How to Calculate a Car's Fuel Efficiency
Your car's fuel efficiency is an indicator of the health of your car's engine. As the oil ages and the tuning changes you will see a drop in the mpg you get. As the price of gas rises, it is taking a bigger part of our income just to get to work and buy groceries. Keep tabs on your miles per gallon to know when to maintain the car.
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Instructions
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Get your vehicle tuned up and have the oil changed. This will prepare it to give the best mpg it is capable of and let you measure a benchmark. Once the servicing completes, take the vehicle to the gas station and fill it up. Record in the book the date, odometer reading, number of gallons and cost; this will give you a record of the starting point. Also note the date and particulars of the service that occurred. This should record the vehicle in its best condition.
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Drive the vehicle just as you would normally until you need to fill the gas tank again. Fill the tank just as you did the last time and record the date and all the same information that you did last time. Make some comment of the type of driving you have been doing on this last tank. Point out if it was all highway driving or mostly city (stop and go) type driving.
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Calculate the mpg by subtracting the two odometer readings and divide that result by the number of gallons. This is a measure of the mpg under ideal conditions for the type of driving you did. It would be useful to use the next tank of gas for long highway trip driving so that you can measure the mpg for that type of trip. This will be the benchmark for all other driving.
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Watch the fuel efficiency over time and when you notice a significant drop in the value of mpg you will need to plan to get the oil changed and the engine tuned up. Keeping the engine running well is better than waiting until it is giving you a problem.
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