Less for more
Rising gas prices changing people’s daily routines

Mark Thomas performs a check on a vehicle at Rico's Goodwrench Quick Lube in Gallup N.M. [photo by Daniel Zollinger / Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Trudy Dean was returning to Grants from Las Vegas, where she and three friends had just competed in a barrel horse racing competition and she said gas prices were astronomical.

“Gas, not diesel, was $4.98 a gallon for regular unleaded,” she said.

If she and her friends had not joined together to save expenses, none of them could have participated in the competition because of the high price of gas.

“We were in a GMC Duramax truck and stopped to get gas just outside of Flagstaff. It took $112 to fill the gas tank.
“Because we pull horse trailers, we get about 10 miles per gallon,” she said.

Tips for better gas mileage

Some area car dealership service managers have some tips for drivers, to help make their vehicles get the maximum efficiency and the best gas mileage possible.

Jeff Bechdol, service manager at Amigo Automotive in Gallup, said car and truck owners need to make sure their maintenance on the vehicles are up to date.

“Don’t do a ‘jack-rabbit start,’ that will save a lot of gas,” he said.

“Jack-rabbit starts” are when the driver stomps on the gas at a stop sign or when a light turns green, to get to speed as fast as possible. A slow, normal start and easing into the speed limit will save gas, he said.

“Just don’t go so slow that the cars behind you run over you,” he said.

Driving at 65 mph on the Interstate rather than 75 mph will also save gas, he said.

“Get rid of any excess weight you might be carrying in the trunk or back of your vehicle — the more weight you have the less fuel efficiency you get.”

Less octane booster

Avoid using the octane booster products on every fill up as well, Mario Abuhkhader, service manager at Ed Corley’s Ford Lincoln Mercury in Grants said.

“If you use the octane booster every fill up, it will damage the spark plugs and you will have to replace them,” he said.

“Give the gas enough time to allow the octane booster chemicals to dissolve in the gas and get through the system,” he said. About every other time or every three times is sufficient, he said.

David Hill, service manager at Rico Auto Complex in Gallup, said to make sure you get an oil change very 3,000 miles, especially older vehicles.

“Dirty oil affects gas mileage,” he said.

Mickey Menaplace, sales manager at Rico, said a lot of people are inquiring about more gas-efficient vehicles and wanting to know how much it will take to fill up the gas tank.

“Some want to get the vehicles that are smaller and more fuel efficient, but those vehicles have much smaller gas tanks.

“Even though it costs less to fill the gas tank, you are filling it up more often, so that is not a reason to get a car or truck.”

Not many hybrids selling in Grants

Abuhkhader said even though there are hybrid vehicles available, like the Ford Escape — a smaller size SUV — which runs on gasoline and electricity, not many people are purchasing those in the Grants area.

Glen Benenfield, sales manager at Amigo, said many people are looking at trading in two vehicles for one smaller one with more fuel economy, such as the Chevrolet Impala, Malibu, Abco and Cobalt.

“Cars that are getting 30 mpg or better are doing well,” he said. A new SUV that is a hybrid is coming this year some time, he said, but he does not yet know what the cost will be.

“We have a segment of customers that have to have the larger pickup trucks and SUVs, people really need them because of the roads in the area, size of their family and they pull trailers a lot.”

Speaking of roads, Abuhkhader said, the roads in the Grants area chew up tires.

Keeping tires properly inflated not only allows the vehicle to have more efficient gas mileage, it helps keep the tires from being damaged so much driving on bad roads, he said.

Dirty filters

All the service managers agree that the air filter and the fuel filters play a major part in getting better gas mileage.

Dirty filters do not allow the vehicles to operate at peak efficient and a dirty fuel filter could allow dirt to get into the injectors in the gas system, reducing efficiency.

The bottom line, which area service managers agree upon, in getting a car, truck SUV or other vehicles to the point where they are getting the best gas mileage possible is to spend a little money now or spend a lot of money later

Change the oil, get a tune up, check the fuel filter — make sure your tires are properly inflated to the manufacturer’s specs — and replace the air filter every time you do an oil change are tips all the service managers agree upon.
Maintaining your vehicle, getting the correct preventive maintenance when the manufacturer says it is needed is crucial to gas mileage efficiency.

— To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560
or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.