Improve My Gas Mileage – No Longer “WHY?”, but “HOW?”

With oil prices rising to close to $120 a barrel, getting better gas mileage is on all our minds these days. “How can I improve my gas mileage?” is a question that more and more auto mechanics and service technicians are asked on a daily basis. The fact is that there are many ways to improve gas mileage and lessen your costs at the pump. And With the state of the world today, gas prices continue to skyrocket leaving everyone desperate to find new ways to increase gas mileage. Sometimes several small changes can have a larger cumulative affect than any single change alone. Let’s face it, making a few small changes is FAR more likely for the vast majority of Americans than trading in our trucks and SUVs for a new Toyota Prius.

Better Gas Mileage Isn’t Just About Money Anymore

Gas mileage improvements can have a big impact, not only on your wallet, but on the environment as well. Every gallon of gas we conserve, is one less gallon we have to rely on Middle Eastern oil to manufacture. There are many ways to increase gas mileage and get the best bang for your buck at the gas pump.

Lessening Diesel Fuel Costs To About $0.46 A Gallon

Seriously? Yes – Diesel Fuel for around $0.46 a gallon. Perhaps the most exciting, promising and encouraging news for drivers of Diesel powered vehicles is the introduction of a product called Diesel Secret. I won’t lie…you’re not going to find a “Diesel Secret” pump at your corner filling station any time soon. There is some work involved with creating Diesel fuel that costs only $0.46 a gallon. It essentially comes down to converting used cooking oil (like that THROWN AWAY by hundreds of fast food and family restaurants across the country whenever deep fryers are cleaned) into clean burning Diesel fuel. It isn’t hard. It doesn’t require the use of dangerous chemicals and specialized processing equipment. Everything you need can be easily purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot for a couple hundred bucks. Imagine the money a company with a fleet of Diesel powered vehicles could save over the course of a year. Don’t believe me? Check it out…could I really make something like this up??

Tips & Secrets That Help Increase Gas Mileage & Reduce Overall Fuel Costs

Hopefully you will find some of the information below useful. Some of these tips don’t actually increase gas mileage, but they will all help you get more miles per tank of gas. There’s only so much that can be done to get better gas mileage, but conservation isn’t just about finding a way to increase gas mileage – it is about learning how to use less gas and get the most for the money we spend at the pumps.

Gas Mileage Tip #1 – Get Better Gas Mileage Per Tank!

Fill your tank whenever it reaches the halfway mark. Why? Have you ever noticed that the second half tank of gas seems to go more quickly than the first? IT’S NOT YOUR IMAGINATION! Gasoline evaporates VERY rapidly (hence the vapor you can see escaping from your fuel tank each time you fill up). Therefore, the more gas you keep in your tank at all times, the less air can occupy the empty space. Less air = less evaporation! A GREAT gas mileage secret that not many people know.

Gas Mileage Tip #2 – How Fast Can YOU Pump Gas?

If you really want to get the most for your money at the pump, don’t be in such a hurry! There are 3 settings on the gas pump nozzle. Pump at the slowest rate. Seriously. If you don’t believe me, set the nozzle on the slowest setting and then step back from your vehicle to see how much vapor is escaping. Now, switch the nozzle to the fastest setting and do the same. Choosing the fastest rate actually causes more of the gasoline you’re paying for to escape your gas tank as vapor and/or be collected by the pump’s vapor return system – meaning some of what you’re paying for is actually being returned to the underground storage tank at the station.

Gas Mileage Tip #3 – Not really…but a money-saving tip!

Fill your tank when ground temperatures are coolest. Petroleum products are notoriously senstive to temperature changes. All fuel stations store their gas in underground tanks. As petroleum products increase in temperature they expand. Even a small temperature change of 1-2 degrees has a big impact on the density of gasoline. What does that mean? It means that the gallon of gas you pump at 7:00 am is probably not equal in volume to the gallon of gas you pump at 7:00 pm. You may pay $65.00 to fill your tank no matter what time it is, but how much gas you get for that $65.00 might depend as much on the time of day you fill up as on the price you’re paying per gallon.

Gas Mileage Tip #4 – What Gasoline Brand Will Improve Gas Mileage?

I’m not sure that one brand of gas gets better gas mileage than another. What does help increase gas mileage is keeping the fuel system clean. That said, you should NEVER fill your tank at if there’s a tanker sitting in the parking lot filling the underground storage tanks. Filling those tanks is bound to stir up dirt that settles at the bottom of underground storage tanks. Pumping while storage tanks are being filled could result in your pumping dirt into your gas tank.

Gas Mileage Tip #5 – This Won’t Improve Gas Mileage…

…but it just might save the world. Our dependence on oil from the Middle East is the Achille’s Hell of our Nation. There is no doubt that the world would be a much better place if not for our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Nevertheless, reality is reality – I, for one, won’t be trading my car in for a bike or pulling a “Fred Flinstone” all the way to work any time soon. So, what can we really do to reduce our dependence on Middle East oil? First, know where the gas you’re pumping in to your tank originates. Not all oil comes from the Middle East. Here’s a little information on some of the industry’s major players and how many barrels of Middle East oil are imported by each:

Shell – over 200 million barrels
Chevron/Texaco – about 145 million barrels
Exxon/Mobile – about 130 million barrels
Marathon/Speedway – about 118 million barrels
Amoco – about 62 million barrels

There are a number of oil companies that do not rely on or import Middle East Oil. They are as follows:

Citgo
Sunoco
Conoco
Sinclair
B P/Phillips
Hess
ARC0

The oil used to manufacture Citgo gasoline comes exclusively from South America. While many Americans mistake Hugo Chavez’s hatred for George W. Bush as a hatred for Americans in general, I don’t happen to believe that is true. Even if Chavez does hate Americans, I must conclude that his hatred is far less a threat to us than our complete reliance on Middle East oil. This may certainly be a case of having to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Don’t mistake a hatred of the elitist, fundamental, neo-conservative, right-wing debacle that has become our government for a hatred of Americans. Chavez denounced George W. Bush as “The Devil” because he clearly believes only “The Devil” could carry out the atrocities against humankind for which George W. Bush and his associates are clearly responsible.

The fact is that aide from South America has saved the lives of tens of thousands of Americans in the form of reduced home heating costs in winter months alone. Without that aide, thousands of elderly Americans and some of the poorest children in our “shining example of a true Democracy” would have likely frozen to death, with no intervention from the leaders within our nation. Hugo Chavez may hate George W. Bush…but George W. Bush clearly has no interest in the safety and well-being of poor Americans. Hurricane Katrina…I think I’ll leave it at that.

The moral of the story – before you throw up your hands in frustration claiming “what choice do I have…I have to get to work in the morning…”, understand that not every drop of gas you buy has to be mixed with the blood of American soldiers and citizens whose lives have been tragically cut short because of the philosophy of hatred and violence in the extremist environment that is the Middle East.