Fuel Saving Tips
08-15 Chrysler 5.7 & 6.4 Engines
This issue has been reported with 100% occurrence on the Challenger/Charger/Ram forums.The stock intake manifolds are not properly torqued from the factory which leads to cold start, idle, acceleration and throttle issues.Everyone who has checked has reported that the bolts were loose and took multiple full rotations to tighten. Borrow or purchase an in-lb torque wrench and torque each bolt to 105 in-lb when the engine is cold. This has been reported to resolve cold start and idle issues as well as increase throttle response and even power output.
posted by dtru on May 20, 2015
this tip works for 58% of voting Fuelly members.
Tire inflation
Use this tip at your own risk... I've found that inflating my tires to tire manufacturer limits (usually 6-8 psi higher than car manufacturer label) increases my mpg by around 8%. Charting my mpg for several years shows that when the dealer decreases my psi to car mfr pressure, economy drops until I re-pressurize to tire mfr limits. I don't recommend this for high center-of-mass vehicles such as SUVs (but you should consider getting a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle anyway).
posted by h2ofreeze on May 19, 2015
this tip works for 50% of voting Fuelly members.
Older vehicles with 200,000 miles plus
Add STP oil it not only reduces noise and clatter at startup but also improves fuel economy . Even though its a thicker oil the fuel mileage has gone up by 1-2 MPG
posted by cidpusa on May 19, 2015
this tip works for 3% of voting Fuelly members.
Save Electrical Drag = Save fuel
This mostly is worse on small engine cars, bigger lumps wont notice it as much But if your sat the lights in cold weather, consider saving electrical power while idling at lights or traffic Switch off / turn down items that aren't needed Less electrical demand means less drag been created by the alternator it also gives chance for the battery to get some charge Rear/front demisters are heavy electrical users - lights if safe swap to sidelights/DRL's instead, Fans turn them down
posted by Ziggy122 on May 18, 2015
this tip works for 75% of voting Fuelly members.
Best MPG is affected more by vehicle speed than engine speed.
In response to the tip that there is a "best MPG engine RPM of 2,000", engine speed in itself has very little to do with your real world MPG. The load placed upon the engine is much more important. Due to modern fuel injection systems, it's entirely possible for the same engine to burn the same amount of fuel at both 1,500 and 5,000 RPM, depending upon the load. An engine under 100% load at 1,200RPM will burn more fuel than the same engine cruising along at 20% load at 3,000 RPM. If you want optimal fuel economy, simply place as little load on the engine as you can regardless of it's size. Simple.
posted by jldude on May 15, 2015
this tip works for 90% of voting Fuelly members.
Shifting to neutral when stopped or deccelerating
If you've ever had to push a disabled vehicle off the road, you understand how much energy it takes. This same amount of energy is wasted every time you sit at a stop with the vehicle in gear and your foot on the brake. The engine is burning excessive fuel trying to move the vehicle against the brakes. Shifting to neutral minimizes this waste. Even more fuel can be saved by slowly rolling to a stop in neutral as the engine is disengaged from all load and is allowed to idle using minimal fuel. And idling will always use the least fuel.
posted by jldude on May 15, 2015
this tip works for 23% of voting Fuelly members.
manuals on the Off ramp.
If you have a manual transmission, and your on the highway, let off the gas and shift to neutral before you reach the off-ramp. You can use your speed to coast in and save gas.
posted by betterforeign on May 13, 2015
this tip works for 20% of voting Fuelly members.
Find shortest route
Use Dijkstra's shortest path to find the route from point A to point B. That way, your not using unnecessary fuel going through a longer route.
posted by camrydash on May 12, 2015
this tip works for 24% of voting Fuelly members.
Watch MPG instead of l/100km when monitoring effeciency
MPG changes faster then l/100km with high efficiency because math... but MPG can give a better indication of how driving effects efficiency, especially on hybrid and other car that get better then 6l/100km.
posted by Gscott919 on May 6, 2015
this tip works for 23% of voting Fuelly members.
Walk
Instead of driving there, just walk.
posted by marc2312 on May 4, 2015
this tip works for 60% of voting Fuelly members.
Topping up (a necessary evil)
Topping up means you'll be carrying more weight when you fill up completely. In my car's case a full tank of gas weighs about 94.5 pounds (6.3 pounds X 15 gallons). So if I top up instead of filling up halfway, I'm carrying about 47 pounds more fuel. But if I don't top up, I don't know of any other way to accurately track my gas mileage and if I don't track it, I'm probably going to suffer from the old "out of sight, out of mind" condition and my gas mileage will likely drop at least a few miles per gallon. Frugality as a way of life can prevent one from slipping into wasteful consumption of resources.
posted by RivaRich on May 2, 2015
this tip works for 43% of voting Fuelly members.
Don't fly up on people
If someone pulls out onto the road in front of you from an on-ramp or side street, don't just fly up on them and wait until the last second to slow down. If you take your foot off the gas (or clutch in) when you see them coming, they will have more time to get up to speed before you get to them, resulting in you having to accelerate less to get back up to speed.
posted by 79f100 on April 30, 2015
this tip works for 94% of voting Fuelly members.
Why shifting into neutral while driving is bad
I have seen alot of posts suggesting shifting into neutral & coasting while going downhill or slowing for traffic in order to save fuel. This Is Bad and Wrong! Modern computer-controlled fuel injected vehicles automatically go into a "DECEL" mode when your foot is off the gas. The computer shuts off the injectors and uses the vehicles momentum to keep the engine spinning. When you put it in neutral the injectors turn on to maintain idle engine speed. This is why you will see instant-read MPG shoot up to 99 or --
posted by mtyler11 on April 29, 2015
this tip works for 80% of voting Fuelly members.
response to Neutral Downhill
It is a bad practice to take your car out of gear to save a few .01/gal If you have an automatic transmission, let it shift into overdrive. If you have a manual shift into top gear. This will net you your best mpg while maintaining control of the vehicle. You will spend more in wear&tear on your vehicle (clutch engagement, brakes & Labor) than you will save in gas.
posted by mtyler11 on April 29, 2015
this tip works for 78% of voting Fuelly members.
Slow down up hills
While cruising down the freeway or highway, try and bump down the cruise a few MPH while going up hills. This keeps the engine from working harder to maintain speed up hills and saves fuel. I've saved 4-6mpg by trying this trick on my daily commute.
posted by coolt77 on April 28, 2015
this tip works for 84% of voting Fuelly members.
Best MPG for petrol (USA gas) is at 2,000 rpm.
Petrol (USA gas) engines are most efficient at 2,000 rpm. Don't drive at lower engine speeds if you can help it, unless going downhill. I have read that Diesel engines are more efficient at lower engine speeds, but I cannot confirm this. A rolling road test would determine the most efficient engine speed for your particular vehicle and I would be interested to hear from anyone who has figures.
posted by Forester1998 on April 26, 2015
this tip works for 6% of voting Fuelly members.
Find Good Gas - and stick with it.
Check out several different gas stations and fill up (vary the list with brands and chains.) Be diligent recording your MPG on fuelly. You will find the best gas for your car. There are 2 different gas stations that I use and both result in a 10-12% increase in MPG vs. the other stations I have tried. One is a fairly new station and one is an older station neither are the same brand.
posted by FuelBill on April 24, 2015
this tip works for 66% of voting Fuelly members.
Park with your windshield twards the sun in Winter
In a wintery climate you can lessen your warmup time and windshield scraping work if you try to point the front towards the sunshine! In summer do the opposite, as rear windows are usually smaller and have tinting. Thus helping to keep the car a little cooler.
posted by Terry_P on April 21, 2015
this tip works for 91% of voting Fuelly members.
Frequency re-inflating tyres
It is well-known that soft tyres push up consumption. I have correlated this and found the pressure drops faster than one thinks. My consumption started to rise just 2 months after a service with the original tyres on my CT200h by 0.1 l/100 km and again after another 2 months. I suggest that the pressure be checked and increased to 2.4 kg/cm² every 6 weeks or thereabouts (for my car).
posted by cydevil on April 15, 2015
this tip works for 90% of voting Fuelly members.
Please! Warm up your Vehicle.
While you don't need to warm up your vehicle for several minutes, it does need to be warmed up to let the engine internals expand to operating clearances. This reduces engine wear and damage. 30 seconds to 1 minutes should be sufficient.
posted by nfsgt1 on April 14, 2015
this tip works for 51% of voting Fuelly members.
Check what gear you are in.
New car - more gears? Change into 6th gear on the motorway, instead of realising that youve driven halfway there in 5th. Sigh.
posted by Lembu on April 13, 2015
this tip works for 92% of voting Fuelly members.
Timing your motorcycle servicing for maximum enjoyment
As a UK biker I like to service the bike fully twice a year before the start of the summer riding season in March and again in October before the cold winter weather sets in as it's never much fun doing maintenance in the cold & wet of deepest winter. Timing your servicing habits in this way ensures your bike performs reliably in the best and worst of weathers :)
posted by CreamTea on April 9, 2015
this tip works for 81% of voting Fuelly members.
Start keeping a record of when you last serviced/replaced parts.
If you are someone who likes to service your own vehicle create yourself a spreadsheet or grid table in a notepad of when you last worked on your vehicle noting when you changed the oil, filter, pads, seals, battery etc in fact log anything you do to your vehicle....write down all the serviceable items on the left hand column with regularly time intervals on the columns on the right. This will help you become more regimental in your servicing habits. You can then tick the box with a mileage & date figure when you replace/service a part...
posted by CreamTea on April 9, 2015
this tip works for 98% of voting Fuelly members.
Shift short in a diesel
If you have a diesel car, keep the revs down where possible. Shifting up at 1,500-2,000 rpm while pushing the gas pedal hard will use less fuel than treating the gas pedal gently but allowing the revs to climb for any given rate of acceleration. If you can find your engine's torque curve, see where the torque peak is and under normal circumstances keep the engine below that speed.
posted by Matt_the_Moose on April 7, 2015
this tip works for 63% of voting Fuelly members.
On Car Batteries
Most Car Batteries gives you 1 or 2 years moneyback or full replacement if it dies within that time frame. Its impt to keep the original receipt or hve it copied and placed on your dashboard. My car battery just died one month before the warranty. I brought it to the dealer hve it checked and confirmed and i was given a brand new car battery. Saving receipt can save you us$100-150 bucks.
posted by brianallanpo on April 4, 2015
this tip works for 77% of voting Fuelly members.
Ideal Revs
when driving a vehicle on uphill terrain be sure to keep the revs below 2000 revs to save fuel and not to overwork the engine also its good for fuel economy. keep it in 2nd or third gear if you can.
posted by brianallanpo on April 4, 2015
this tip works for 8% of voting Fuelly members.
Avoid making short journeys.
If you want to goto the shop just up the road or a destination which isn't far just walk or cycle there. Cars tend to burn more fuel and produce more emissions on short journeys where the engine doesn't get chance to warm up (which can wear them out faster). If you want to burn less fuel and travel further the best way is to not use your car if possible. If you want to go into a congestion zone it's also best to cycle because you don't have to worry about traffic or parking (depending on your citys infrastructure) and it can actually save you time.
posted by Mikes1992 on March 25, 2015
this tip works for 82% of voting Fuelly members.
trailer pulling
When pulling a trailer don't use cruise control in hilly or mountainous areas. Try to keep a steady speed on flats but let the speed drop 5 to 10 mph going up hills to keep transmission from down shifting. If transmission does down shift, then at the top of the hill let up on the gas pedal a bit to get it to up shift again.
posted by StLouisMark on March 19, 2015
this tip works for 78% of voting Fuelly members.
Coast off the expressway
When coming to an exit take your foot off the gas 1/4 mile before the ramp. I've seen the digital readout click up 0.1 to 0.3 mpg.
posted by Compostman on March 15, 2015
this tip works for 90% of voting Fuelly members.
Cruise Control -vs- Lead Foot
I have found that if I use my cruise control I reduce my desire to place the accelerator on the pavement under me and it reduces my stress level. It overall saves fuel because the computer controls the RPM's/speed and not your fluctuating foot. Also use the incremental increase/decrease set speed when changing speed zones and approaching slower traffic, each tap reduces vehicle speed 1mph. If you have to slow down significantly disengage cruise and let drag slow you down then re-engage cruise control at the desired speed.
posted by jhfc on March 14, 2015
this tip works for 91% of voting Fuelly members.
