How to get 4 or 5 more miles per gallon out of your car with simple maintenance.

I did it like in this video, and it worked surprisingly well. Will save you the $250 to have a mechanic do it.

Keep your tires properly inflated, too.

Good info, OP.

Pretty much all egr valves are very similar, some are easier to get to than others, mine was right on top, didn't have to take anything else off. They are always dirty and need cleaned.

Try one ounce of diesel fuel per 10 gallons of gasoline too.

There's a link, but I stink right now.

cleaning the fuel injectors is the hardest of the three.

The oxygen sensor is usually froze, soak it with penetrating oil after it's been running and it's good and hot, then get a wrench on it and hit it the wrench with a hammer, to break it lose. Usually good to let the penetrating oil soak it for a day.


You can depressurize the fuel line, just remove the fuel pump fuse and let it run til the engine stops. Otherwise you can just let some of the gas shoot out til it's depressurized.

getting the fuel rail out was the hardest part, just gotta go slow, be careful you don't break any wires.

First time you do something is always the hardest, next time it will be a piece of cake.

Synthetic penzoil ultra helps

Take out the air filter and you'll get 5 more on top of that due to increased air flow. It's against the law and you will seriously impact engine life. But if you're driving an old piece of shit beater and you don't give a fuck about any state laws by all means do it.

This thread rocks!

I've used Youtube to put a new power supply in my computer and use a reciprocating saw.

We can make up for the fact that school and our parents never taught us how to do anything :D

Adding acetone to your fuel also helps increase gas mileage up to 30% in old beaters. Acetone breaks down the surface tension of gasoline making it much more readily mixed with air when sprayed out of injectors. With less surface tension, the droplets are smaller and evaporate into the air quicker for more complete combustion.

Good and great Information,
the Glp is big enough to save a bit!

Domo, High 5!

I would definitely not take out your air filter.

You get little pieces of dirt in there, that clog your valves, all the little mechanisms, you will be getting horribe gas mileage, not to mention ruin your engine.

can't wait till 2014 when you shitbags in shitheaps start being removed from the road )
half you maggots going to singing the walkin blues in 2015 )))

Thanks!

Were you experiencing a miss, or did you just do this to improve mileage?

OP, one time I was getting horrible gas mileage.

Looked under the hood, and a dead squirrel had ate its way into the air filter housing and died in there

Have someone punch the cataletic converter. More mileage & power.

Pour some jet fuel into your tank and you'll experience a new sensation

A few tips that will help you get maximum gas mileage possible:

Inflate tires 5 pounds over what is recommended. The car will ride slightly harsher but it is not dangerous and will not noticeably effect handling. This decreases rolling resistance. If you are carrying a heavy load in a truck, you can increase the tire pressure up to 45psi in the rear tires depending upon the load. ALL tires can easily withstand 80 psi because this is what it takes to seat tires on the beads of an aluminum rim.

Bleed brake lines, removing any air present.

Use a free flow reusable aftermarket air filter. The freer the air flow into the engine, the greater the fuel economy and this modification pays for itself in a matter of a few months. The air filter never needs replacing and can be cleaned repeatedly, saving money in the long run..

Completely disable the EGR by placing a plate cut to the right shape between the housing and the engine and buying an extra gasket. Recirculating spent exhaust into the engine is strictly a badly thought out pollution control measure and deceases the efficiency of the engine. It is a common mistake to think doing this will harm the engine or decrease efficiency.

Use quality platinum multiprong spark plugs and if you can afford it, buy aftermarket coil packs with 100,000 volt rating and graphite plug wires to match.

Remove and gut the catalytic converter and re install it. The freer the exhaust flows, the greater the mileage you will get at a given throttle position and unless your car is brand new your catalytic converter is restricting exhaust flow to some degree.

Fill the oil only to 1/4 of the way up the operating range on the dipstick, and never to the 'full' mark. ALL cars can run below the maximum level without any increase in engine friction and without damaging the engine. With more oil in the crankcase, the crankshaft causes proportionally higher hydraulic friction as it spins through the oil in the crankcase, decreasing mileage and horsepower at a given throttle position. This is why race cars use a dry sump. The down side of this is that if you are leaking or using oil keeping it at the suggested level can be a pain in the ass.

If your car runs toward the colder range on the temperature gauge, install an aftermarket temperature gauge and make sure the car is running with the coolant temperature at 200-210 degrees. If it isn't get a new thermostat and never run the engine cold. This increases wear, causes a decrease in fuel efficiency and decreases overall performance. Is is very common for older cars to have thermostats that are stuck or have fatigued springs that run way too cold.

When you have done all of the engine modifications I have suggested, buy a plug in computer adjuster that allows you to set fuel injector duration and timing as well as ignition timing, and re adjust the parameters to run with the greatest efficiency possible with the engine modifications I have suggested. It will pay for itself in a month and many of the the most effective modifications I suggested are free of charge. Make sure your oxygen sensor and MAP sensor are functioning correctly by having free diagnostic done at any major parts retailer..

If you do all of the things I have suggested and are willing to give up a bit of performance by setting fuel injector duration as low as possible before detonation occurs (acceleration and maximum horsepower will be reduced), you can easily increase mileage by 30% or more with very little cost overall.

The total cost of the parts needed is around 550 dollars, about 135 gallons of gasoline. Depending how much you drive it won't take long to pay for the modifications and only God knows how high gas prices will go but you can bet they won't be going down.

Your catelytic converter converts Carbon Monoxide so that is really not a good idea, besides it is illegal, you can be fined $10,000.

But YOU are the one who will suffer, if you are breathing the carbon monoxide seeping up from under the car. Even if it doesn't kill you, it builds up in your blood over time, I wouldn't even want a LITTLE Carbon monoxide.

Even if you're not missing, if the spray pattern of your fuel injectors is messed up, you will get less power, less acceleration because the piston explosion will not be as powerful.

The more aerosolized the gas droplets are, the more powerful and efficient the explosion, if your fuel injector are just a little bit clogged, it will not spray right, and won't combust right.

all good advice, good post, thank you. Those platinum spark plugs are more expensive but I think they are worth it. The thing with the computer is probably a little advanced, but very interesting to consider.

Running your car without a catylytic converter increases air flow, but it really is nasty and smelly, and LOUD. And illegal. If everyone did that, you would really notice the different. The roads would smell like shit and you'd have smog over the cities.

If you can afford it, it would be better to get a new catalytic converter, although they are expensive.

If the government really wanted to help fuel effeciency, someone should find a way to make a cheaper catalytic converter, so it would be worth it to replace on old cars. They use platinum, a substance more costly than Gold. They should find a cheaper substance to use.

also, if there's any problem with airflow, your computer diagnostic codes will tell you, there is one for a clogged catylytic converter.

That is also one reason to use a good air filter, so you don't get a clogged catalytic converter.

I looked at the honeycombed catalyst on my 24 year old Honda catalytic converter and I was surprised how clean it was, thought it would be dirtier.



Also, it is easy to change the fuel filter, just keeps the gas flowing constantly, so your computer doesn't have to mess with the flow of gas.


Also, the more ethanol they put in the gas, the less mileage you get, alcohol does not get the same mpg as pure gas. If they put 20% alcohol in it, they DON'T HAVE TO TELL YOU.

They are only required to tell you that it's at least 10% ethanol, that is why you may get better gas mileage from some gas than others.

You can ask the station manager what percentage of ethanol is in the mix.

Incidently, 99.9% of gas stations now use at least 10% ethanol in the gas, it does not combust as well as pure gasoline, some engines run better than others on it, some get A LOT worse gas mileage on it.

Dumb Idea...on 1995 and newer vehicles, the O2 sensors before and after the converter tell the computer how to mix air and fuel based on what the converter is doing...if you gut it then they can't send the proper information to the computer.

OP, you aren't getting 5 more miles to the gallon you are recovering lost efficiency because of poor maintenance and burning shitty gas...