jacking your tire pressure up to high is a bad idea in the name of safety. you can significantly reduce your contact patch. save a mpg, but hey your tires are the only thing that touches the road. also i bet the cost of replacing those tires so much sooner than you normally would would offset any gas savings you'd achieve.

another way to save gas, in winter at least, is to not idle in the driveway forever. warm it up for 30 seconds, then drive very gently until the car is warm. cars like mine especially dump alot of fuel when the engine is cold, so if you're on the throttle like in normal driving you are using alot of fuel.

one more, don't use ethanol'd fuel. i have personally recorded highway mileage losses of nearly 2mpg in two different cars on long trips while using 10% ethanol gas.

gas mileage indicator
 

can you these for any make/model?
i have a 97 ford taurus.
is it inaccurate to drive until youre on empty, refill completely, reset the trip odometer and divide the numbers?
i hope so, because i'm only getting about 18/mpg if not!

The scanguage II will work with your car. Your method isn't innacurate, but the scanguage helps you learn better how to drive. I would say to get one!

You've got it right, Crystal. When you fill up, divide the number of miles since the last fill by the gallons you just put in. It can vary up and down a little depending exactly how full you get it each time, but it's the method most people still use.

at least 1/2 to 2/3 of my savings came from the hot air intake. the only others that had any effect at all were adding the scangage which allowed me to uptimize driving technique, and the over inflated tires. normal tuneup maint should be a given if you want decent fuel economy.

I have a 1997 Mercury Sable (very similar car) and I get 18-20mpg city and 22-23mpg highway so...you're not wrong.

I recommend:

Amsoil Series2000 synthetic motor oil ($7/quart, one oil change per YEAR. Order online.)
Full tranny flush (learn how to disconnect the hoses to flush all 13 quarts instead of just 5)


PCV valve ($5), fuel filter ($7), spark plugs ($12 for six), air filter ($20).

The latter items are cheap enough that you can change them frequently (every year or so). PCV, fuel filter, and air filter are easy to change in 5mins with no tools. Spark plugs (aka a "tune up") is a bit more work, but can be done in ~1hour.

Also, a couple tanks of premium gas will clean out the engine.

Variance
 

I've noticed quite a bit of variance in the FE of last generation Taurus/Sables with the 3.0L (Vulcan) engine.

I've rented over the years probably 30+ different ones, and they all varied widely in their FE. The low end was 18 mpg with 90% highway, and as high as 24-25 mpg under similar conditions. The Duratec (DOHC) 3.0L was a bit more consistently around 22-23 mpg, but rare in rental row. It's the only vehicle I've rented with such a variance -- not sure why.

RH77

I'm using these mods to manage 36 mpg mixed with a car EPA rated at 26 mpg mixed (revised)...a 38% gain. '83 Tercel 4WD Wagon.

* advanced ignition (road timed to just ping a lower rpms)

* hot air (using heat stove around manifold)

* grill blocking (except radiator)

* adjustable cooling fan switch (don't want it to run)

* a Condensator

* indexed V-power plugs

* EFIE

* manual choke

* O2 sensor wrapped in alum foil

* neo 40 magnet on gas line

* Valvoline Synpower oil additive in engine

* moly additive in manual transaxle

* tires at sidewall max

* glasspack


Want to test:

* 195F thermostat

* vortex generators or strakes

* lowered air dam

* acetone/xylol/GP7

What about
 

What about lowering your vehicle with springs?

One tip that hasn't seemed to have been mentioned yet is:

• Plan your trip in it's entirety before you even get in the car.

You can use the web to not only find street addresses of your destination but some destinations have their own websites to include pictures of what the destination looks like. Using the street address that you researched, use an online driving directions finder website.

It's one thing if you have to detour for traffic reasons, it's another to be lost and driving around wasting gas, even driving lost fuel efficiently.