Tips to Reduce Fuel Consumption
Normal fuel consumption is a reference figure, the actual fuel consumption of a car depends on many factors. Your own driving style plays as big a role as the nature of the road surface or the condition of the engine.
When the required speed is reached, select the highest gear, the car should move with a low engine load. At high engine speed, the engine should only work in cases where the road situation requires it, for example, when overtaking.
An engine idling on a stationary vehicle burns fuel unnecessarily. An engine running without a load warms up very slowly, which leads to additional fuel consumption and engine wear.
WARNING
Working with fuel
When working with fuel, extreme caution must always be exercised. Therefore, do not take the maintenance and repair of the fuel system lightly. First of all, when draining fuel from the fuel tank, you must proceed with extreme caution. Observe the following safety precautions.
1. First, disconnect the cable from the negative terminal of the battery and insulate the terminal securely.
2. Drain fuel only in fresh air. Use a fuel-resistant hand pump (e.g. a diaphragm pump). Never try to pour fuel through the top opening of the fuel tank (the flange for attaching the fuel level indicator) or suck it out with your mouth using a hose - you can be poisoned by fuel additives.
3. A class B foam fire extinguisher should always be nearby.
4. Never drain fuel in an inspection ditch: fuel vapors are heavier than air and form an explosive mixture in the ditch, which remains for a long time. This may result in an explosion, and inhaling fuel vapors is dangerous to health.
5. Make sure that when working with fuel, all electrical appliances in the room are turned off and there are no sources of open flame, heat or sparks.
6. Fuel should be poured only into tightly closed containers with a clear label. For this purpose, use special containers with protection against ignition and a plug for pressure compensation.
7. Even when empty, the fuel tank contains fuel vapors that are explosive, so use caution. Any repairs to the fuel tank or fuel filler neck should be performed by a specialist with experience in hazardous work. Even after cleaning and flushing the fuel tank, it still contains explosive fuel vapors. The removed fuel tank should be located away from open flames, sparking devices, open fire-hazardous lighting devices and smoking areas.
TECHNICAL DICTIONARY
Fuel
Petrol Normal/Super.
Almost identical in terms of purification, evaporation (important for flammability) and energy balance (heat of combustion per kilogram of fuel). The decisive difference: the detonation resistance of Super gasoline is higher than that of Normal gasoline.
Diesel fuel.
Contains mainly hydrocarbons with a boiling point of 180 to 370°C. In a diesel engine, fuel ignition occurs spontaneously without external influence and with a minimum delay when it is injected into hot compressed air in the combustion chamber. Fuel flammability is assessed by the cetane number. The cetane number is determined by the ignition delay period on a special unit. The higher the cetane number, the higher the fuel's ability to ignite spontaneously.
Summer/winter diesel fuel.
Summer diesel fuel according to the standard
DIN 51 601 is supplied to filling stations from spring to autumn without flow-improving additives. Therefore, even at slightly negative temperatures, paraffin crystallizes from it and clogs the fuel lines together with the filter. Therefore, in the off-season, diesel fuel with a low content of flow-improving additives enters the market. It withstands low temperatures down to -10°C. Winter diesel fuel according to DIN maintains fluidity down to -12°C, but in practice this fuel can be used at temperatures down to -22°C.
Knock resistance.
An important characteristic of gasoline is its detonation resistance, which is indicated by the octane number. Gasolines with a higher octane number are characterized by greater resistance to detonation. As the degree of compression of the fuel-air mixture increases, its spontaneous combustion in the combustion chamber becomes easier if the fuel is not sufficiently resistant to detonation. When the engine is running on fuel with a low octane number, various sounds are heard in the engine due to fuel detonation. Detonation occurs when the speed of flame propagation in the combustion chamber approaches the speed of sound, mainly towards the end of the combustion process. Then the residual gases are sufficiently compressed, they are characterized by a high temperature. Detonation is characterized by very high pressure.
If you mistakenly fill your car's fuel tank with Normal gasoline, disconnect the service connector of the octane correction device and do not operate the engine at maximum speeds. The engine should only operate at medium crankshaft speed, and after the next refueling with the recommended fuel, do not forget to connect the service connector.
Octane number.
The octane number is used to indicate detonation resistance. International standards provide two methods for determining the octane number: research — ROZ (Research-Oktan-Zahl) and motor — MOZ (Motor-Oktan-Zahl). The octane number obtained by the research method characterizes the detonation resistance of gasoline when used in engines operating under unstable conditions. The octane number obtained by the motor method characterizes the detonation resistance of gasoline at high engine crankshaft speeds. The European standard EN 228 defines the requirements for unleaded fuel, which is widely used in European countries.
Cetane number.
An artificial number used in the laboratory indicates the flammability of diesel fuel. The higher the cetane number, the greater the fuel's ability to spontaneously ignite. A cetane number of 100 corresponds to easily flammable cetane, and a cetane number of 0 corresponds to relatively slowly flammable methylnaphthalene.
The cetane number indicates what proportion (in percent) cetane must be in a mixture with methylnaphthalene to have the same flammability as the fuel being measured. In diesel fuel, it should be 45.
(The original article is available on the website FORDBOOK.RU)