Debt Free

In the interest of science (actually, mostly my bank account), I'll be evaluating several gas saving devices over the next few months. Let me state right up front that I think most of these are total crap. Hopefully for my bank balance, I'll be proved wrong. If it was really easy to lower fuel consumption 15% - 20% by adding a simple, $50 part, why would the automakers not use it as an easy way of meeting the federal CAFE requirement. They could then put in even larger engines in their SUVs, vans & pickups, which consumers seem to really want.

In this era, when U.S. gas prices are approaching that of Europe, these larger vehicles are still in high demand. GM, for example, saw an overall 2% decline in SUV & truck year over year sales for April, compared to 2005. However, hiding within this 2% drop, one of GM's largest SUVs, the brand new for 2007 GMC Yukon, showed a robust 36% sales increase! Obviously, American consumers still like their big SUVs, much to the chagrin of some (you know who you are). A key component of the increase, beyond the complete redesign of the vehicle, is likely the inclusion of GM's technology to deactivate ½ the big, 5.3L V-8's cylinders under light load conditions to save gas. This contributes to an EPA highway rating of 21MPG for the 2007 4WD Yukon.

Other automakers use similar technology in their V-8s as a gas saving measure. If they could just dispense with the advanced engineering and manufacturing required for such complicated gas saving schemes, such as seamlessly turning off ½ the engine's cylinders under certain load conditions, and add an easy to manufacture gas saving gizmo, don't you think they would have? For those who see large corporations as just profit hungry monsters, the answer to that question is easy; hell yes, they would! Beyond that, it just makes good business sense. Getting a similar result with much lower capital investment means you can use that capital for increasing profit in other ways.

So, logically, the simple gas saving devices probably don't work. But I'll try a few out so you don't have to. I'm not doing complete, scientific testing. However, I am completing a 2,000 mile baseline test now. I'll try to be consistent with the driving conditions as much as possible. Hopefully the 2,000 mile distance will let everything average out. The vehicle is a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4 with the selec-trac transfer case, 4.7 V-8 & 50,000 miles. Prior to the start of the baseline, it was given a new set of plugs, the engine was checked by a mechanic, and the air filter was cleaned and re-oiled. The aforementioned air filter is the only modification on the vehicle so far. When new, the factory air filter was replaced with a K&N factory replacement filter. Stay Tuned.