Fair and 92° F

You’re calculating the fuel cost for that annual trip to the beach, or the family reunion Upstate. Maybe it’s just a trip to see your Uncle Milton, who’s suffering from an illness and can’t visit his nephew like usual.

While the doctors puzzle at Uncle Milton’s malady, you have a hunch it’s the same as your own -- high fuel cost-itis.

Area auto experts say you can cut down on the amount of fuel you use simply by maintaining your vehicle’s components and changing a few driving habits.

Experts say that a car without a tune-up in the last couple of years not only robs potential but also fuel efficiency. Changing the fuel and air filters helps bring about better burn in the combustion chambers, which, in layman’s terms, means gas is being wasted if you’re running on dirty filters.

One of the most overlooked, yet easiest-to-fix conditions is the tire pressure.

“It’s like when you ride a bicycle,” says Richard Thornton, owner of Thornton’s Service Center in St. Matthews. “It’s harder to ride if the tire pressure is low.”

For do-it-yourselfers, most manufacturers have the recommended tire pressure level stamped on the side of the tire. Otherwise, a repair shop can take care of it.

Pumping gas and servicing autos for the past 50 years, Thornton said the fuel stations have gotten away from service and are now more “mini market.” That has resulted, he said, in more cars on the road that are in need of service.

For some, driving habits can be altered to save on fuel.

Troy Pooser, auto specialist at Pooser’s BP in Orangeburg, said Richard Petty take-offs, high-speed driving and other habits burn more fuel.

And to save fuel, “You can also run the air conditioner less often,” Pooser said. “Running the a/c less makes your engine work less.”

Pooser went on the explain a complicated wind drag coefficiency that comes into effect at a certain speed with the windows down and so forth. Bottom line, you can save fuel by leaving your windows down until you hit roughly 50 mph, he said. At that point, the drag created by the wind is greater than the demand placed on the engine by the air conditioning unit.

“You actually use less gas with the a/c running than with the windows down at that point,” he said.

Anticipating and coasting to stop signs and red lights uses little more gas than it takes for the car’s engine to idle.

If all else fails and your high fuel cost-itis keeps you in hives, you can follow Uncle Milton’s lead and stay home, which would cut fuel costs considerably.

“And don’t drive it,” Thornton said. “Let it sit there. That’s the only other way I know of.”

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

You must be logged in to comment.