Optimum vehicle gas mileage is dependent on, and influenced by, a variety of factors, including the health and function of a vehicle's engine, fuel induction system and supporting systems. A reduction in vehicle gas mileage can be caused by a variety of factors, some common and some not so common.
A clogged or dirty air filter can significantly reduce a vehicle's gas mileage. By preventing the adequate flow of outside air into the vehicle engine, normal engine combustion, which is dependent upon the correct influx of both air and gas into the engine chambers, is disturbed, which negatively affects not only vehicle gas mileage but overall vehicle performance. A vehicle's air and fuel mixture has to be adequately delivered and burned in order to maximize both engine power and fuel economy.
Low vehicle tire pressure creates increased road resistance between a vehicle's tires and the road surface. This increased resistance acts as a braking mechanism against the forward motion of a traveling vehicle, causing a net loss in overall gas mileage due to the fact that increased acceleration is needed to maintain a given speed and to offset the resistance caused by the low vehicle tire pressure.
Optimal vehicle gas mileage is dependent upon many factors, including engine combustion efficiency. Spark plugs, which serve to ignite a vehicle's air/fuel mixture, a process that causes engine power, are made to fire at specific engine intervals and with sufficient spark intensity to optimize engine combustion. Bad spark plugs, which often times lose their optimal spark igniting capabilities, decrease engine combustion efficiency, which negatively impacts vehicle gas mileage and vehicle power.
Vehicle ignition timing, which assures the proper function of engine valves in relation to engine piston positions, has to be set correctly to factory-specific guidelines in order to not only optimize engine power and performance but also to optimize overall vehicle gas mileage. Incorrect vehicle ignition timing interferes with the optimum flow of fuel and air into a vehicle's engine and also interferes with proper engine combustion, all of which negatively impact gas mileage.
A vehicle fuel injection system is responsible for injecting precise amounts of fuel (gasoline) into a vehicle's engine cylinders. The amount of fuel injected into a vehicle's engine cylinders is dependent upon driving conditions, engine speed, and the overall health and function of a vehicle's fuel injection system. An abnormal fuel injection system that injects too much fuel into an engine's cylinders wastes gasoline and results in a reduction in vehicle gas mileage.
