When will your vehicle use the most fuel is a popular question that mechanics are asked consistently. The answer is your vehicle will use the most fuel when starting the engine in a cold climate and driving the vehicle in a low gear.
Two different instances but they are the two that your vehicle will use the most fuel. But knowing this now opens the question of why is my car using more fuel, so let’s dive deeper into this so we can better understand it.
Why is my car using more fuel?
When starting your vehicle in a cold climate, your vehicle is waking up in sub-zero temperatures. This is a time that the sensors in your engine are gathering data to fine-tune the fuel to air ratio for your engine’s combustion process.
Until the data is gathered correctly, your engine is using additional fuel to keep the engine running successfully. Finding the correct air to fuel ratio can be difficult for a vehicle’s engine if the ambient temperature outside is below freezing.
When your vehicle is driving in a low gear, this increases the strain and load you have on your engine. When the RPM’s or (Revolutions Per Minute) are at their highest, your engine is dumping fuel in to keep the load requirement answered.
That is why if you are looking to save fuel, you need to be in the lower RPMs with a higher gear. Being in a more top gear with lower RPMs will keep your fuel consumption at a minimum.
Have you ever wondered why the auto parts store wants to sell you the more expensive brake pads? Check out my article on the six reasons why you should pay more for your brake pads, and you might be surprised!
Do new cars use more fuel?
No, newer vehicles compared to older vehicles use far less fuel and are immensely more fuel-efficient than older cars. A great example is the fuel economy of a 1969 Ford Mustang is 16.5 miles per gallon, compared to the 2020 Ford Mustang fuel economy of 21 city and 32 highway.
Then looking at the new hybrid vehicles on the market going into 50, 60, and more miles per gallon is terrific! So this answers our question of do more modern cars use more fuel.
We see from these few results that the newer vehicles have changed so much in their fuel economy and engine. The vehicles have improved the averages and outcomes we expect from the cars of the present day.
How can I make my car more fuel-efficient?
There are numerous ways for how you can make your vehicle more fuel-efficient. Aside from watching your speeding with a heavy foot, and checking the air pressure in your tires.
There are some ways that many people do not know. Here are a couple of easy changes like keeping your gas cap fully tightened, and sticking to the recommended fuel type. The manufacturer has chosen the fuel type for your vehicle.
Did you know that when the auto manufacturer put the fuel economy sticker on your vehicle, they were using the primary unleaded fuel? Many people believe if they increase the octane level in their fuel, their car will run better.
That is not true, and higher octane levels need to have a different cylinder pressure than your vehicle is rated. Now if you think that you’re older car runs better because of higher octane levels.
You are correct about that, but that is because of the carbon build-up in your cylinders. Due to this, your vehicle can have lower pressure. A lower cylinder pressure will run better on higher octane fuel. Another way to make your vehicle more feet fuel-efficient is to watch the weight that you have in your vehicle.
More weight equals more strain on the engine. When the engine load is increased, so is the fuel needed for the engine to run correctly. Last but never least, watch your long idling times.
Check out my article about idling in your vehicle in cold weather. Idling is illegal in some places so watch where you are idling not only to save yourself a ticket and money on fuel.
But to help the environment as well by decreasing your greenhouse gases released from your vehicle into the atmosphere.
It is always vital to keep your vehicle running strong for you for years to come. Check out my article highlighting the 12 Crucial Maintenance Things to Check on your vehicle to keep your vehicle running strong for you!
Do vehicles use more fuel in the summer or winter?
Many things affect the fuel efficiency of your vehicle. But the answer to the question is winter. Your car is going to use more fuel in the winter. Due to how cold it is and how the sensors in your vehicle react to the cold.
Now if you are from a pleasantly warm climate and you do not have an actual winter, and it’s beautiful and sunny year-round then this does not pertain to you.
A vehicle is going to use more fuel in the winter due to your engine needs to be at 40 degrees Fahrenheit to have a correct fuel to air ratio. That is for your engine’s temperature, not the outside temperature.
Your vehicle will send more fuel to assist in getting your car to 40 degrees, and this is why people think they need to let their vehicle idle to warm up in the winter. That way their vehicle’s engine can get to this temperature that much quicker.
You do not want to do that either for multiple reasons, check out my article here to find out why. But one of those reasons is that your engine warms up quickly when you drive it instead of letting it idle.
Until your engine reaches 40 degrees, your vehicle will be wasting fuel, and it could hurt your engine’s lifespan as well. Your car runs great when the ambient temperature of the outside is around 70ﾟF.
This is a pleasantly cool temperature that gives your engine that sweet fresh air that will increase the combustion process in the engine. Hence why many auto enthusiasts will install a cold air intake.
They are looking to get the colder air that contains more oxygen for your vehicle to burn. Now another thing that will affect how much fuel you use in either summer or winter is idling your car.
Many people idle their vehicles in the summer due to the hot weather. But they do the same in the winter as well due to the cold weather.
As previously stated in prolonged idling in many places is illegal now due to the release of greenhouse gasses.
Prevent yourself from being stranded on the highway with an overheated vehicle. Here’s my article on How often should I replace my car’s thermostat?
What determines fuel consumption in a car?
Many things can affect the fuel consumption of your card. But it all comes down to the load required of the car. That means if you put a consistent strain on your vehicle, the fuel consumption of your car will be increased.
The load can be increased speed, lower gears, towing heavyweight, increased idling, and many more. Hopefully, from these examples, you have an idea of where you can save fuel with your vehicle.
Remember that speeding only saves minutes off of your trip, so are minutes worth your safety? Towing heavyweight and low gears sometimes cannot be prevented depending on your career and the amount of mileage you travel.
Vehicles will always use more fuel at lower gears due to the strain on the engine increased. This is shown in the Department of Energy’s research study on the subject.
So if you keep your vehicle in a higher gear at a lower RPM, you will save fuel. Sounds easy enough….
How do you save fuel?
You save fuel by not only watching the tips that I have stated previously but also by keeping up to date with your vehicle’s maintenance.
Every vehicle has its own set scheduled maintenance interval that was set by the auto manufacturers’ recommendations. This schedule is critical to keep up to date with and can save you thousands of dollars of unneeded vehicle repairs.
The way to save these thousands of dollars is just keeping up to date with it, sounds easy enough yet it isn’t for many people.
Keeping your vehicle up to date will ensure the auto manufacturer fuel efficiency rating to keep the same instead of losing efficiency due to lousy maintenance habits.
Your maintenance will include your brakes on that list which brakes play an essential role in the fuel efficiency of your vehicle. Brakes, when not taken care of, can cause drag, and this drag creates a higher strain on your engine.
When your vehicle has a higher strain or load, it requires additional fuel to compensate, so make sure you take care of your brakes when going through your maintenance checklist.
Here is a little bonus as well, two key things to check that are so easy you can do it in a few minutes. The air filter and the mass airflow sensor are those two things. Air is a vital element to your vehicle’s proper operation.
If your air filter is clogged, your engine will not be able to get the air it needs to run correctly so you will be burning rich, which means you have too much fuel in your combustion process.
When your vehicle tries to correct itself, it will notice it does not have enough to run correctly and will force itself into a limp mode to protect the engine from damaging itself.
Next, the Mass Air Flow sensor, also known as the MAF. This sensor sits in your air intake tube, and if you look at it, you will notice small wires in the center.
These wires are sensitive and sometimes gather junk on them that you need to clean off. Go to your vehicle local auto parts store and get some Mass Air Flow sensor cleaner and follow the directions on the can.
Keep these two things in tip-top shape, and you will be saving fuel in your vehicle.
Are there any modifications I can get to save fuel?
Sadly more modifications do not save fuel than those that do save fuel. Like the throttle body spacer and the tornado intake tube vortex, these are only two of many modifications that do not save fuel.
Now, of course, the throttle body spacer helps older vehicles but so would be losing some weight on those heavy vehicles.
Don’t get me wrong I love the older vehicles, but I do not buy them with the thought in mind that I want to save fuel. My 1986 Lincoln Continental was far from a fuel-saving machine, but more of a comfortable ride.
Now the two things I do have for you that saves fuel are first, good tires. Yes I know tires are not a modification but they can change your fuel consumption by 3% and that has been studied and backed up by the Department of Energy, so we know that is entirely valid.
Next is for my truck owners, and that modification is a truck bed cover. When adding in a truck bed cover, you are increasing the aerodynamics of your vehicle and making your truck more streamlined.
Okay, I will give you one more since tires were an easy one. For all those people out there that do not have a digital readout of your fuel consumption, an ob2 monitor will save you hand over fist money.
This modification is a wallet/purse saver, especially since the best place to mount it is by your gauge cluster. It will show you a real-time data readout of your fuel consumption.
There are multiple options of the digital readout screen, but the one that I have found to be the best is the gauge that shows you miles per gallon to which gear you are in.
A great thing that will show you what speed and RPM are best for the best fuel economy. This way, you can find the sweet spot for your vehicle and your wallet.
What speed is the most fuel-efficient?
The most fuel-efficient speed is between 55 and 60 miles per hour. This is due to your vehicle shifting into a higher gear and the RPM’s of your vehicle lowering.
Anytime that you can do this on a highway, make sure you do because you are saving tremendous mileage.
I even tested this in my Chrysler Town and Country, and if you have a digital readout on your vehicle, switch the setting over to fuel economy.
My wife and I compete against each other while on a road trip to see who can have a better average mile per gallon. When you get closer to 55 miles per hour, notice your vehicle’s high RPM and what the fuel mileage bar your car is at.
You will see that it is down lower mine was at 14 to 15 miles per gallon, then when the vehicle shifted into the higher gear the miles per gallon doubled!
Your fuel economy is as simple as this, but if you do not have a digital readout on your gauge cluster, you will need to do it by sound.
When you get closer to 55 miles per hour, your engine will be at a louder higher pitch, and then you feel the vehicle shift into the next gear; this is prime time for fuel saving!
So watch it on your next trip down the highway and see if you can change your average miles per gallon and start saving fuel and money today!
What causes excessive fuel consumption?
Outside of having a faulty sensor to your vehicle and poor maintenance to the vehicle. The answer to that question would be the driver. We are the reason for our vehicle’s excessive fuel consumption.
We speed when we do not need to, we put in the wrong fuel at times, and we run the fuel too low at the other times. It is us the drivers and operators of our vehicles that could change not only the fuel amount that we use but the money we spend on fuel as well.
Hopefully, this article will show people the right way to save on fuel and save themselves quite a bit of money along the way.
Does your car get a better gas mileage with a full tank?
A hard question, but the answer is no; you do not get better fuel mileage when the tank is full. Due to the weight of the fuel, technically you would be spending more fuel due to the total weight of the vehicle with the gas tank being full.
Now, of course, it is a catch 22 because you have to fill up your fuel tank or
you will not have the fuel that the vehicle needs to operate.
So hypothetically more weight equals less fuel economy, but too little can damage internal engine parts due to debris at the bottom of your fuel tank.
Should you let your fuel tank get below half a tank?
Half a tank is not bad, but a quarter of a tank is terrible. Why is that? You do not want to let your vehicle below a quarter of a tank. Because of the debris that is at the bottom of your fuel tank.
When your fuel goes below a quarter of a tank, your fuel pump starts kicking up the debris that’s on the bottom of the fuel tank.
When it is at this level, it allows the fuel pump to suck up that debris and get it stuck in your fuel filter. Your vehicle has an inline fuel filter that many people forget about but is vital to the operation of your vehicle.
There is debris at the bottom of your fields Hank due to gasoline being a terrific solvent and can break down even the strongest of materials if it sits on it long enough.
So the way to counteract this breakdown process of gasoline is to make sharing that your fuel in the fuel tank does not get below a quarter of a tank.
Also, another thing back in cause corrosion in your fuel tank is water from precipitation. Precipitation can be formed in your fuel tank when the fuel level is low. This happens from the outside temperature being high and the inside temperature not being as high in causing precipitation inside your fuel tank.
So from now on watch your fuel and don’t forget to change your fuel filter. Your fuel filter catches all of that debris before it gets to your engine and truly messes up some vital fuel delivery parts that your engine has like your fuel injectors and fuel rail.
Thank you for reading my article! I hope you enjoyed it and found it beneficial to find out when your vehicle will be the most fuel-efficient. Check out my Youtube channel and subscribe for more DIY auto repair and flipping cars for profit videos! Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy my next piece!
