Dilantha.info » Cars

Greener Cars

Dilantha — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:59:12 +0000

Looks like my problem with coping with fuel hikes goes hand in hand with driving green. I found a few related articles on TreeHugger.

Proper Tire Pressure For Better Mileage

New Cars to Check Tire Pressure Automatically

Green Your Drive Without a Hybrid
1. Reduce your air conditioning
2. Change your filters at scheduled intervals
3. Check your tire pressure regularly
4. Use a fuel additive in each fill-up to increase engine performance
5. Get fuel injectors cleaned

Tony’s Guide to Fuel saving seems to have a lot of useful information, thanks JL.

Might be selling my car

Dilantha — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:02:31 +0000

Update: I have sold this.

I’m looking at changing my car. I’m not 100% sure yet, so don’t be disappointed if I don’t. I have a history of changing my mind about large transactions at the last minute. Also I’ve got attached to the little thing so I might not let go just yet.

Having said that it’s a Suzuki Zen. I bought it in May 2006, number is KB series. Sold and serviced by AMW. It does about 11km per liter in the city and about 15 outside.

It has not been driven by a lady doctor, mostly by me and I’m a good driver. It has 3M tint and a decent sound system. It has a few small scratches (to be realistic) which I will be painting in a week or so.

It just went over 13,000km since I’m a geek and I don’t get out much. I’m expecting LKR1,200,000.

Coping With Fuel Hikes

Dilantha — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:27:09 +0000

I got another Monday morning shocker as fuel prices were hiked up again. This is the 6th time this year according to my fuel log. Here are a few ideas on what you can do about it.

The right tire pressure is a small thing but you might be wasting fuel on drag if your tires are under pressure.
The quality of the fuel varies from shed to shed. If your drive is not smooth chances are there are impurities in the fuel. Change the shed.
Check spark plugs and the fuel filter.
Look into fuel and engine oil additives that claim to increase fuel efficiency. I’ve tried X1R which seemed to improve performance but no change in fuel efficiency.
I’ve heard that nano tech fuel saver has some savings but no direct experience on it yet.
Tinting helped me a lot by cutting down the air conditioning usage.
Alloy wheels might help a bit but wider tires would counter any efficiency gained.
A high pass air filter might help, then again keeping your current one clean would also help.
Driving style has a lot to do with fuel economy. Accelerating and breaking too fast gulps down a lot of fuel.

Any more tips?