How to pay for your fuel

[Greg Loe]

Being that gas prices are through the roof, I decided to take measures to better my fuel economy. So, over the weekend, I installed new spark plugs in my van which are supposed to save 17% on fuel consumption. New high-efficiency cap and rotor to save another 5%.

A new air cleaner is supposed to improve fuel economy (and increase power) by at least 3%. Synthetic oil with some super-slippery additive will add 23% savings.

New RoadHandler helical radial tires (properly inflated of course) will increase safety on wet roads, yet improve fuel economy by about 20%. I bought and installed new brake pads and shoes made of some special composite which grips really well for stopping, yet have less drag when driving. This boosted fuel economy a whopping 32% on the highway, about half that in city driving (regular brakes are like driving with your left foot slightly depressing the brake pedal all the time).

Finally, I switched all my running lights to LEDs which reduce engine drag by easing the load on the alternator (if you don't understand electricity, this won't make sense to you, but an increased load on the alternator increases its magnetic field and causes the engine to strain more. Think of an electric generator--ever hear its engine bog down when a powerful tool or light is switched on? Same principle). Anyway, that saves me about 6%. Every little bit counts these days, right?

Sunday night I ran to the grocery store, which is about ten miles away. I took the van in order to give it the big test drive. Well, there's a problem...the gas tank overflowed.

General Tsao


Giving credit where credit is due

 

[Chads]

I got most of that Greg but missed the point of the very last part,do explain

 

[Doug Cox]

I can only assume he's being facetious by saying all the improvements which total 100% savings didn't save him 100% of his gas costs. Am I right Greg? Otherwise I'm lost also.

 

[Spurling]

Looks like all the savings went over the 100% savings causing it to overflow ..right .. ended up with 6% more fuel

 

[Chads]

That's kinda what I was thinkin was just not to sure I was missing something their :roll:

 

[R W]

For anyone that has switched over to Synthetic oil, have you noticed any new leaks in your engine?

A mechanic I talked to said that that was one of the problems with switching over to syn oil....it gets in places that regular oil doesn't, possibly causing leaks.

 

[Rex Tyus]

A mechanic I talked to said that that was one of the problems with switching over to syn oil....it gets in places that regular oil doesn't, possibly causing leaks.

I would look for a new mechanic. The early formulations of synthetic oil were rumored(I still think it was a wives tale) to be completely incompatible with conventional oil. Modern formulations are compatible they even sell blends right on the shelf at your local retailer. A mechanic that has not kept up with his trade would unlikely be my choice to keep me on the road.

Short answer, I have never heard that from a non shade-tree mechanic or heard of it happening.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

We have 9 vehicles now and run synthetic in all but 1 due to leaks. It's a dodge 5.2 with 275k mi. I bought it with 170,000 and it's always had a slight oil leak, there maybe 1-3 drips a night where it parks. If we run syn or a blend it leaks 2-3 times more.

It's not just a high mileage thing though, we have 2 other high mileage vans that don't leak at all since we switched to synthetic.

I've heard (and don't know by fact) that depending upon your vehicles usage a blend may be a better option. Supposedly conventional oil protects better on cold starts and syn protects better during use. I guess the synthetics don't operate efficiently at low temperatures. Could be just rumor though.

 

[Supersucker]

Synthetics caused a rash of leaks when they were introduced in the early '70s due to the type of gaskets used in engines at the time. No such issues today.
The first time I changed a car to synthetic was my '88 VW Fox with 250,000 miles, and so much sludge came out of that motor you would not believe.

 

[Scott S.]

i run syn-blend it lasts longer than regular oil goes in gold comes out darker gold. 4500 miles between oil changes lots of town driving.

 

[joey895]

Synthetics will NOT cause new leaks to develop but like Jess said it can cause a current leak to leak a little faster. Your mechanic was right in one sense synthetic oil does get to places conventional oil can't but that is a GOOD thing.

 

[TimP]

The way I understand it. Regular oil the way it's constructed it can help to plug leaks, of course not all leaks. However synthetic doesn't have the ability to stop a leak or plug one up which can lead to leaks if you hadn't used synthetic before.

In other words synthetics don't cause leaks they just don't plug tiny leaks like regular oil can. If you change over you could potentially open a small leak up. Of course I have no factual data in front of me to say this 100% correct but I'm sure someone who knows for sure will speak up eventually.

 

[R W]

I only ask because I changed over my 1977 Chevy van to the Mobil brand of syns back in it's day, and I had leaks a plenty, and oil burning, where there was none before.

My 2003 6.5 is just reaching 60,000 and I was thinking of switching.

 

[packfancjh]

Put an electric cooling fan on your van to improve gas mileage also use Redline oil and go about 10,000 miles in between oil changes. Awesome oil!

 

[Joe Couch]

I was wondering what all these changes cost you to do?

 

[Jim Williams]

Installing a high flow muffler is an inexpensive way(around $250) to get a huge savings. I replaced the huge stock muffler on an F-150 I had and saw a 20% increase in fuel mileage.

The 2006 F-150 turned out to be a piece of junk so I traded it for a Toyota Tundra which is about to have a high flow muffler installed too.

 

[Becker]

I use a debt card