Keep Christmas cash by performing simple vehicle maintenance
During the busy Christmas holiday motorists can’t control the price of gas, they can keep from getting “grinched” by following a few simple steps from Be Car Care Aware.
Fuel economy is directly related to vehicle maintenance. Be Car Care Aware offers several gas-saving maintenance tips to maximize fuel savings:
• Keep your car properly tuned to improve fuel consumption by an average of 4 per cent.
• Keep tires properly inflated and improve fuel consumption by 3 per cent.
• Replace dirty or clogged air filters on older vehicles to improve fuel consumption by as much as 14 per cent.
• Replace dirty spark plugs, which can improve fuel consumption by .85 kilometers per liter
• Change oil regularly and improve fuel consumption by 0.4 kilometers per liter
Driving behavior also impacts fuel efficiency. The council offers these gas-saving driving tips:
• Observe the speed limit. Fuel consumption decreases rapidly above 100 km/h.
• Avoid excessive idling. Warming up the vehicle for one or two minutes is sufficient.
• Avoid quick starts and stops. Aggressive driving decreases fuel consumption by 33 per cent on the highway and 5 per cent in the city.
• Consolidate trips. Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much gas as one longer multi-purpose trip.
• Don’t haul unneeded items in the trunk. An extra 45 kilograms in the trunk decreases fuel consumption by 1-to-2 percent.
Source: Be Care Care Aware Canada