs. That clean air also applies to the exhaust.
“It’s got oxygen sensors in the exhaust that read these things, and if the air’s not right, it will compensate with fuel,” he said.
Particles from dirty air filters also infiltrate electronic parts that monitor and regulate how the engine runs.
“They’ve got little meters that read how much air that’s passing through there,” Eckman said. “Well, that meter gets dirt on it and it doesn’t give a correct reading to the computer.”
Dirt and grit also affect the catalytic converter, which can become clogged with debris and reduce performance and mileage; it also affects the engine’s ability to disperse the air it’s taking in, he said.
“You don’t want it restricted with a dirty filter in front or a half-clogged cat behind,” he said. “I have people all the time that don’t want to buy a $14 air filter, but it doesn’t bother them at all to go buy $3-a-gallon gasoline.”
The air filter will pay for itself in a short time and provide fuel savings for many miles down the road.
Performance exhausts, like Flowmasters, are more expensive than standard exhaust systems, but they improve gas mileage, too.
Tires often are the most-overlooked factor contributing to low gas mileage. In warm weather, the heat causes air in the tires to expand; in cold weather, the air contracts. During winter, regular checks of tire pressure are essential.
“Tire pressure’s real critical, probably one of the most critical things there is,” Eckman said. “One of the best things to do, especially this time of year, is to make sure those tires have air in them.”
As an example, he described the effect of the cold on tires that registered 45 pounds of pressure when the temperature was 90 degrees.
“By the time it’s 20 outside, that tire’s down to 25 or 30 pounds,” he said. “You lose tire pressure when you lose ambient air temperature.”
Eckman is concerned about the trend of some manufacturers toward 100,000-mile tune-ups and extended mileage for recommended oil changes. In the end, he said, a vehicle likely will not run as efficiently nor last as long as one that has been maintained regularly. He suspects those recommendations are based primarily on a requirement that manufacturers project anticipated fuel costs for the life of the vehicle, which now is set at 100,000 miles.
“So if they can put that tune-up out of their life-expectancy, it makes that vehicle look better on paper,” Eckman said. “By the end of the 100,000 miles you’re trying to fire spark plugs that are burned up. ... But it looked good on paper.
“And the same with extended oil changes. It makes that projected cost through the first 100,000 miles look extremely well. But at the end of that 100,000 miles, you’re going to have a lot of other problems if you skimp.”
Eckman also recommended changing oxygen sensors as needed instead of waiting for them to fail.
“Oxygen sensors used to be considered a repair part. They’re really a maintenance part,” he said. “They get weak long before they burn out, and if they’re not getting the reading they should, they can also make an engine (inefficient). People used to think they just quit. They don’t quit. They just slowly fade away.”
He also said that when the check-engine light comes on, take time to have it checked.
“If they’re manufactured after ‘96, that indicates that you truly have a problem. It’s not something that you just ignore,” Eckman said. “And 9 times out of 10, it affects fuel efficiency. Well, if you’re driving down the street and you see a red light or a yellow light, you don’t just not pay attention to it. ...
“If that check-engine light’s flashing, it’s serious.”
Absolute (anonymous) says...
Here's a way to save on gas; drive less. (walk, car pool, bike it, stay home)
December 14, 2007 at 1:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )