The "hypermilers" often come up with many creative ways to increase gas mileage but there are some ways you should avoid. Some of the tips are dangerous and not worth it just to save one or two cents. Always remember that safety comes first so no matter how important it is to save fuel and increase gas mileage, always consider safety first.

The tips that you should avoid are:

1. Cruising through stop signs or running through the stop sign. If you run through the sign, you are increasing the risk of accident and getting caught.

2. Tailgating large trucks such as those 18-wheelers. You are putting yourself in danger.

3. Shutting off your car while it’s still moving especially when it is moving downhill can save fuel but  if there is an emergency, you are not able to accelerate or slow down which will increase the chance of accident.

4. Over inflating your tires can reduce the tire surface contact with the road but you will lose grip and if there is a need to brake, you might lose control.

Not all the tips are worthy to try no matter how desperate you want to save money and fuel. Think before you act on the tips. I am sure your life is more important than money or fuel.

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With the rising cost of fuel, everyone is trying to stretch their money but how does one get the best value out of the money spent on fuel?

There are many ways you can increase your gas mileage. 

1. Make sure the gas cap is in good condition. The seal must not be worn or broken. This is to prevent the gas vapour from going out thus wasting precious fuel.

2. Make sure you choose the right gas for your car. Gas with higher octane level will have very little benefit for cars made to run on regular gas.

3. Never let the engine idle for more than 15 minutes if you don’t want to lose up to a gallon of fuel.

4. Do not speed. Fuel efficiency drop when you speed.

5. Make sure you change the air filter if it is damage or clean it frequently to ensure it is not clogged.

With these simple steps, you can increase the gas mileage significantly. Still, the best way to save on fuel is to avoid unnecessary driving and use the public transport or simply walk around the neighbourhood.  

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This is a video teaching you how to set up your own water-fuelled system for your car.

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The gas price in US has dropped below the $4 mark. Is this a good sign? No one is sure if the price will go down or up again but the price drop for the moment is a relief for most people.

It is reported that the price has dropped to $3.996 per gallon at most of the gas stations. 

However, for mid grade and premium grade, the price is still above $4 with $4.13 and $4.24 respectively. 

The cheapest gas station at this time is at Wichita, Kan. The price is $3.61 a gallon. 

Still, we can all hope that the price will drop even lower but at the meantime, you might want to read up on ways to save fuel.

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Technorati Tags: fuel, fuel price, gas, gas price, save fuel, save gas

Popularity: 11% [?]

Fuel efficiency is a very important factor especially when the price of fuel is hitting the roof. There are many benefits of knowing your car MPG or fuel efficiency as you will get to calculate how much rise of the gas price and determine is the gas guzzler eating up your money.

Follow these steps to calculate your car MPG:

1. Fill up the tank at gas station.

2. Record the mileage before you drive away. This will be known as Mileage A.

3. When the fuel tank is less than half, fill up the tank again but check how many gallons it takes to fill up the tank.

4. Record the mileage again. and it will be known as Mileage B.

5. Subtract Mileage A from Mileage B to get the number of miles since you last fill up.

6. Divide the number with the amount of gallons to fill up the tank second time. 

7. You get your MPG.

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Technorati Tags: fuel efficiency, MPG, save fuel, save gas, save money

It is all about saving fuel, saving gas and saving money so I dug up more ways to share with you.

Below are more tips on saving money for fuel/gas.

1. Buy gas/fuel early in the morning or late evening. This is to make sure that fuel/gas is most dense. 

2. Choose the type or brand carefully. Certain types of fuel/gas provide more mileage because of better qualityso choose the one that seems to be most beneficial for you.

3. If you are eligible to apply for credit card, get a card that offers gas savings. This way you get to save some money.

4. Do not overfill your gas tank. Overfill will cause sloshing and out of tank.

5. Keep your windows closed when you are driving high speed. If you open your window, you could lose up to 10% of mileage.

6. If you need to accelerate up a hill, do it before you reach the hill and not while you are up the hill.

7. Don’t be afraid to walk if you park far away from your destination. If you spend time to drive around looking for a parking nearer to your destination, you end up using more fuel.

8. Do not warm up your car for more than a minute. Generally 30 – 45 seconds are enough even in the coldest weather.

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Hypermiling is a number of methods for getting better gas mileage by changing your driving techniques. Hypermiling has gotten a bad name recently through articles and news stories demonstrating only the most extreme techniques.

Fortunately, there are a lots of ways to practise hypermiling, and only afew of them are extreme.

The first step is to know and begin recording your mpg. Take a look at a guide to Calculate Your Gas Mileage.

Minimize Stops. Since you get zero miles per gallon stopped, you want to minimize the time you are stopped with your engine running. One of the keys to hypermiling is to be moving whenever your car is running. When you see a red light coming up, immediately take your foot off the gas. Even better, try to think ahead – if the light ahead has been green for a while (a “stale” green light), it’s fair to assume it will be changing shortly.  See brakelights up ahead? Take your foot off the accelerator. Cruise control? Disengage it before you have to start braking.

Drive less aggressively. It is estimated that most drivers brake 20% more than necessary. Braking always brings your mpg to zero. By keeping more distance between you and the cars in front of you, you can brake less often. Short starts and stops are also prime culprits. Do you really need to jump in front of another car, or be first in line at a light?

Let your foot off the gas the minute you see a red light in front of you. And think ahead, even if you don’t see a red light: maybe there is a big street coming up, or maybe there is a ’stale’ green light (a light that has been green a long time & you suspect it may go yellow before too long.)

Try to minimize the time you spend fully stopped with your engine idling. The minute — no, the second — that you see brakelights in front of you, take your foot off of the accelerator pedal, or hit the cancel button on your cruise control, and stop burning the gas that you know you’ll be using up at zero mpg while you are stopped.

Accelerate slowly. Accelerating is when your engine is using the most gas, and often using it inefficiently. With Hypermiling, you accelerate more slowly, allowing your engine to take full advantage of the gas it is getting.

Drafting. This is perhaps the only “dangerous” technique in Hypermiling, and the most controversial. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND DRAFTING. Drafting is the concept of driving close enough to the vehicle in front of you that your wind resistance is lowered. Trucks, busses, etc. create areas of ‘low pressure’ directly behind them; driving in this zone, or drafting, is almost like driving downhill. Drafting is the reason you see professional race car drivers tailgating each other, to take advantage of low-pressure space directly behind it.

Again, we don’t recommend drafting; it can be very dangerous. You can, however, drive behind trucks on the highway at a safe distance and still receive some hypermiling benefit.

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How to Calculate Your Gas Mileage

Odometer Method – Calculate your mpg in 4 easy steps.

Step 1. Fill your vehicle’s gas tank all the way, and write down the odometer mileage reading.

Step 2. The next time you fill up, write down exactly how much gas it took i.e. 8.25 gallons.

Step 3. Note the new odometer reading.

Step 4. Subtract the first odometer reading from the second one. This tells you how many miles you went between these two fill-ups.

Step 5. Now divide the number of miles you went by the number of gallons you just filled up with. This will give you your precise mpg.

EXAMPLE:

1st odometer reading: 41,200
2nd odometer reading: 41,330
2nd fill-up: 5.1 gallons

41,200 minus 41,330 = 130 miles divided by 5.1 gallons = 25.5 mpg

If your car or truck has a “trip meter”, you can simply re-set it to zero at the first fill-up, then see how many miles you drove at the second fill-up, and use the same formula:

Number of miles driven divided by the number of gallons at 2nd fill-up

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