When you understand as much as you can about how your car’s engine burns fuel, you’re better able to understand what might be causing your car to have bad gas mileage at any given point. Sammy’s Auto has some information that you can put to good use right away.
Delays in Oil Changes
You might think oil changes are just a hassle and something you forget to do, but they’re really important for keeping your car’s engine running as well as it should. Consistent oil changes protect your car’s engine, which in turn helps it to burn fuel efficiently. Skipping oil changes or even just putting them off for longer than you should really can cause you to have gas mileage problems.
Tire Pressure Problems
It might not sound related at all, but the air pressure in your car’s tires affects fuel mileage in a big way. Too much or too little air in the tires affects how hard the engine has to work to propel the car. When you’re doing anything, even something small, that causes the engine to work harder that affects fuel mileage numbers.
Air, Fuel, and Spark Mix Issues
Your car’s engine needs spark, fuel, and air for combustion to happen. There’s a lot of different ways that the mix can go wrong, including things like a clogged air filter, problems with fuel injectors, and issues with spark plugs. The smallest changes in how fuel, air, and spark hit the mix in the combustion chamber can affect how your engine uses fuel.
Spending Too Much Time Idling
If you spend any time at all sitting still with the car’s engine running, that’s called idling. And it’s death to your gas mileage numbers. Burning gas without going anywhere is the absolute worst gas mileage you can get, so if you can do as little idling as possible, that’s optimal. If your regular routes tend to leave you stuck in traffic, it might be a good idea to explore different routes to the places you need to go that leave you moving rather than sitting and idling.
Still not sure what’s causing your car to have bad gas mileage? There might be more going on and Sammy’s Auto in Seffner, FL, is happy to help you troubleshoot. Contact us today and we’ll set up an appointment to perform diagnostic testing to determine what’s causing your car’s engine to burn fuel inefficiently.