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Tips on making the most of your gas money
As a mechanic takes a look at a customer's automobile, the prices of gasoline can be seen in this downtown Washington gas station. What can we do to help improve our car's fuel efficiency in days of spiking gas prices?
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Check your tire pressure
Host Jeremy Hobson's tire pressure was at 40 lbs, which Fleischaker said was dead on.
Drive at the right speed
It's all about fuel economy when gas prices keep ticking up. Fleischaker says that the absolute ideal conditions would be 55 mph on the highway for ten miles without touching the breaks -- but she admits that kind of ideal rarely happens in real life.
Check the grade
Fleischaker recommends 91 octane for everyone, because it is more filtered, making it burn cleaner and more efficiently. You could actually end up saving money by investing in the higher grade gas.
Clean the air filter
A blocked up air filter could mean 25 percent lower fuel efficiency for your car.
Keep your oil updated
Fleischaker emphasizes the importance of checking your oil, which helps keep the heat level in your car down, improving fuel economy.
Empty your trunk
The average car is carting around 200 extra pounds in the trunk. Cleaning it out and keeping the junk at home can keep your wallet a little happier.
Wash and wax your car
One word: aerodynamics.
Jeremy Hobson: Listen up drivers, because we're about to save you some money. The national average for a gallon of gas today is $3.81. It's even worse here in Los Angeles. So I went over to California Automotive in the valley the other day to get some gas-saving tips from the owner, Rebekah Fleischaker. She started by checking the air in my tires to make sure they were properly inflated.
Rebekah Fleischaker: So, we have this little tool and we’re going to check it, and it’s telling us that you have 40 pounds of pressure. So 40 for this tire, I think is very good.
Hobson: So I’m in good shape?
Fleischaker: You’re perfect. You’re perfect.
Hobson: What about driving? How fast should you be driving to get the best fuel economy?
Fleischaker: Well, it’s just not going to happen. What you want to do is 55 miles an hour on the freeway for 10 miles without stomping on your brakes -- that’s fantastic.
Hobson: I have to admit, I do tend to drive faster than 55 on the freeway.
Fleischaker: And most of us do.
Hobson: Now when we’re filling up our car with gas, we have a choice, we have the 87 -- the low end; the mid grade; and then the high end -- the 91. What’s the difference?
Fleischaker: My opinion is, everyone should use 91 octane but, because it’s more filtered, not because of the octane. But typically, super unleaded has more filtering and so we have less particulate matter. It burns much cleaner, cooler, much more efficiently.
Hobson: So you’re saying, even if you don’t have to use that in your car, you should buy the expensive gas to save money in the long run?
Fleischaker: It’s just more efficient, the way that it actually works when it’s inside the vehicle.
Hobson: Okay so use more expensive gas, drive 55 miles per hour, make sure your tires are properly filled up with air...
Fleischaker: That’s correct.
Hobson: What else?
Fleischaker: A really big thing that you can do -- and you really should start at -- is making sure, number one, the air filter is clean. If the air filter’s plugged up, you can get as much as 25 percent lower efficiency because it can’t bring the air in properly so your air fuel mixture will be off, you’ll be burning more fuel.
Number two, if the oil level is correct and clean, that is fantastic because heat is the major factor inside an engine as to how efficient you can be.
Another big thing is, if you have a whole bunch of stuff in your trunk, it really is a vehicle that’s moving, it’s not a closet. So if you can take out everything -- do this: go home, take out everything in your trunk and put it on a scale. I’d lay money that you’d have at least 30 to 40 pounds but the average is 200 pounds worth of extra stuff in your trunk. That’s a whole other human body that you’re carrying around that you don’t need to.
Hobson: So maybe you don’t need to keep the kids’ sleds in the car and stuff like that.
Fleischaker: No skateboards, no, unless you’re going there. If you're going there to use it, great -- then put it back in your garage.
Hobson: Now I spend probably I would say $50 every 10 days filling up my tank with gas. How much do you think I would save if I were to do all the things that you said?
Fleischaker: Well if you added up the percentages: wash the car -- 2 percent more efficiency; air pressure -- 2 percent more efficiency; the air filters -- those plug up to 25 percent; having the oil clean -- up to 15 percent -- you’re already at 40 percent.
Hobson: Rebekah Fleischaker, owner of California Automotive. Thanks for all the tips you’ve given us today.
Fleischaker: Thank you, thank you for having me, I appreciate it.
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I would say after reading all of your posts and doing research on my own that you people have no idea what you are talking about. My family has been in the automobile industry for over 60 years. Her point on that heavier cars move slower and use up gas faster is true. Just look at any of the reports on gas mileage per size of vehicle. Why do you think SUV’s have bigger tanks and fuel up just as many times as do the economy cars? Weight of the car or the stuff they are hauling requires more power and uses more energy.
Second tires that are low make the car also drag so the strain on the engine requires more acceleration to go at the same speed as if the tires were properly inflated. Which, oops, runs through your gas faster (even my five year old knows that). As far as the air filter goes every mechanic knows any time the engine has to work harder that the only way for it to do that is through fuel. It is not some great conspiracy that all mechanics are out to make their fortune on a $30 air filter. It seems that most of you are not in the automotive field and you pick and choose what to go on a tangent about while you can’t even change your own tires. Why don’t you all continue to go to your fancy offices and do your little Google searches and leave the real work to people who know what they are talking about and can actually do the work.
The next thing to check is the air filter recommendation. In the days of carburetors it was very clear cut: dirty air filter=bad gas mileage. But today with computer controls on engines the computer can dial back the fuel if the engine speed selected is high enough to restrict air flow at the filter. This has the effect of making the engine no more efficient, but simulates smaller throttle openings which generally use less fuel. This effect is generally only at wider throttle openings, (foot to the floor.) It really has more to do with the amount of torque and power produced than how much fuel the engine uses to do a given bit of work. When a particular engine makes more power it always uses more fuel to do it. The key work here is "particular."
With respect to the premium fuel recommendation, it depends on the car, the driver, and conditions. Further complicating things is fuel economy vs fuel spending. Again it depends. But as a blanket recommendation, it is generally unsupportable as others have pointed out here.
As far as waxing your car, I say do it, but don't expect fuel economy gains. Surface friction on the skin of the car and it's affect on mileage is vastly overshadowed by the shape of the vehicle and its affect on mileage. Waxing the SUV isn't going to yield a measurable improvement. It's slick shapes not slick skins that let a body move through the air with less resistance. When was the last time you saw an airplane getting waxed?
Actually, my dad had his private pilot's license and owned a twin engine Beechcraft Baron. We would wash and wax the plane about every two months.Tough job. Dirt, dead insects and bird poop crusted the skin of the plane in a surprisingly short period of time. Did the waxing help with air speed? Probably not. Don't really know. But I do know that when my car is shiny and waxed, I feel Ican glide with the best! And if I wash and wax my car, I'm probably more likely to be attentive to fluid levels, air pressure, and clean air filters. www.skipmars.com
The comments were about much more than the "premium gas is better" statement. The comments were about the total inaccuracy of the whole piece. I don't see how you could have missed that. Marketplace needs to do a correction on <every> piece of misinformation given yesterday.
hey, Brighter Planet's staff scientist weighed in on this one in response to this piece in the Marketplace Morning Report (3/14/12): http://numbers.brighterplanet.com/2012/03/14/will-premium-gasoline-impro...
Came to the same conclusion as many of the commentators.
I heard this piece on my car radio this morning and was really startled at the advice to use high octane fuel. I'm no engineer, but something seemed wrong to me. I am so glad I went to the website and read these comments. Thank you posters for setting us straight. Marketplace --- please run an on-air correction ASAP -- it is wrong to mislead your listeners this way!
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