Coming back from a long absence, I realized that the prices of fuel have risen quite a bit here in the country too. In the US, it started at $3.53 a gallon to a high of $4.35 per gallon in the one month that I was there hopping from one state to the next.This gave me an idea to come up with this article on how to improve on gas mileage by doing a simple intake and brake upgrade. Aside from the standard gas saving checks we should do which are tire pressure, wheel alignment, sparkplugs, and the rest, the air cleaners usually get ignored. The usual practice is to blow compressed air through them during the oil change. However, if we look closely, we should replace them every 20,000kms or 4 oil changes, which ever comes first. I say 4 oil changes because we should replace our oil once every 6 months, whether or not we get to 5,000 kilometers as the oil degrades and contains a lot of acids and water as we keep the engine parked and not running. This will be a subject for a different article.

So, I had the brakes on the Expedition checked, as dragging brakes consume a lot of fuel as you unnecessarily increase the load on the engine. I had one caliper that was a bit stuck, and two of my rotors were out of alignment, causing them to drag a bit, and close to replacement thickness. I inquired with the local Ford dealer and got a quote for one rotor. I checked in the US and got the four drilled and slotted high-performance rotors with brake pads for the price of the one rotor here.

I also got the same drilled and slotted rotors for my LC 80 as they cost less than 15,000 pesos for the set including brake pads.

I also decided to replace the 26,000 mile air filter to a K & N one, as I like the power and mileage the K & N gives me, as well as I have used K & N since the early 90′s and they are still alive till today, provided you take care of them properly. I ordered everything including K & N for the Isuzu D-Max (K&N Part Number E-2023), Toyota LN-106 2.8 diesel (E-2487), and the Expedition (E-0945). I am sharing the part numbers as it took me days of research in ADVANCE AUTO PARTS to get the right air filter for the Isuzu and Toyota, and at least it will help our readers order from the US using the said numbers.

I put the Expedition in Park, emergency brake on, chucked the wheels, and put the Air Suspension switch off.

We first removed the calipers and then removed the old bent rotors.

The Ford front and rear rotors are easy to remove, as you simply just had to pull them out. No bolts need to be removed whatsoever. Just take out the caliper, and pull the rotor off.

I then installed the new rotor, and replaced the brake pads with the new ones. I removed a bit of brake fluid from the master reservoir, and then pushed the pistons in, installed the new pads, and re-installed the calipers.

Careful inspection showed me that the right rear brake caliper was a bit stuck. I had to open the caliper and clean the piston, as it was dirty. This is one clear reason for an increase in gas mileage, as sticky brakes make your engine consume more fuel.

With the brakes done, I turned my attention to the intake. [To be continued...]