Flawed Data

In an article by Jerry Hirsch of the Los Angles Times, “Tips to improve your vehicle’s fuel economy”, were some good tips. In our opinion some of the tips have flawed data. The reason most people want to improve their fuel economy is to save money; and that is where the flawed data comes into play.

A few of the useful tips included properly inflated tires, drive more smoothly, change the oil, remove excess weight, and turn on the ventilator and turn off the air conditioning. All very good tips!

In our opinion the flawed tips were; reduce idling, use a lower grade of fuel and slowing down. We will take each of these points one at a time and explain the problem with his tips.

"Reduce idling: Turn off your engine if you’re waiting for more than 20 seconds. Idling wastes more gas than turning off your engine and restarting it.”

This is good idea with a few flaws that make it a bad idea. At every stop light you have to wait over 20 seconds. So you are restarting your car as many as 10 to 20 times more a day than is necessary. The wear and tear on your starting system will cause premature part failures, costing you a lot more in the long run. Also, starting the car causes the largest drain on the battery thus overworking the charging system, creating premature wear. The alternator uses horsepower from the engine to recharge the battery. The larger the drain the more horsepower the alternator uses to recharge the battery. The excess drag on the motor uses more fuel than you will save. The greatest wear on the motor itself is during start up; more premature wear. If your battery is not up to par; added start ups may not let your charging system have enough time to charge the battery. You could be stuck at a signal with a dead battery. We could go on and on about the flaws in this practice, but we think you get the point. If he meant while waiting for a long train or in front of someone’s house, etc.; then he should have stated this in the article.

"Use lower-grade fuel: Regular unleaded fuel won’t hurt most vehicles even if premium unleaded fuel is required. Unless your engine starts to knock or ping when using a lower-grade fuel, stick to regular.”

Not a good idea. There are good reasons for fuel recommendations. Premature engine wear and damage to the valves should be considered. Although, spark knock and pinging exaggerate the wear, spark knock and ping should not be the determining factor. Excessive wear should be! Also one other point here; if you fill your tank with a lower grade of fuel and you have spark knock and or pinging what can you do about it before damage does occur? Drain your gas tank? Play chemist and try adding different additives to stop the knock and ping? You could cause even more damage trying to fix the problem.

“Slow down: Most vehicles get the best fuel efficiency at 45 to 55 miles per hour. Driving more than 60 mph can cut fuel efficiency 7 percent to 23 percent.”

The only thing to say here is; driving too slow is a ticketed offense; and for a good reason. It’s dangerous!

Here is a great tip on fuel economy: Only fill you gas tank half full. Gasoline is heavy and only filling the tank part way will increase your gas mileage.