How I increased my gas mileage

[Andyjo]

Not bashing, cleaning out the fuel system works, if your vehicle needs it, usually this does not occur under 100k, but yes it can, And there's cheaper ways to get the same thing done.

 

And you disconnected some pistins? maybe i'll do that to my ej22... run on 2 cyls when gas prices go up again boy would that be an interesting ride

[c150L]

Not bashing, cleaning out the fuel system works, if your vehicle needs it, usually this does not occur under 100k, but yes it can, And there's cheaper ways to get the same thing done.

 

And you disconnected some pistins? maybe i'll do that to my ej22... run on 2 cyls when gas prices go up again boy would that be an interesting ride

 

I wasn't pointing at anyone in particular for bashing, just seems that many were all but calling him lier.

 

All I did was pull 2 center exhaust valves on one side and and 2 outer exhaust valves on other side. (Every other one in the firing order. Stuck 3/8" bolts in the valve guides, double nutted. Lifted 8 lifters off the cam and secured in their holes with aluminum angle material. Plugged up fuel passages in one barrel of the 2 bbl carb. (The bbl that fed those 4 cylinders.) OH, hose clamps and rubber to plug up the oil holes in the rocker arm mounting pipe. Instant 191.5ci V4. Or was that still a V8? 8 pistons going up and down, 8 plugs a firing.

 

Wound up putting back to 8 cylinders running as it developed back firing issues. Was told I had a burned valve. At 8 cylinders, it backfired twice as much. (This was a fresh set of heads I traded for.) Come to find out, the power valve in the carb was seized down.)

[scorch]

So then all filters are perfect?

1. Why does the fuel system ever need to be cleaned then? How would soot accumulate if the filter is perfect.

 

Now you're saying there's soot in gasoline. You are an odd one. Remind me not to send my son to Penn State!

 

Unless you have anything close to evidence to the contrary, why would you doubt that fuel filters will do their job of filtering fuel?

[Andyjo]

Also, the fuel pump grabs gas from the bottom of the tank, where stuff floating on the top of the gas would not be sucked into it... and if you've checked out the fuel pump assembly.. there's a nice mesh 'bag' over the sucker part (yes, technical terms here )

[Slegacy96]

Now you're saying there's soot in gasoline. You are an odd one. Remind me not to send my son to Penn State!

 

Unless you have anything close to evidence to the contrary, why would you doubt that fuel filters will do their job of filtering fuel?

 

You prolly couldnt afford it.

 

 

 

 

Why would I doubt that fuel filters wont do their job? Because of fuel system clean outs. If they did perform flawlessly like ya'll proclaimed earlier (NOT ME) then there would be no need for fuel injector cleaner, etc.

 

 

And Im majoring in psychology. So no, I am not an engineer. However my two suitemates are. Off topic but we have a car oriented set up next year. BMW, Acura, Nissan, and me with the RU. Should be nice.

[Slegacy96]

And whats wrong with soot? What do you want me to call it? Debris? Gunk? Crap? Scuzz?

[Andyjo]

You prolly couldnt afford it.

I wouldn't get into finances like that on this board, don't want to get into a flame war or anything, but 22k/yr isn't something to get flaired up about.

just trying to be helpful.

sometimes things get a little out of hand, back to efficiency:

Gas milages:

What makes it happen & what effects it:

-Drag

-Mass

-Friction & Viscosity

(not in that order)

 

So, i suppose someone could derive some form of equation for all of this.. but it would be worthless... Pretty much: the more mass you have to move, the more force/power required, the faster you go, the more drag you have (proportional to velocity squared), Larger cross sectional area, also larger the drag, decreasing your efficiency. And finally Friction & viscocity, yes cleaning out the fuel system can decrease these two factors, by getting rid of the ************ built up in lines, etcc...

 

I dunno.. i think this thread has gotten a bit too heated, and maybe should be let to rest, aye? Cars are cars, they burn gas, gas is expensive, we all deal with it. :cool:

End of Story

[Slegacy96]

Yes this was very heated and for no reason. I saved money. You can choose to do the same or not. Results will vary based on transmission, body style, etc. Hell, we got into a debate about a hood scoop when many models of the Legacy dont even have one. SO feel free to mix at match and post if you improved.

 

 

 

And yes PSU is the most expensive public university in the country...and it angers me everyday. Greedy greedy people.

[powderhound]

you haven't saved any money...200 something for the cleaning??...let us know when you break even.

 

Oh and UW-Madison is the BEST public university in the country...now if we could just get rid of all the bEASTies.

[fastwgn286]

yeah, this really did get out of hand rather quickly. while 32 mpg on an ej25 is impressive, removing the backplating wouldn't do that much (if austin actually does the wind tunnel test, it would be nice to see the consequences!) and a higher flow filter would help by 1 mpg or so (more air = more efficiently, or so i think [Virginia Tech engineering tends to warp brains])

 

i saw 31 mpg on my ej25 on the way home from tech (so the brain calculator goes) by removing the roof rack bars and turning the heater on. but is that the real reason way it got 31? i hope not, because that was the worst drive i have ever done. period.

 

and since when did we discuss the "best" public university in the country? we were talking more expensive, right?

[idosubaru]

Tthe MORE air you get the MORE fuel you can burn... yielding less milage... get it?

that's not quite right. some things that can increase horsepower, can increase fuel consumption, can also increase gas mileage. most of the time performance items are geared towards HP and used as such and often gone well beyond where any fuel mileage gains may be seen. but on a mild level, increases to hp and mileage at the same time is not unheard of.

 

Just a quick question, what are you doing at Penn. state? Science, Engineering, Arts, Buisness, etcc..

i've found engineers to be completely impractical in terms of the utility of their knowledge. maybe it was the college i went too, but in the working world i haven't seen much better, very little utility in whatever knowledge or pieces of framed papers these people have. i believe you have beat that trend. i never read novels, but i will salute mark twain ahead of any univeristy: "i never let schooling interfere with my education"

[idosubaru]

Yes this was very heated and for no reason.

Slegacy96 - you are amazing at staying in this thread for this long. people have wielded some less than friendly remarks and you're sticking around and not getting fired up. congrats!

[Slegacy96]

You are absolutely right, I havent saved any money yet. However, to me its more about using less oil. Not to get on a politcal discussion but Im one to believe that we cant rely on the middleast for oil forever.

 

BUt then with these gas prices who knows, Ill prolly end up saving some in the end.

[Slegacy96]

Slegacy96 - you are amazing at staying in this thread for this long. people have wielded some less than friendly remarks and you're sticking around and not getting fired up. congrats!

 

Thanks. Its because my friend with the Acura got into several threads (on the Legend forum) about his '95 Legend beating my Legacy in a race. So Im used to standing up for myself...some of those people are crazy.

Anyway, if I couldnt back my results up, then whats the point?

[Slegacy96]

Originally Posted by Andyjo

Tthe MORE air you get the MORE fuel you can burn... yielding less milage... get it?

 

that's not quite right. some things that can increase horsepower, can increase fuel consumption, can also increase gas mileage. most of the time performance items are geared towards HP and used as such and often gone well beyond where any fuel mileage gains may be seen. but on a mild level, increases to hp and mileage at the same time is not unheard of.

 

What about a supercharger? Never driven a car with one so Im no expert, but my understanding was that they increase air flowing, producing more horsepower. At the same time the extra air was increasing mileage.

[Andyjo]

that's not quite right. some things that can increase horsepower, can increase fuel consumption, can also increase gas mileage.

I stand corrected i read ealier on the forums somewhere that more air, more gas can be burnt, i guess i didn't put that into prespective, and limits

 

i've found engineers to be completely impractical in terms of the utility of their knowledge.

I also agree with your statement here, there is a very large population of 'engineers' at my school that couldn't get themselves out of a practical hole of engineering if their lives depended on it :-\ I like to not be one of those people.

I respect other and understand there's a place for everyone, hell half of my auto-friends buisness majors & liberals arts peoples, know a ton more about automotive stuff than i do. i dont' mean to bash heads, after all USMB is one big happy disgruntal family i only asked for perspective, not saying anything about psych. majors, great people, always messing with my head :-p

 

Slegacy96][/b] Yes this was very heated and for no reason.

And the title reads "How I increased my gas mileage", so hell, you could strap a poodle to your undercarrage and it may improve your efficiency no need to get flamed up.

 

[Slegacy96]

Engineers is actually a sore subject for me. There is a club on facebook "for resentful engineers". How can you be resentful? You chose the major! Its where they go and "vent" about the work they have to do. But you know what? We are in college. Everyone does work. And for someone like me in the liberal arts, well we dont get curves.

There are some who like to pretend they know it all. Some do. Alot dont. SOme of them become business majors....they I get into their heads.hehehehe.

 

 

I dont have a poodle.

[powderhound]

Sorry I can't stop. So from a business grad...Oil Imports to America:

1. Mexico

2. Canada

3. Saudi Arabia

4. Nigeria

5. Venezuela

6. Angola

7. Iraq

8. Ecudaor

9. Brazil

10. Algeria

 

2/10 from the middle east...wake up people...its all about China not where WE get OUR oil from.

 

 

source:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

[fastwgn286]

got any volumes to go with that?

 

Edit: ok, i see it now....

[Slegacy96]

Thats a good point too. China also bought 5 years of concrete from America.

 

Still the less oil we use, the longer we can have our internal combustion engines.

[scorch]

I see I have many questions to answer.

3. My fuel cleaning consisted of cleaning the injectors, replacing fuel filter, etc. Mind you I had around 77K at the time.

 

That sounds about right. But for $200 I find it highly unlikely that the shop did a bench flush of your injectors, and cleaned your throttle body, which are the two most important items to do on high mileage engines that can see some accumulation of varnishing (and that has nothing to do with your imaginary "soot" or "dirty" gasoline in today's pumps. On that matter you are simply uninformed, and would find it difficult to substantiate your impressions (and by the way, merely repeating the claim is not the same as substantiation).

 

4. I didnt say specifically that doing something like opening up your scoop will net you XX increase in MPG. I said that the COMBINATION of what I did yielded me an increase from 28 to 32. The increase was a result of what I did.

 

But you obviously have more faith in your numbers than logic would dictate. Your scoop mod, especially, has about a zero chance of improving gas mileage, and if anything would only increase drag (to say nothing of dependability, as you will no doubt find out when the rains come again). Your choice of words implies that you think both things that you did were of positive benefit, and between the two they gained you four MPG. But the only thing that could have possibly helped was your injector cleaning. After all, five minus one is four, but that doesn't mean that the COMBINATION of five and one is four.

 

And besides, you still have not explained how you got your numbers. As has previously been mentioned, unless you got these averages over several thousand miles, and either averaged out or controlled for influences such as driving conditions, driving speed, tail wind & head wind, grades, tire inflation, pump calibration, and several other factors, your numbers don't stand up to scrutiny.

 

5. Gas is not as clean. President Bush is lifting quality regulations, giving us more crude burning fuels in an effort to reduce gas prices. Where have you been?

 

I don't know why you would ask me about my location, because that has nothing to do with it. Your beliefs in this matter are simply contrafactual, perhaps based in naive, vague political notions about the evil Republicans hell-bent on deregulation (this kind of ignorant bias is par for the course for today's college student, sadly). But there has never been more regulation on gasoline content than we have today, and in fact the quality of fuel (and other automotive fluids as well) is extremely high across all brands. Consumer Reports, among other groups, have done exhaustive studies to confirm this.

 

And moreoever, the idea that today's gasoline contains "chunks" and "soot" that can magically pass through a Subaru fuel filter and clog up your injection system is laughable.

[scorch]

You prolly couldnt afford it.

 

Oh, I get it. Because you're threatened that I challenge your ideas and naivety, without any basis or knowledge you're taking a blind stab at my socio-economic status. Nice.

 

One day you will learn that what Mommy and Daddy can shell out for you doesn't make you what you are in this world. (And at least I can spell "probably.")

 

Why would I doubt that fuel filters wont do their job? Because of fuel system clean outs. If they did perform flawlessly like ya'll proclaimed earlier (NOT ME) then there would be no need for fuel injector cleaner, etc.

 

Again, more irrational thinking. That's like saying if oil did its job, there would be no need for engine rebuilds. Or if tires did their job, we would never need new tires. And I don't recall that anybody ever said they performed "flawlessly." We merely asked you why you felt that they didn't do their job of filtering the fuel, to which you have yet to respond with anything of substance.

 

Because of the higher quality of today's gasoline, in fact there is much less need for injector cleaning, so much so that nearly all manufacturers have dropped this item completely from their maintenance schedules. Twenty years ago that was not the case. Clogged injectors were much more common. Today it is not uncommon for cars to last their entire service life without needing an injector flush.

 

Nobody has suggested that over a long period of time, your throttle body won't see some varnishing, and your injector pattern could never become compromised. These things happen, but they're the result of high mileage, not fuel quality or inefficacy of the specified filter.

[Andyjo]

Oh Oh! i figured it out, i know where you can get 'dirty' gas that your car will hate!

The indian reservation in Massena, NY, your car will hate you, forever if you get gas from there

sorry, i knew there was somewhere that you can get a nice chunky tank o' gas

[nipper]

Oh Oh! i figured it out, i know where you can get 'dirty' gas that your car will hate!

The indian reservation in Massena, NY, your car will hate you, forever if you get gas from there

sorry, i knew there was somewhere that you can get a nice chunky tank o' gas

 

There is also a station in Baldwin NY that will give you an all new low gas mileage record

 

nipper

[Lawsonmh15]

Perhaps the point was to feel smarter than Subaru's design team.

 

I agree. Those crazy japanese engineers don't know what they're doing. I mean; they even put weird rubber covers on the plug wires going onto the coil pack. What were they thinking. If it were me, the first thing I'd do is cut those pesky boots off, then wind some small gauge wire, lets say 22G for arguments sake, then I would wind it around all the posts of the coil pack connecting them, Push what's left of the plug wires onto the posts and fire it up.

 

Also, I never liked the idea of connecting black to black and red to red. F it. The next thing I'd do is switch the leads coming from the ignition and ground at the battery. DC voltage is for pansies. If you BELIEVE it's AC then GD it!!! It's AC. Oh, I'd wind some 14G between the two terminals at the battery too.