My gas mileage was really sucking. It seemed to start after I got my oil changed and my car inspected. When I got my car inspected, they had mentioned that I had corrosion on my fuel lines. I began to suspect that possibly my few lines were leaking gasoline even though they said it wasn’t an issue yet. The corrosion was just starting, and it was something to keep track of. But my gas mileage significantly decreased, down from 35 miles per gallon to about 27 miles per gallon. Even though it was wintertime in the cold and the different fuel mixture the gas stations are selling, I still thought that possibly the gas mileage was worse than it should have been. I looked at my tires to see if one of them was significantly low, but none of them seem to be. I decided to hook up my compressor and go around to doublecheck the inflation on all the tires. I started up the compressor, and let it fill up the the tank while I got ready for work. Then when I was ready to leave, I went to check the first tire and found it filled to about 30 psi. I’ve been maintaining them about 40 psi. I pumped the tire  to 4o psi. I went to the next tire and found it also around 30psi. Then I figured out that when they had done the oil change they had deflated all my tires down to the recommended levels at and my gas mileage had decreased. So I inflated all the tires up to 40 psi and almost instantly noticed an increase in gas mileage. I need be aware that every time I take my car in for an oil change the doublecheck my tire pressures to see if they have deflated them down to their recommended levels.

Posted by Rob in Hypermiling on February 27th, 2010 | No Comments