Car Maintenance
Maintaining your car is very important for keeping your car running, extending the life of your car, as well as for safety. But as Eric pointed out, it is also important for your full economy and emissions. I’ve looked at a variety of sources online that all provide varying information on things that effect fuel economy, but three things are consistently listed.
- Tire pressure – many sources say that if your tires aren’t properly inflated, it can cause a 2-3% loss in fuel efficiency. At $3/gallon of gas, that is essentially losing $0.09 for every gallon of gas you buy while your tires aren’t properly inflated.
- Air filter – sources site that not having a clean air filter can cause up to a 30% loss in fuel efficiency! I was most surprised at this, but thinking about it, it makes sense. If then engine doesn’t have proper air flow getting to it, how could it run efficiently.
- Lighten the load – the more weight that needs moved the more fuel it is going to consume. One source even says for every 100 extra pounds in a car, there is 1-2% fuel efficiency is lost.
I drive a 2003 Civic Hybrid, which has this cool feature on the dashboard that allows me to see my instantaneous fuel economy. While I don’t have any scientific evidence of this, I notice a much more considerable amount of effect on my gas mileage based on my tire pressure. They say you should check your tires at least once a month, I would say more often if the weather changes frequently (like it does in Ohio this time of year). Many of the sources have thorough instructions on how to check you tire pressure.
So with all this, there are three things to do:
- Check the tire pressure for proper inflation.
- Replace the air filter when recommended (most techs will check the filter for you when you get an oil change done).
- Unload the car from shopping trips and any unnecessary items immediately.
Sources: NHTSA, AAA, FuelEconomy.gov
Tags: Air Filter, Fuel Economy, green, Tire Pressure
February 8th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
My Prius has a recommended air pressure of 33 and 35 for front and back while the Yahoo Prius newsgroup commonly recommends 42 and 44 PSIG. The tire rating is the key, its printed on the side of each tire for both load and max pressure. The ride might be slightly harder but it does add 3 MPG to an already great 51-54 that I get regularly here in Phoenix.
Also, does anyone have good reasons to fill tires with nitrogen? My new car came with N2 and the green stem caps but I have yet seen a valid reason to use nitrogen for normla car use. I can see it for aircraft (a good friend is a pilot and must use it with his Duke that can climb to 31,000 ft.) but for a car?
February 9th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
I was unaware the new Prius comes with nitrogen in the tires. While doing my research, I did run across a few different resources online as to the use of nitrogen. You might want to read this study over at consumer reports. They site the benefit of maintaining your tire pressure better. With nitrogen having a lower moisture content than air does, there is less rust and air leakage is less. There were many replies asking and commenting on better fuel economy but I couldn’t find any studies or scientific evidence that it was better than regularly checking the pressure in your tires.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
[…] to perform basic maintenance on your car to also help with fuel […]
October 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
You write very well.