Having and following a good car maintenance checklist can help to ensure that you will get much better fuel economy and performance from your old or new, diesel or gasoline powered car.

To get better fuel economy from your car, you have to keep it properly maintained. That's true whether it has a diesel or gasoline engine. Having essential maintenance services done on a regular schedule helps your car perform at optimal efficiency.

Often maintenance services only takes a few minutes and costs very little money. The key to ensuring the best fuel economy possible is doing maintenances services in a timely manner. If not, your car performance will suffer and it will get fewer miles per gallon of fuel.

Create A Car Maintenance Checklist

One way to ensure all your car's necessary maintenance services are performed on time is to create a car maintenance checklist. It should show what services were performed and when they need to be performed again. This enables you to tell at a glance when specific maintenance services are due.

What Should Be On The Checklist

Several important services should be on any good car maintenance checklist if you want to get the best fuel economy possible. Some of those services include:

1. Checking Your Tire Pressure
2. Getting Regular Oil Changes
3. Replacing Dirty Air Filters
4. Changing Clogged Fuel Filters
5. Getting Regular Tune-Ups

1. Check Your Tire Pressure

Making sure you maintain the proper air pressure in your tires not only reduces wear and tear on tire treads, it also helps improve fuel economy. Your owner's manual will list the recommended tire pressure for your car. Under-inflated tires increase a car's fuel consumption.

Once a week, take 5 minutes to use a tire-pressure gauge to check the air in your tires and add or remove air as necessary. Using the tires the engineers at the car's manufacturer recommends also improves fuel economy and handling and helps your car give a balanced ride.

2. Get Regular Oil Changes

Driving a car with old, dirty, motor oil hurts fuel efficiency and engine performance, lowers horsepower and can even shorten the life of the engine. To get the best miles per gallon from your car, follow the manufacturer's recommendation and change the motor oil in your car every 3 months or 3,000 miles, whichever comes first. If your drive in very hot or dusty conditions, change the oil even more often. To boost fuel efficiency even more, consider switching to a lower-viscosity synthetic motor oil.

3. Replace Dirty Air Filters

Another simple car maintenance service that helps increase fuel efficiency is replacing dirty air filters. The air filter catches small particles and prevents them from entering, clogging and damaging the engine. Regularly checking and changing the air filer is essential for maintaining your car’s optimal performance.

Having a clean air filer not only contributes to increased fuel efficiency, it can also help to improve your car's acceleration. Driving with air filters that are dirty or damaged limits air flow into the engine and makes it work harder and burn more fuel.

4. Change Clogged Fuel Filters

If you want to increase your car's gas mileage, start by replacing its fuel filter about every 18 months. To be sure you get optimal results, check your car's owner's manual to see what fuel filter replacement interval the manufacturer recommends. Clogged fuel filters strain the fuel system, lets impurities get into your car's engine

that can damage it and decreases fuel efficiency by preventing smooth acceleration. Replacing your car's fuel filter in a timely manner based on its year, make and model can increase its fuel efficiency and improve its overall performance.

5. Get Regular Tune-Ups

Regularly tuning up your car can greatly improve its gas mileage. Poorly tuned cars lose as much as 20% fuel efficiency. Regular, proper maintenance helps increase fuel efficiency, prevents the need for major repairs, prolongs the life of your car's engine.

Properly tuned cars have a leaner, more optimal air/fuel ratio that improves gas mileage, helps the catalytic converter function more effectively and reduces the pollutants in emissions from the car's engine.

Other Fuel Saving Actions

Although they are not on many people's car maintenance checklists, checking your wheel alignment, rotating your tires, using fuel additives and driving at a steady speed can also help to improve your gas mileage. Plus, removing heavy, unnecessary items from your trunk also helps because the less weight your car has to carry the better gas mileage it will get.

How Much To Budget For Car Maintenance

Many people find that using the best car maintenance app possible can help them to figure out how much to budget for car maintenance. A good car maintenance app can help you schedule key maintenance services at the ideal time.

Good car maintenance apps will not only save you time and money when scheduling your car's maintenance services, they can also provide you with tips for improving fuel economy.

Better Fuel Economy: Diesel VS Gasoline Engines

When deciding what type of car to purchase, savvy buyers consider which ones will have the most affordable fuel cost to operate. Often it comes down to a choice between a vehicle that uses diesel fuel vs gasoline powered engines. Environmentally conscious people may opt for a gasoline powered car because they think it has less toxic engine emissions.

However, when comparing gasoline vs diesel powered automobiles based on fuel economy, diesel is the better choice. Diesel-powered engines typically deliver between 25% to 30% better fuel economy than gasoline engines when used on the same type and size car.

Cash For Junk Cars

If you have decided your car is too old and can no longer deliver the type of fuel economy you want, you can simply sell it as junk.

If worrying about where can I find a company offering cash for cars near me is what has kept you from getting rid of your old junk car, simply contact Cash For Junk Cars. They will give you cash for your polluted emissions spewing old car that's contributing to acid rain, global warming and human, animal and plant toxification and haul it away for free.