I just doubled my gas mileage!

[MindPilot]

Two weeks ago I did a very thorough brake job on my 95 Nissan. New rotors, pads and caliper overhaul. The rears must have been adjusting in a little too tight because I can now actually feel the car "rolls" a little easier. (Rear caliper overhaul was a very interesting experience, while a front caliper may have four parts, the rears have more like thirty.)

I used to fill up on my way home from work every Friday. This Friday I got home with half a tank remaining!

Now if I replace those spark plugs that have been in there for the past 90,000 miles, I will be saving so much gas I will probably have to stop every few miles to drain off the excess.

[babylonsister]

1. ROFL! Would be great if it worked that way! nt

[MindPilot]

5. My dad used to teach high school auto shop

Every year as one of the assigned projects he would get a bunch of those gas saving gadgets and have the students install and test them.

They almost universally do not work.

[karlrschneider]

9. My favorite is the magnet you clamp over the gas line. It 'lines up' the gas molecules.

:eyes:

As if.
P.T. Barnum sure was right...

[MindPilot]

11. I always enjoy the infomercials for the "oil additives"

Squirting a garden hose into the runniing engine...water is a pretty good lubricant and an excellent coolant. As long as there is a never-ending supply of water and that engine is never shut off it will run longer than you can hold the hose.

And any engine in good shape will run for about 20 to 30 minutes without oil. That ain't no trick.

[lonestarnot]

2. Get some beano.

[karlrschneider]

3. Just save the overflow for your lawn mower...

:silly:

[MindPilot]

6. but my lawn-mower is electric...

so is my chainsaw, leaf blower, edger, and trimmer.

Excess gas...what a concept!!

[tridim]

4. I just did my front rotors and pads yesterday

I tend to ignore the rears until it's absolutely necessary.

Just think if we had hybrids all that braking energy would be collected for charging the batteries.

[MindPilot]

7. Me too, but once they go metal-to-metal....

even the neighbors find them hard to ignore.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. What's all this car talk? My opinion of cars is, they either run, or you take them to the mechanic.

:-P So there!

[MindPilot]

12. I believe that's spelled

"cah tahk"

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. Oops, my bad! cah tahk! ;-)

[mrcheerful]

10. Actually I did get my 1978 F150 Van to get 18 mpg's city, it had been getting 18 mpg's HWY

I just replaced all of the plug wires, the distributer cap, rotor, reset timing, adjusted the valves. Then I got rid of the stock air cleaner and replaced it with an after market open air cleaner. Also I replaced the gas filter and aired up the tires. Also I had the routine oil change done, I change oil every 3 months no matter how much sitting the van does. If you keep up on your maintenance on your vehicle they last longer and save you money in the long run. Btw, just changing the brakes will not have that great of an effect unless your brakes are dragging. Also when going down hill on a steep grade, drop the tranny into low 2 or shift down on a manual tranny and let the engine brake the vehicle, that way your not using the brakes while the engine is still putting out a higher rpm, which amounts to driving with your foot on the brake.

You can also can improve your gas mileage with driving skills, whenever possible let the engine brake the vehicle by costing to a stop light or sign, use brakes only when you have to. When taking off from a stop keep steady pressure on the gas pedal until you gain the posted speed limit, nothing ticks me off more then these assholes that hit the gas, get across the cross road then let off the gas pedal, they go from 0mph to 35mph then drop down to 20 mph after they are clear of the cross road. Another trick is to plan your trips so you make as many right turns as possible so your not waiting in a turning lane to make a left. Don't y'all love these assholes that drive like they are bleeding to death to get around you only to have them flip on their turn signal as soon as they get in front of you? Just goes to show why no matter how many safety devices they put in auto's the accident rate never declines.

Edited to add a missed word.

[Canuckistanian]

14. The brakes WERE dragging

That's the OP's point.

And it's a lesson for all of us that total maintenance is just as important as fixing the "big problems".

[mrcheerful]

16. The van had a real brake dragging problem, the chuckle heads the S.O. took the van to

that did the brakes had to order a new brake cable for the emergency brakes. They ordered one an inch to short, so she was driving the van with the emergency brakes on, the van was getting about 9 mpg's and the back brakes wore out after 2,000 miles costing us $300 to replace the drums, brake shoes and labor. It was something I noticed going down a hill, you'd let off the gas and the van would slow from 55 mph to 30 by the time you were at the bottom of the hill no matter how steep the grade of the hill. The next day the van was at the repair shop of the person I been doing business with for things I didn't have the tools for. The gas mileage went from 9 mpg's to 18 mpg's hwy

[rucky]

15. Air filters and oxygen sensors

are the biggest contributors to gas mileage. also keeping tires properly inflated.

[spinbaby]

17. So did I!

I bought a Prius.

[MindPilot]

18. Yeah but I only spent $345 and a weekend. n/t