YOU CAN SAVE ON GAS
HERE'S HOW

Published: Thursday, March 16, 00
Section: TRANSPORTATION
Page: F1

By Richard Truett of The Sentinel Staff

I'm driving a new GMC Yukon that has eight hungry cylinders under the hood. A giant, lumbering cement truck pulls out ahead of me on Edgewater Drive. Its diesel engine belches thick, black smoke into the air as it struggles to move the truck up to cruising speed.

There's no one in the left lane. My first instinct is to hammer the Yukon's accelerator. With 285 horsepower on tap from the 5.3-liter V-8, there's more than enough thrust available to hustle the big Yukon around the cement truck..

But in these days of paying $1.59 for a gallon of self-service regular fuel, I'm going to force myself to step a little lighter on the gas pedal. I'll just have to deal with the traffic situation. For me, practicing restraint is not an easy thing to do. Like many other drivers, I am a bit impatient sometimes. But I have to feed this beast for now, and judicious use of the accelerator is necessary to cut the fuel bill.

I'm lucky, though. The big silver Yukon doesn't belong to me and feeding it isn't going to be a regular event for me. I'm just testing the Yukon for a review. Next week, I'll be driving something a bit more economical.

Lots of other Americans won't be, however. Their gas-guzzling trucks and sport-utilities are their only alternatives. The popularity of trucks and sport-utilities exploded in the 1990s, and now these big, thirsty vehicles account for about half of the new car market. Dealing with high fuel costs is a problem millions of Americans with big trucks and SUVs are now facing for the first time. Filling up a big beast like an Excursion could cost the better part of a $50 bill.

But there are things that owners of behemoths can do to save on fuel costs.

If you want to stretch the distance between fill-ups, just use a little common sense behind the wheel and keep your vehicle in good running order, say Larry Perry and Roger Clark.

Many Central Floridians are familiar with Perry, host of the popular Magic Mechanic radio show. Each Saturday at 6 a.m., Perry answers technical questions about cars and trucks on 580 AM (WDBO). Perry owns The Magic Mechanic, an independent garage in Winter Park. He drives a big Dodge four-wheel-drive pickup truck.

Clark is the Engineering Group Manager for Energy and Mass Integration for General Motors. Clark's department is responsible for optimizing fuel economy in GM's huge fleet of trucks and sport-utilities.

Perry, naturally, looks at the situation from a technical point of view.

If you own a big truck or SUV, the first thing you should do to maximize fuel economy is make sure the vehicle is in good mechanical shape, he said.

You can start with a major tuneup that includes a change of spark plugs, air and fuel filters and a check of the engine's timing.

But Perry says there's something else on modern fuel-injected engines that often goes bad and drags down fuel economy without the driver ever knowing. It's the thermostat - a round, spring-loaded metal device in the cooling system that keeps the temperature of the engine within a preset range. That's important because the vehicle's computer is programmed to regulate the mixture of fuel and air based on the temperature of the motor.

When the thermostat fails, it can stick open, Perry explained. That allows the engine to run at a lower temperature, which means the engine will waste gas.

``If a vehicle has a thermostat that is stuck open, or if the thermostat is working incorrectly, it will have an extreme effect on the amount of fuel the motor is using. The motor will run too rich,'' Perry explained. Most drivers never know when the thermostat is broken because the engine doesn't seem to run worse, he said.

Perry recommends two other fuel-saving strategies: First, make sure the tires have the proper amount of pressure. And second, use 100 percent pure synthetic lubricants, such as Mobil 1 or Amsoil, in the engine, transmission and axle - which he does in his own vehicles. Figure to spend about $50 for an oil and filter change using synthetic oil, about $175 for a transmission flush and change to synthetic fluid, and $50 to drain and refill an axle with synthetic oil.

The proper tire pressure and synthetic lubricants reduce friction, Perry says. ``Anything you can do to reduce friction will increase fuel economy.''

Clark, the GM fuel economy expert, says the way you drive a big truck or SUV can have a big effect on its appetite for fuel.

He said heavy vehicles, such as a GMC Yukon XL or a Chevy Silverado, are most efficient when driven between speeds of 40 mph and 45 mph.

``Slow down,'' said Clark. For every 10 mph that you slow down, you save 2 mpg in an SUV.''

That's because most sport-utilities don't slice through the air as efficiently as other vehicles. ``You have greater frontal area and lots of drag. Highway speeds are very important for fuel mileage,'' Clark said.

Clark also mentioned tire pressure, but he said that drivers should use the inflation pressure printed on a sticker that is placed on the vehicle - usually on a door jamb - and not the numbers on the side of the tire.

He said the manufacturer's recommendation takes prece-dence over the tire manufacturer because the automaker's engineers have tested the tires and determined the best amount of air pressure based on ride, handling and fuel economy.

Also make sure you use the proper grade of fuel, Clark said. Most recent GM models have been designed to run on 87 octane fuel, so you are wasting your money by using 89 or 93 octane gas, he said. If there is an improvement in fuel mileage with higher octane fuel, it won't be enough to offset the cost, which can be up to 50 cents higher per gallon. The owners manual, or a sticker inside the gas filler, will tell you what octane fuel is recommended.

Changing the way you drive - as I've found out - is the toughest thing to learn but the easiest way to save gas.

Clark said drivers of big trucks and sport-utilities should especially avoid jack-rabbit starts. Because a truck or SUV weighs so much more than a car, it takes a lot of gasoline to get one moving quickly.

The way you use the brakes also is important.

``Look farther ahead and try to brake with anticipation,'' Clark suggested. ``If you see there's a stop light, slow down much earlier. Allow the vehicle to coast. You'll give yourself more time, and you will save a lot of fuel that way.''

Other tips from GM's Clark:

Watch your weight. Don't carry around cargo that you don't need. If your truck or SUV is loaded with lawn chairs, coolers, sports equipment and other stuff that you aren't going to use on a particular trip, take it out. The less weight, the better the fuel economy.

Use the right gears. If your truck or SUV has optional four-wheel drive, don't use it. Stay out of four-wheel-drive high and four-wheel-drive low; using two-wheel drive will save fuel.

If you are in the market for a truck or SUV, select a vehicle that is engineered for the amount of weight and cargo you intend to haul. If you can opt for a V-6 engine and a manual transmission, you'll save fuel over a V-8 and an automatic. A lower rear-axle ratio also helps save fuel. And consider a diesel engine, which generally runs more efficiently when pulling heavy loads. Diesel fuel is generally a bit more expensive than gasoline, but it's the more efficient fuel for heavy vehicles.

Avoid letting an engine idle for long periods of time - say, three or more minutes.

The latest news on the fuel front is not encouraging. Prices are expected to increase in the next few months. If the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries - OPEC - follows through and increases production, prices could ease somewhat. Experts expect the price of a barrel of oil eventually to fall from its level of about $30 to somewhere between $ and $25.

But with summer coming and millions of Americans hitting the road for their vacations, demand for gasoline will likely go up and take prices with it.

Copyright 2000

I Would like to respond to the article by Joe O'Neil about the new "all season, synthetic" tractor hydraulic fluid from Chevron ("A Fluid for All Seasons," April 2000, page 30). You quote Chevron's Jack A. Zakarian as stating that Chevron patented the product because "the formulation is so special." In fact the Chevron patent reveals that the product is no more "synthetic" than is the reformulated Castrol Syntec, i.e.. it apparently contains no true synthetic base oils and represents yet another example in a disturbing trend of taking advantage of the recent looseness in the definition of what constitutes a synthetic oil.

In addition, the opening statement of the article would have us believe that equipment operators have had no choice but to change fluids with the seasons, and that Chevron has recently saved the day with the introduction of All-Weather THF. Not only that; Mr. Zakarian states that the John Deere J2OC and the J20b specs could not both be met by one fluid until the introduction of Chevron THF.

In fact, Amsoil Inc. in Superior, Wis., has just such a product: Synthetic Tractor Hydraulic/Transmission Oil, ATH, which exceeds both the Deere specs, can certainly be considered "all weather." It is a true synthetic, and the product has been available for over 15 years!

Paul B. Buck
Industrial Chemicals & Lubricants Inc. Duluth, GA

Lubes'n'Greases welcomes letters from our readers. Letters must be signed and may be edited for length. Please address letters to:
Editor, Lubes'n' Greases 6105 Arlington Blvd., Suite G
Falls Church, VA 22044 USA.
Fax. (703) 536-0803. E-mail: lisa@inpublishing.com

If you are one of the thousands of RVers who prefer to perform their own oil change, then you know what a mess it is. Oil all over your arms and hands, oil on the driveway and what seems like 37 gallons of the stuff to get rid of. It’s illegal to pour it on the road or driveway. We used to think it was okay to "settle the dust," but we used to be a nation of 50,000 and we used to have a lot less information on what happens to oil poured on the ground. In case you’ve been asleep, the oil can end up in your drinking water. Even if you like Penzoil cocktails, most of us don’t. Not to worry, though. All you have to do is pour all that oil into containers without spilling any, find the local disposal station and get it there without spilling more on your truck or in the trunk of your car. Lots of fun, huh?

Well, there may be a way out. Ever hear of synthetic engine oil? Sure you have, but it didn’t mean anything to you, right? Synthetic engine oil is the wave of the future — and the present.

When we started developing turboprop and jet aircraft engines, we quickly found that conventional engine oils were simply not up to the job. Lubrication scientists went to work and developed synthetic oils. We won’t go into how they’re made. What’s important to us is how they work.. In a word, great. They’re more slippery than conventional oils, resist high temperatures much better and because they don’t break down, they can last much longer before replacement is due. In fact, with proper filtration synthetic engine oils can last almost forever.

Some of us tried synthetic engine oils in our cars when Mobil I hit the market in the ‘70s. For the most part, Mobil 1 worked well. The Mobil people suggested oil change intervals of up to 25,000 miles, but they said nothing about filtration. Even with the best of lubrication there will always he some engine wear, and there will always be some accumulation of soot. And there will always be some changes in the acidity level of oil due to even a slight bypass of combustion products. All of these things suggested that Mobil 1 needed to be changed every 25,000 miles— not because the oil was worn out, but because the accumulation of all these harmful elements had excessively polluted the oil.

Then came Amsoil. The engineers at Amsoil reasoned that if a filtration system could be developed that would remove these contaminants, and if the oil could be made to resist acidity changes, oil change intervals could be drasticallv increased, maybe forever.

But the questions still remained: How can you know whether the filtration system is working properly and how canyou know the extent of the acidity? The answer is simple: Analyze the oil regularly.

Oil analysis was the third element in the equation. Use a high-quality synthetic oil with a quality filtration system and analyze the oil regularly. Filtration was a problem. All engines used a full-flow filtration system. That means all oil goes through the filter in its way through the engine. To ensure that there was always an adequate flow of oil, a full-flow filter was limited to removing particles larger than 20 microns. If the filtration media were built to remove smaller particles, oil flow would be restricted to the point that there, was inadequate oil to the engine bearings and cylinder walls. But engineers had found that oil contaminant particles between five microns and 20 microns produced a significant amount of wear.

How to remove these particles and not restrict oil flow was the problem. The.answer was to install a bypass filter downstream from the full-flow filter. Bypass filters sat off to the side of the oil passage and allowed a small amount of oil to flow through the bypass filter without impeding the main flow through the engine. Engineers found that with this system, all engine oil would flow through the bypass filter every five minutes or so.

Now we had a filtration system that theoretically could remove virtually all oil contaminants. If we started with a high-quality synthetic oil and removed all particles larger than five microns, wouldn’t oil last forever? Could we eliminate oil changes? Maybe, maybe not. That’s where oil analysis comes into the picture. Wouldn’t you feel more comfortable knowing your oil was still good? I would. Your engine was made by human human beings, and any maufctured product is always subject to failure. If a bearing starts to wear excessively, oil analysis will pick it up and show something is wrong before a serious failure occurs.

How often should you have your oil analyzed? Just for your own peace of mind, I suggest the first analysis at 10,000 miles after you begin using synthetic oil. After that, 20,000 mile intervals seem proper.

How long can you expect the oil to last? And how long can you expect the engine to last? Every engine and every driver/owner is a separate case. There are records of engines running hundreds of thousands of miles on synthetic engine oil without changes and no significant wear. There is one case of an over-the road truck changed to synthetic oil at around 200,000 miles, torn down some 400,000 miles later and all parts were found to be within acceptable limits for reinstallation.

Which brings up the point of when should an engine be changed to syntheic oil and wether it make sense to change a high-mileage engine to synthetic oil. Most engines come from with the expectation of some wear in mating the parts. We call it "break-in." How long this takes varies from one engine to another. Some high-performance engines come from the factory with synthetic oil installed. In my opinion, if the engine is using no more than a quart of oil per 1,000 miles at the first factory recommended change, it would be ready for synthetic oil and a by-pass filtration system.

But how about my pickup engine, Bill? It’s got 120,000 miles on it and it doesn’t use any oil. Can I change to synthetic oil? Of course you can, but it might not make sense. If you’re driving a gasoline engine, it would normally be worn out at 150,000 to 200,000 miles. Changing to synthetic oil might – I said "might" – get you to 250,000 miles or even more. You can make the call. The same thing is true of the current crop of V-8 diesel engines, with one added factor: If you haven’t been testing the coolant every 15,000 miles and keeping the DCA at the recommended level, you can reasonably expect 250,000 to 300,000 miles with the help of synthetic oil. If you haven’t been testing the coolant and maintaining DCA level, your diesel has alife expectancy of zero miles. That’s right zero.

The heavier diesel engines routinely give 600,000 to 1,000,000 miles on sythetic oil. If your motorhome or mediem-duty tow truck with a Caterpillar, Cummins,or International engine has 200,000 miles on it, it’s still an adolescent and installation of synthetic oil is recommended. (In case you can’t read the fine print in your engine manual, you also must keep the DCA level up as recommended or you will be needing new engine sleeves.)

There is one more warning: Diesel engines are different from gasoline engines in several ways,. One that is appropriate to this discussion is the accumulation of soot and other contaminants in the engine oil and their effect on oil acidity. Oils compounded for diesel engines are designed to resist and reduce acidity levels. Oils compounded for gasoline engines are designed with less acid-resistance. If you’re driving a diesel, use diesel engine oil. Period. What’s suitable for your gasoline engine won’t work well in a diesel engine regardless of what the "guy down at the courthouse" has to say about it.

There are several bypass filters on the market. Your engine may already have one in addition to the full-flow filter. If not, Amsoil (800/777-8491) makes an easy installation. Amsoil also is my preferred source for synthetic oil, and they also make oil analysis easy with their kits. Or you can get a kit from any big truck or diesel engine dealer. Just select a lab and stay with it, as the lab will build a data record for your engine and will keep track of any new developments.

One more thing. Synthetic oil costs more than conventional oil – significantly more. It’s easy to say that if synthetic oil is good enough for all those jets flying over, it’s good enough for my engine. That is true. But pure economics also justify the switch. If your Ford, Chevy, or Dodge diesel is using one quart per 1,000 miles and you have a 10-quart oil change every 10,000 miles (actually, you probably change more often but this makes the arithmetic easier), you’re really using 20 quarts of oil every 10,000 miles, or a quart every 500 miles, for a total of 200 quarts per 100,000 miles, and we’re not counting any additions for filter changes.

If you switch to synthetic oil in 100,000 miles, you will add 100 quarts of oil plus the 10 you started with for a total 110 quarts, or 90 quarts less than conventional oil. In addition, you will have less engine wear and far less used oil to dispose of.

Using synthetic engine oil makes a lot of sense. Your engine will last much longer and you will have only one batch of engine oil to dispose of. Change now for a longer engine life and a cleaner environment.

Motorcycle Testimonial:

Just thought I'd give you a report of my recent engine repair. I had to replace the stator, which on a 1200 Wing involves pulling the engine. Since I had the engine out and had some coolant problems, I also did the head gaskets at the same time. On removing the rear engine case I found no sludge what so ever. The only thing was a light brown film on the inside of the case which wiped right off. While replacing the stator, friends suggested it would be a good time to replace the clutch friction plates.

I purchased an aftermarket clutch pack and proceeded to remove the old ones. I was quite happy to find the old plates still well within the Honda specs for continued use. The wear limit is .126 ". The old plates were still at .140", and still had plenty of material left before reaching the wear limit. Imagine my surprise when I measured the new plates and found them to be only .139" thick. I went ahead and changed them anyway, just to have something for show and tell. I'll bring them down next time I can make a meeting.

Also, when I removed the heads, I found just a light carbon build up on the heads and very light carbon at the ring turn area. I use PI on a regular basis as this helps eliminate a backfire problem on the 1200's with the afterburn valves getting stuck from build-up. Also, the cylinder walls had all the factory cross hatching from the original honing. My compression readings have been within about 5 lbs. of factory new specs.

All in all, not bad for a motor with 186,000 miles and 25,000 mile oil changes!!

Guy W. (Bogie) Bogisich, WOTI GUARDIAN WHALE NE FL
GWRRA # 36953,C/D Chapt FL1-V Jacksonville Beach
www.FL1v.org