8 Reasons why your Pickup is getting bad gas mileage

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Owning a truck is fun until it starts recording lousy gas mileage, which can result from factors such as misfiring spark plugs, incorrect tire pressure, bad driving habits and terrible oxygen sensors, among others. The deteriorating gas mileage is an indication that your truck isn’t performing at its peak efficiency, which means that you’re losing your money in every mile travelled.

Here are some of the top causes of bad gas mileage and possible remedies.

1. Incorrect Tire Pressure

It is the most common and also the easiest to remedy. You have to check your tire pressure periodically to ascertain that the tires are in the recommended pressure levels.

The manufacturer’s recommended pressure is usually stamped on the doorplate of the driver’s side. Note that the listed number on the tire doesn’t indicate the “maximum pressure“.

2. Spark Plugs

Poorly performing or misfiring spark plugs can affect your truck gas mileage significantly. Remember, spark plugs are fully responsible for igniting the engine combustion.

Malfunctioning spark plugs can result in partial discharge, thus affecting your truck gas mileage. Keep your truck well serviced to ensure your truck spark plugs are working effectively.

3. Bad Air Filters/ Bad Oxygen Sensors

Do you know that bad air filters and oxygen sensors can affect your truck gas mileage by about 20%? Keeping your truck oxygen sensors with the right mix of fuel and air (oxygen) for optimum performance is essential.

Indeed, dirty air filters, blocked with debris and sand, should be replaced so that your truck engine can operate at its peak.

4. Driving Habits

Is it true that bad driving habits can affect a truck’s gas mileage? Is the answer yes? Having an aggressive driving habit will result in you using more fuel than you needed!

In as much as you review your engine for performance, you might be wasting gas while going nowhere. Use your truck only on important journeys; otherwise, you be wasting your fuel.

5. Bad Fuel Injectors

The gas in the gas tank is injected into the engine by gas injectors. A slight problem with gas injectors, such as leakage or overflow, can affect your truck gas mileage.

Therefore, it’s essential to check your truck regularly to ensure that the fuel injectors perform optimum.

6. Air Conditioner

Air conditioners play a very critical role in cooling your truck during those hot days. Overheating in your truck can affect your truck performance and, at extreme temperatures, resulting in gas leaking.

This way, it will decrease the fuel mileage of your truck. When possible, keep the inside of your truck well ventilated by opening the truck’s windows.

7. Motor Oil

Are you aware that the type and quality of the motor oil you use in your truck’s engine can affect the gas mileage by about 12%? Therefore, it is essential to use motor oils with excellent friction reduction abilities.

For instance, you can use synthetic motor oils since they have superb friction reduction abilities or use what your truck’s manufacturer has recommended.

8. Too much Idling

Indeed, in the winter, there is no need of letting your truck idle for too long with an excuse that you’re warming it up. Indeed, you only need about 30 seconds to warm up your truck.

Still, during winter, you may need to warm up your truck for a comfortable ride. Indeed, getting into a warm truck is more preferable to a cold one. However, once your truck is warmed up, but still you’re waiting for someone, you don’t need to keep your engine running; but instead, you can turn off your engine or have it in a neutral state.

This way, you’ll save your gas and also help keep a clean environment. The good news we can help you get your truck to run resourcefully to counter the lousy gas mileage.

Conclusion

Lousy gas mileage is an indication that your truck is certainly not running efficiently as it should at the correct mileage.

That’s proof that you’re losing money every time you fill your truck in the gasoline pump since you’re filling up more than you should.

Therefore, it’s imperative to have your truck checked up regularly to ensure that it’s running at the optimum levels and observing factors that result in unwanted fuel usage.