Stretch Your Fuel Mileage

Below are some of my personal tips on how to maximize every peso spent on every liter of fuel on your car.

1. Plan your trips. Traffic is heaviest during the rush hour period, 8-10AM and 4-6 PM most especially during Monday and Friday. If you intend to go somewhere using your car, try to avoid being on the road during the aforementioned time.
2. Check your tires. It is a good habit to check the tire pressure of your car once a week. You need not shell out a considerable amount for Nitrogen, which is the rave nowadays. Though Nitrogen tends to minimize air pressure drop better than the usual oxygen and provides a slightly improved riding comfort for you and your passengers, I really think it doesn't justify its steep price of P50.00 per tire. Just have your car properly inflated once a week at the gas station nearest your place and you're good to go. Under inflated tires increases resistance and requires the engine to work harder. Over inflating meanwhile decreases resistance at the expense of riding comfort. Just check your car's manual for the recommended tire pressure for your vehicle.
3. Mind your check up interval. Following the recommended interval for oil change does wonder for the efficient running of your engine hence resulting in better fuel mileage. If you can afford to switch from mineral to fully synthetic oil, I suggest you go for it. The improved engine performance justifies the slightly higher price tag, plus the interval between oil change is longer. From the usual 5,000 km interval when using mineral oil, you get to use a set of fully synthetic for 10,000km before the required oil change. Also, it is important to have your sparkplugs changed/ cleaned everytime you have your oil changed.
4. Clean your airfilter. Corollary to the principle of the Otto Cycle, also known as the principle of internal combustion, air is a primordial ingredient in keeping the engine running. When you have a dirty air filter, less air goes into the engine. Less air means less power. So you tend to step on the gas pedal harder in order for you to accelerate. I usually clean (because mine is an aftermarket not OEM) my air filter every 10,000km. When you are using OEM or stock air filter, I suggest you change the paper air filter every 20,000km. It is advisable to get the trusted aftermarket ones though. They provide excellent filtration and are reusable. You don't need to throw out air filters again. I personally use and recommend KNN. But there are some brands out there that are also reliable like AEM and HKS.
5. Check out your trunk. Remove unnecessary stuff from your trunk. Added weight requires the engine to work harder than usual.
6. Anticipate. When you are about to approach an intersection or a traffic sign, lift your foot from the gas pedal and practice coasting. If your car is fuel injected, it would be best to keep the transmission engaged in the highest gear when coasting and not putting in into neutral and go free wheeling. Various tests have shown that that coasting while on the highest gear cuts off fuel injection just as you lift on the gas pedal. Meanwhile, coasting on neutral is similar to putting your car on idle. It still injects fuel even though you're not stepping on the gas pedal. Regularly exercising this would improve your fuel mileage.
7. Unload the engine during hard acceleration. In cases wherein you need harder acceleration than usual, it is wise to turn off your air con meantime. When you have reached the desired speed, then you can turn on your air con again. This is because the air con runs on the the belt attached to the engine's flywheel. It causes parasitic drag on your car hence you have to put down your foot on the throttle to squeeze the desired power when the air con is also in operation. Try it some time, you can instantaneously feel the increase in power when accelerating when you turn the the air con off.
8. Stay on the sweet spot. The average speed when on a highway is 60- 80 KPH. If you want to save on fuel, just keep your speed within that range.

I hope you have learned something from the list I have given. Happy motoring.