by Bryan Alan

Oil prices continue to soar to record levels. In return, gas prices, coupled with the major housing slowdown, is turning the economy on its head. With national averages now above four dollars per gallon, many motorists are looking for practical ways to increase mileage. To increase mileage, there indeed are several practical and inexpensive tips you can take - as well as some more drastic ones if you dare!

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.

The resulting combustion produces an expanded source of energy that is used to power the vehicle into motion. The process of doing this is repeated thousands of times each minute your engine is operating (this is also known as Revolutions Per Minute - or RPMs). Depending on your engine type, your vehicle either has 4, 5, 6 or 8 of these chambers (think V-6, V-8, 4-cylinder etc).

Making this process of energy transfer work better is a key to increase mileage. Lets discuss the role your spark plug plays specifically. The amount of spark the plug is able to send into the chamber is directly related to the quality of the plug itself. The more air tight the seals on the plug, and the higher the platinum level in the plug, the more efficient the charge sent will be. A more efficient charge means less additional charge is needed to get the same output level. Thus, less RPM's and less fuel is used.

Having clean, high quality spark plugs can increase the efficiency of your engines performance, and in return, increase mileage. Many spark plugs can increase mileage by upwards of 2-5%. While this may not sound like a huge increase, changing your spark plugs (at a cost of roughly $4 per plug) will pay for themselves within that month for an average driver.

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For additional strategy and advice on how to increase mileage, be sure to visit savefuelshop.com. Great content, product reviews, and other ways to increase mileage available there. Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

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