Increase Mileage Tips - Spark Plugs

By Bryan Alan

Price levels for oil are gliding up to unprecedented highs. This is caused fuel to increase to prices never seen before. The average level of fuel per gallon is in the $4 range now, and most folks are looking for alternatives to increase mileage. Thankfully, there are several ways to increase mileage without breaking the bank.

Understanding how your engine operates is the first key to increase mileage. The basic explanation is that very small amounts of gasoline and air are introduced through the intake valve into the piston chamber. Here, the piston moves up and down to compress this mixture into a more powerful, condensed state. Then, your spark plug kicks in with a spark of electricity that ignites that mixture of gasoline and air.

This ignition/explosion of the mixture is the power that is used to transfer motion to through the engine into the components of your vehicle to propel the vehicle forward. This process is repeated thousands of times per minute (think RPM's). Also, each piston chamber in your car produces this same result over and over - for example, a V-6 engine means there are 6 chambers doing this, and 6 spark plugs to support.

Now, there are several ways to enhance this process, making it more efficient. A great place to start is with your spark plugs. The electricity emitted by spark plugs can be influenced by the quality of the plug itself. A more efficient, higher quality plug will increase the efficiency of this ignition. For example, the seals of the plug may leak additional air, causing some of the electricity power to be lost and as a result, a less efficient explosion occurs. This leads to needing more revolutions to achieve the same power output, and thus uses more gasoline.

Using a high performance spark plug will make your engine operate better. In general, you can expect a 3% increase in mileage by using a high quality spark plug. The rate of return is very quick, as spark plugs cost about the same as one gallon of fuel at today's prices.

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Get more strategy and advice on how to increase mileage, be sure to visit savefuelshop.com. Great articles, product reviews, and other ways to increase mileage available there.