If you live in the UK, as I do, and you are paying £1.18 per litre of Unleaded Petrol or £1.30 per litre of Diesel, then you might agree that paying £75 to fill up your car is getting a tad expensive, and we all need to get better mpg. Even the Red Diesel Pirates are going to feel it this year, with the effective end of cheap Red Diesel in the UK. Car fuel economy is quickly becoming a serious problem for many motorists, we all need to tighten our belts & save fuel. Here at Mpgtips.co.uk I will provide you with all the fuel saving tips you need to increase vehicle efficiency and achieve better mpg.
Posts tagged Fuel Saving Tips
Petrol Car Tips
Dec10
2008
Written by admin
2008
Written by admin
Tips for Manual Petrol Car Drivers
This is the most common car type on UK roads today, although diesel cars with a manual gearbox will probably take the lead in the near future, still with me? It’s worth mentioning that in this type of car, with the exception of steep hills, you should never need to go over 3000rpm. Tearing up the gears, then cruising in 5th gear, is NOT driving for economy! I have tested all the fuel economy myths, the old method of the lowest revs in the highest gear, works quite well, (eg: 1500rpm in 5th gear) but there are other factors that you must be aware of. A method I like to employ, is what I call the Imaginary Rev Limit, where for instance on a flat road, starting from a standstill, you imagine that you can’t exceed 2000rpm but there is a rule you must apply to this method, and it is just simply, never let the engine struggle. If you are sitting at 1500rpm in 5th gear, and the car is chugging, or vibrating badly, then you have two options. Option 1: Increase your speed in 5th gear, until the car runs smoothly again. Option 2: Drop down to 4th gear to lessen the strain on the engine. Whatever option you choose, the engine would no longer be stressed. Option 1, would yield the highest fuel economy on a flat road, or a slight uphill stretch. This method does not take the engine ‘Sweet Spot’ into account, but it will serve you well if you can’t find the sweet spot. There was a time in the past when even I believed the sweet spot was a myth, but it is there, you will find it somewhere between 40-60mph in 5th gear (or 6th if you have a 6 speed box), in difficulty to find it’s similar to the G-Spot in women! If you have a mpg computer in your car, which gives an accurate reading in real time (a lot of them don’t), you should be able to see it, by varying your speed while cruising in your highest available gear. If you have a spare £100, you could buy a scangauge, you can find them on the internet, just google the name, it plugs into the OBD Socket found under the dash in most cars. It is much more than an mpg meter, and is extremely accurate, but probably only justifiable for a serious fuel economy nut like me. To sum up the sweet spot, I think it is accurate to say that it is a product of the torque characteristics of your engine, and is usually found at the peak point in the rev range where torque delivery is at its strongest, which is why it varies from car to car. Read the article ‘Driving Style’ for a snippet of knowledge on how to keep your engine running without using any fuel. What did he just say? Alright it was a little play on words, but the point I would like to get across, is that there are times when your car is using no fuel at all, and you can exploit that knowledge if you know when it’s happening.
Chemical Additives
Dec10
2008
Written by admin
2008
Written by admin
Using Chemical Fuel Additives to improve fuel economy
Some of you may have heard about the old trick of adding nail polish remover to your petrol or diesel, to increase power & economy, well don’t do it, you will be sorry and I will tell you why. This old trick was one of the first experiments I tried with additives, and I’m not trying to put you off additives, I thoroughly recommend using chemical additives to improve fuel economy, and with nail polish remover it does appear to work at first. The problem lies in the fact that NPR contains only about 50% Acetone, which is the chemical that is performing all the magic, but there are many other chemicals in nail polish remover (including anti-combustion chemicals), and a high percentage of plain old water. What I discovered very quickly was, that while I temporarily got a lot of extra power (about 30% more) in the first few weeks of use, my mpg actually got WORSE. The water building up in the fuel tank, eventually came back to haunt me in the form of misfires and chugging etc.
The obvious answer to all these problems was to buy the 100% pure stuff (lab grade), which I promptly did. What a difference this stuff made, it was pretty damn impressive to say the least. The car used for those initial experiments was a 1997 Volkswagen Passat 1.8L petrol estate with a manual gearbox. Before I began the experiments it was a complete dog of a car, it had no power, 0-60 in 2 weeks, as for top speed, up to that point in ownership I had never got it over 85mph, it just wouldn’t go any faster. My first experiments with NPR in the Volkswagen, made quite a difference to performance but economy was suffering, partly due to the anti-combustion element of NPR, and also because I began to ‘drive it like I stole it’.
When I began using pure acetone in my petrol mix, things got very interesting indeed. At first I thought that benevolent gremlins had fitted a supercharger to my car during the night, it was truly an amazing transformation, my tired old car now felt like it had only left the factory yesterday. After a little more research on the internet, I discovered what was really happening under the bonnet, and it was all good news. What I discovered was that in a run of the mill petrol car, about 75% of the petrol entering the combustion chamber is wasted. In a diesel car it’s about 65% wasted during combustion, the bottom line is that petrol cars are about 25% efficient and diesel cars about 35% efficient. So what happens when you add in pure acetone? In a nutshell, it slightly alters the characteristics of petrol or diesel fuel, and this alteration produces a cleaner burn and reduces wastage. The full picture of what really happens is deeply technical and way beyond the scope of this article (and my expertise), the knock on effect is more power and better fuel economy, what more can a man ask for?
You will be amazed at just how little acetone is required, and do not increase the amount of additive beyond the recommended mixtures stated below, because it will not make the slightest difference to power or economy, it will just waste your valuable additive (about £10 or $20 for 5 litres).
The recommended mixture for petrol is 3 fluid ounces per 40 litres of petrol (just half a cupfull)
The recommended mixture for diesel is 1.5 fluid ounces per 40 litres of diesel (quarter cupfull)
Disclaimer: You undertake all these activities at your own risk, I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by the use of the information contained in this article or indeed the entire website.
You will feel a significant increase in power using these mixtures, but improvements to economy are minimal (somewhere between 10-25%), to really see a significant improvement in mpg you need to make up your own additive mixture. Bookmark this page and check back soon for my extra tips on making your own acetone based additives, I am currently seeing a 40% improvement using a particular additive mixture in a 2002 Hyundai Accent, I am still testing this new mixture and I will post an update here very soon.
One more thing I would like to mention is how much smoother an engine runs with acetone in the fuel, it turns even the roughest running engine into a silky smooth one. It literally cleans your engine from the inside out, it works like a kind of restoration fluid removing all the old carbon that has built up over the years. New cars will just run a little sweeter, you will feel the biggest difference in cars with more than 50,000 miles on the clock. Although you will always feel an immediate difference in any vehicle, in those older cars, the transformation really begins to happen after the second or third tankful of additive usage. It takes a couple of tankfull’s to remove all the old carbon build up from within your engine, once you pass that stage of usage, the power really begins to kick in.
Here is a related video I came across recently, it was filmed by some nut in the USA, it isn’t a great example of using acetone, as the person is using an automatic petrol car and hasn’t attempted to mix it properly, but it may be of some interest to you anyway. See for yourself.
A Cautionary Tale
Before using additives in my old VW passat, I had a friend fit a cheap exhaust on the car, and to be honest it wasn’t fitted very well, it was a quick fix. The car drove well for a few weeks until I started using additives, now don’t get me wrong here, I am not even slightly trying to discredit the use of acetone, it is my second favourite chemical in the world, but after the second week of using additives in that car, my exhaust fell apart, or more accurately, there was so much extra engine power that it pushed the exhaust apart. Now let me explain what actually happened, the exhaust did not break, it just came apart where the mid section joined the back box, and my friend fixed it again. The following week it happened again, then again the week after that. By then I’d had enough and took it to a proper exhaust fit outlet who fitted the exhaust properly, afterwards, even with continued use of additives the problem never returned. The lesson in this tale is that, if any part or repair on your car is already substandard, don’t go blaming the additive for creating new problems, the problems were always there. The simple lesson I learned with that car was that, if your car already has a weakness, don’t expect an additive to fix the problem, those problems must be fixed before you start looking for a miracle cure. There simply is no excuse for not keeping your car in tip top condition, it should be serviced regularly to get the best possible fuel economy out of it. If you scrimp on servicing you will pay for it at the petrol pumps, at around £50 for a basic engine service, it is money well spent.
In all my experiments with acetone, I have not experienced any other problems related to using this chemical, no corrosion, no melting rubber parts, no other problems at all. Before using additives I would occasionally fill my fuel tank with super unleaded to get a little boost, what I have learned from all my experiments thus far is that, using a little acetone is 200% better than paying extra for super unleaded, it’s also cheaper.
Update:
Just though i’d share this with you: After running a Volkswagen Polo SDi Diesel for the last 12 months, I can honestly tell you that the biggest improvements using Acetone as an additive, has been with this diesel engine. It makes such a difference to fuel consumption, engine power and smoothness, it virtually eliminates diesel knock. I would estimate at least 30% better economy with Acetone in an VW SDi/TDi. I used standard diesel for the first tankful, then added some acetone in the next one. The difference was unbelievable, this non-turbo diesel felt like its TDi sister, and I could feel the difference immediately. The beauty of acetone is that you will feel the power and smoothness within a minute of adding it to the fuel. Vw Polo 1.9SDi – average mpg = 75
Basic Car Setup
Dec10
2008
Written by admin
2008
Written by admin
Basic Car Setup for Better Fuel Economy
Although every car is different, there are some basic things that apply to all cars, first of all let’s talk about car servicing. When people complain to me about poor fuel economy, the First question I ask is ‘has your car been serviced recently’, and the answer is usually ‘no’. is also one of the most overlooked aspects of car set up, sometimes the blatantly obvious just escapes some people. When I talk about servicing your car, I don’t mean have you checked your oil or water, that is something you should be doing on a weekly basis anyway, I am talking about leaving your car into a garage for a full service. To keep costs down, it is nearly always best to avoid the main dealer, a good independent garage will do the same job for less money, even a simple oil & filter change, new plugs and an air filter, for under £50 at a fast fit type outfit, will go a long way towards improving fuel economy.
Tyre Pressure
Let’s move on to tyre pressure, this subject seems simple enough but is often overlooked. People do strange things when it comes to tyre pressure. Most people know that the correct tyre pressure for your car, is written on the sidewall of the tyre, but they tend to ignore this, and set the pressure to what they think it should be. If your vehicle is fitted with aftermarket Alloys etc, the correct tyre pressures will most likely differ from that stated in your car owners manual, so always check the tyrewall for the correct figures. When it comes to fuel economy, this mistake can cost you dearly, with increased fuel consumption and excessive tyre wear. Often, people have owned many cars over the years, and decide that 30-35PSI in all four tyres is a safe bet. Car tyre pressures can vary from 22-55PSI, the wrong pressure can make a huge difference to the handling of a car, while also having an adverse affect on fuel economy. I strongly advise you to pay attention the correct tyre pressures for your car, and inflate them to 2 or 3 PSI over the recommended pressure. Tyres are tested well beyond the recommended pressures, so it should be perfectly safe to try this method, it also allows for natural fluctuations. Please be aware that in warmer weather, tyre pressure naturally increases a little, likewise in cold weather, tyre pressures naturally decrease a little, please allow for this in your calculations.
SAFETY TIP 1: In icy conditions, higher tyre pressures offer less grip, and can make handling tricky. In normal road conditions, this should not be a problem, and you will benefit greatly from lighter steering, sharper handling, faster acceleration & much improved fuel economy. It is amazing how much of a difference, this one small thing can make to any car.
SAFETY TIP 2: Do not confuse PSI with BAR pressure, On a standard air line at your local Filling station, there are two metered sides to the air gauge. On one side of the gauge, there are higher numbers like 10,20,30,40,50 this is the PSI measurement, on the other side are lower numbers like 1,1.5,2,2.5,3,3.5 etc, this is the BAR measurement, if you get it wrong, your ears and pocket will suffer!
Unnecessary Weight
Q: What’s the difference between a fat wife, and a skinny one?
Ans: I’m guessing about 1.7 MPG!
I’m not suggesting for a moment that you trade in your overweight wife/girlfriend, for a slim 6ft blonde with sparkling blue eyes & perfect DD’s. – Who am I to rock your big chubby boat? – Not me, I’m just stating the facts, although you would save £75 a year. – (I have tried many times, but slim 6ft blondes with sparkling blue eyes & perfect DD’s don’t cook, clean, wash dishes or iron, they’re ALMOST useless!)
On a more serious note, clear all the unnecessary junk out of your car, like the tool boxes, the fishing tackle, the wellies etc. If you have a roof box fitted, it should be removed when not in use, including the roof rack it sits on. If there is an unused towbar fitted to your vehicle, it’s the weight equivalent of carrying a sack of coal around in the boot, so have it removed and possibly sell it through the classifieds.
