If your car is using a lot of fuel, it does not necessarily mean that you need maintenance. In fact, in an effort to save money on production costs, your car's manufacturer may not have equipped your vehicle with all of the components it needs to combust fuel as completely as possible. A few aftermarket parts will help you to boost your vehicle's performance.

A Turbocharger

While you may think of a turbocharger as a component that you only need to add to your engine if you plan on doing some street racing, an understanding of how a turbocharger works should show you how you can use one to get better fuel economy.

Your car must combine fuel and oxygen in its combustion chambers before the fuel can combust and convert the potential energy in the fuel into the mechanical energy required to drive your engine's pistons. The withdrawing piston pulls air into the chamber in the same way that a syringe will suck out air or liquid as the plunger withdraws. Unfortunately, the suction created by the withdrawing piston does not pull in enough air to completely combust the fuel in your chamber. A turbo pushes more air into the chamber, so your engine can better combust fuel. As long as you don't drive with a lead foot, more completely burning the fuel in your engine will help you to get better gas mileage. 

A Performance Exhaust

As you force more air into your engine, you create more exhaust gases. Your stock exhaust may not be able to handle all of the gases created by burning more fuel. The increase in the volume of gas can create a bottleneck in your engine, which will decrease the performance of your engine. A performance exhaust will have a larger diameter, so it can handle a greater volume of gases. 

Performance Manifold

A third part worth considering is a performance manifold, which will have smoother corners and a larger diameter so that it can better handle the volume of air coming from your turbo. In some cases, a stock manifold can crack due to the air pressure a performance exhaust creates. 

While upgrading your engine is not the same thing as repairing your engine, upgrades will yield better performance than you could get simply by repairing your engine. Still, any shop that does engine repairs should be able to help you install the parts described above. Contact companies like Felix Auto Repair & Towing for more information or advice.