Drive it forever: Clean fuel injectors aid fuel economy
Dear Mike: I have a 2001 Grand Marquis with 37,000 miles, which averages about 19.5 miles per gallon the way I drive. Because of my disabilities, getting in and out of the smaller, more efficient, greener cars is difficult and does not meet my needs. Is there a fuel or any additive that really works that will increase my miles per gallon? Many claim to improve fuel efficiency, performance, reduce engine wear and a long list of other claims, but I don’t want to put something in the fuel or oil that will harm the engine or make the situation worse.
A: I am not aware of any fuel or oil additives that provide any measurable fuel economy improvements.
There is one exception: If you have dirty fuel injectors or valves with too much carbon, a good dose of fuel injection cleaner can restore your vehicle’s previous economy. But nothing will improve your mileage. If such an additive existed, it would already be in there.
Dear Mike: I ride along the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles, and the chrome at the front of my bike is starting to show some corrosive effects. Ordinary polish applied vigorously does little. Can you suggest a good product to clean up this shallow pitting?
A: Discolored chrome can be cleaned up with any one of a bunch of off-the-shelf products intended for polishing chrome.
But if the chrome is pitted, the corrosion has eaten through into the base metal. The only real cure is to remove the part and have it rechromed. Prevent corrosion of chromed parts by keeping them waxed with any good car wax — the same stuff you would use on the painted surfaces.
Dear Mike: I’m hoping you can answer this one for me since I can’t get an answer from anyone: I have noticed on older Volvos and older Mercedes (1983 and up) that the alloy wheel rim is “indexed” specifically to the hub/mating surface. The Volvo brake rotors often have a stud that holds the rotor to the hub, but also protrudes about 2 inches.
Coincidentally, the inside mating surface of the alloy rims only have a hole deep enough on one location, basically forcing you to mount the rim to the hub on that small stud at a specific point. Why? Isn’t the tire balanced to the rim enough? Why don’t all cars have this feature?
A: Car manufacturers have found that there are better ways to position the rim accurately on the hub. Most cars use a centering hub nowadays. Now that virtually all tires are dynamically balanced, it’s not as necessary to index the rim to one position on the hub.
Dear Mike: The engine maintenance light (not the check engine light) on my 2005 Toyota Corolla came on, indicating that it was time for an oil change. But now that I’ve changed the oil, the light won’t turn off. I purchased a Haynes Maintenance Manual, and it doesn’t have any information regarding engine maintenance lights.
Any tips?
A: Reset the system by the following procedure:
“Turn the ignition key to the “OFF” position with the odometer reading shown.
“Turn the ignition key to the “ON” position while holding down the trip meter reset knob. Hold down the knob for at least 5 seconds. The odometer indicates “000000” and the light goes off. If the system fails to reset, the light will continue flashing.
Note: Other vehicles may use a totally different procedure to reset this indicator.
Dear Mike: A friend of mine recently told me that he had a blowout on a rear tire of his all-wheel-drive Chevy SUV. He was going to purchase two tires, to keep in balance, but a local dealer told him that he must replace all four tires, since it was an all-wheel-drive vehicle, in order to avoid doing damage to the unit. Is that really the case, or did he “get taken”?
A: It all depends. If the tires are heavily worn, they’ll have a smaller diameter, and consequently will rotate faster than the new tires. Some all-wheel-drive systems are more forgiving than others. And if those tires were more than about 60 percent worn out, they wouldn’t have had much grip in the rain.
At least your pal had the good judgment to replace the pair on the rear.
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