As most people understand, your gas mileage is how many miles per gallon your vehicle gets. Some drivers hardly give it a second thought, while others are somewhat obsessed by it. It will vary depending upon the type of driving you to do. City driving, with its many stop signs and traffic lights, often measures about five or six miles per gallon less than country driving with wide-open roads and fewer stops and starts.
How you drive your vehicle also affects your gas mileage. A driver who is slow to accelerate and keeps speeds low will likely get better mileage than someone who revs the engine, travels at high speeds and accelerates quickly. Larger vehicles and larger engines tend to get lower gas mileage than smaller vehicles.
The condition of your car or truck also matters. Neglected maintenance can impact mileage, especially in the case of catalytic converters.
What Does a Catalytic Converter Do?
A converter is part of your vehicle’s exhaust system, along with the muffler and tailpipe. Its primary purpose is pretty straightforward: to cleanse the car’s emissions of harmful substances. How it does this is fairly complicated.
Because the technology of the converter is pretty sophisticated, a replacement catalytic converter cost runs fairly high. For parts alone, you are looking between $200 to $1400, depending upon several factors:
- The type of unit
- The manufacturer
- The quality of the construction
Labor by a professional mechanic can easily run another $600 to $1,200. A failing converter should be replaced for several reasons. A bad unit impairs vehicle performance and eventually poses safety risks. Both state and federal governments enforce standards for emissions. If your vehicle is out of compliance, you could face fines and mandatory repairs.
Ways To Determine a Vehicle’s Gas Mileage
Most relatively new vehicles will calculate your gas mileage for you. There should be a part of the dashboard display that shows how many miles per gallon your vehicle is getting. In the olden days, though, people kept track of how many miles they traveled and then divided this number by the gallons of gas they used between fill-ups. If you want to know your gas mileage during certain segments of travel or while hauling a trailer, just reset your trip odometer at the appropriate time.
Whenever you upgrade your vehicle’s engine or exhaust system, you should see a corresponding improvement in gas mileage. You should notice significant improvements in your vehicle’s performance with a new catalytic converter. To make sure you get the right part, use the VIN lookup tool, which will match your vehicle to the components that fit your car or truck.
Whether you are looking for a new cat or some other vital part, shop at your trusted neighborhood auto parts store. You can also shop online and get fast delivery of your items.
