High quality oil
Using the wrong oil will increase the work the engine has to do
You can improve your cars miles per gallon by up to 2% if you only use the car makers specificed grade of oil. For example;
- Using 10W-30 oil in engines designed to use 5W-30 can lower your mpg by up to 2%.
- Using 5W-30 oil in engines designed for 5W-20 can lower your mpg by 1-1.5%.
Some oils now have “energy conserving” stamps on them – this basically means they have friction reducing compounds in them that are claimed to reduce friction and hence improve fuel consumption.
Great claim but reducing friction is pretty much what oil is supposed to do anyway (and some cooling) so its hard to assess what this sort of claim actually means.
Ultimately get a good quality oil of the right specification and check it often – don’t use oil for any longer than it should be as old, degraded, oil will increase the frcition in the engine – more work equals fewer miles per gallon.
From both a cost and green perspective you should not change oil too often and when you do ensure the waste oil is properly collected and disposed of (the local waste facility will have a section for leaving old oil).
Hypermilling.co.uk is simply a small website about hypermilling – hypermilling techniques wll be listed and explained, news about hypermilling listed and links off to useful hypermilling resources.
Remember – being safe is more important than miles per gallon and even a small bump will totally negate any savings made by hypermilling.
You should always make sure your car is totally road legal a