How I increased my gas mileage

[Lawsonmh15]

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.

 

Hate to do it... But Twenty years ago there were very FEW vehicles using fuel injection. I know that a friend of mine had a mid-eighties crap-maro with "cross-fire" injection, but from what I read, it was less efficient than a good carburetor. Perhaps you got more clogged venturi's, but not "injectors". Symantec's I know but...

 

At any rate, Yes gas was dirtier, but, was it better. I get MUCH better mileage when I travel to sea-level states with octane ratings that START at 91. In CO we use ethanol so... It sucks. Corn is for my belly and septic system; not my car.

 

Hopefully soon, gas will be for my lawn mower, and hydrogen will be for my car.

[Lawsonmh15]

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

 

nipper

Hey, that station exists every couple miles in Colorado; it's called SAFEWAY.

 

Yeah it's great, you save $.03/gallon and get >100+ fewer miles per tank. The first time I thought there was something wrong with my car, so I bought gas at Shell I normally buy my gas from and it went back to normal. Tried again, same results. So all those super thrifty Safeway card holders are doing the smart thing, saving themselves $.45 in order to cost themselves ~$11.20 CO prices. Now THOSE are reasoning skills.

 

 

Last thing on this subject... For now.

 

Unless you SAW these guys "cleaning" your fuel system, It's a wise bet that you that you paid $200 to have them run $20 worth of BG 44K through your system. Sorry man, I know people who have had SERIOUS issues with clogging (Erratic Idle, Surging), bought a can of 44K, ran the whole can on a half tank of gas and achieved night/day results. Some people it has taken a couple cans but... Not $200 worth. I'd ask them to show you that corn can they showed your parents. Is that... Isn't that a skittle???

[Slegacy96]

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.")

 

Who said anything about my parents paying for my education? Versus you saying that you are sending your son. I can tell that I have intimidated you. Otherwise you wouldnt have tried so hard to put me down by saying I will be nothing in this world without my parents. Ouch newbie.

 

I finished with a 3.7. I can spell fine thanks, otherwise I wouldnt have gotten anywhere.

[nipper]

er um folks, chill out. Its not like we are talking politics, religon or motor oils here (yes the motor oil arguments can get pretty ugly).

 

nipper

[Slegacy96]

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.

 

 

Excuse me for not having a wind tunnel.

 

I did explain what I did, however I can elaborate further. For arguments sake we will negate my trip to South Carolina since temperature, acceleration, etc. differs. So I made 4 trips to and from College. Its 180 miles one way. So multiply that by 2 = 360 X 4 = 1440 miles. I made one in early January, one in early March, one in mid April and the last one was May 5th. Obviously there were some temperature variations. Also the last trip, I had the most weight.

I filled up before each trip. Leaving school, I always use the BP, since they claim they are the cleanest. Going back to school I always use the same Hess because they are generally cents cheaper than everone else.

I cruise from 76 - 80 mph and its a straight shot on the turnpike. No deviations required.

Like I said I averaged 32 mpg each trip. The last trip, I had more weight and only got about 31.2 Id say. I dont remember the exact number.

 

And yes, the weather was different each trip. Sometimes it was cold or snowing or warm and sunny. One night was very windy.

 

Criticize away.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, how I got my numbers? I used the calculator on my cell phone.

[Slegacy96]

Exciting news for those who dont feel mpg gains are credible. Crude oil prices have dropped almost $4, dipping below $70 a barrel. Somewhat exciting I guess.

[OB99W]

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. [...]

From http://www.answers.com/stereotype

ster·e·o·type (stĕr'ē-ə-tīp', stîr'-) n. 1. A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

----

Not every engineer is limited in scope to the theoretical. Apparently some engineers are able to utilize their knowledge to design cars for actual production. Others have their own well-equipped shops and know which end of a wrench to hold when working on their cars. Some are willing to share their theoretical and practical knowledge with other members of this forum, and will even admit that they don't know everything.

[mikeshoup]

Slegacy, hey, if those modifications worked for you, then great. Sorry you're getting flamed for posting your experiences.

 

But also don't nock the knowledge of these other forum members. Many know much more than you do and know what they're talking about.

 

Although its sad to see such an immature bunch of men

 

Also, don't bring your college into this argument. Just because you go to penn state, doesn't make you smarter than someone who goes to the many other public or private schools. And don't knock the finances of other board members or their decision to help pay for their childrens education. The fact you live at college on your own does not make you any better than someone who gets paid from their parents. (Take it from a fellow student going to an expensive public school that finances himself completely since day one at college)

 

Why can't we all just, get along?

[Ranger83]

From http://www.answers.com/stereotype

ster·e·o·type (stĕr'ē-ə-tīp', stîr'-) n. 1. A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

----

Not every engineer is limited in scope to the theoretical. Apparently some engineers are able to utilize their knowledge to design cars for actual production. Others have their own well-equipped shops and know which end of a wrench to hold when working on their cars. Some are willing to share their theoretical and practical knowledge with other members of this forum, and will even admit that they don't know everything.

 

Nicely stated.

[Zephyr]

Hey! Me people not in school smart too!

 

A test to prove :cool: more specific results (but impratical for life), would have been to do each of the mods, or treatments, one at a time and compare the results individually.

 

Maybe the free hood scoop mod did the trick and not the fuel system flush.

 

I'll talk to the wife about drilling holes in the bonnet of our 06'. In fact, I haven't had the dremmel out for a while....

[Gnuman]

OK, I stopped reading this thread when it started devolving into a flame war, with little real information being passed. Now, 80 posts later, I look in and am glad that I did.

 

Folks, this is a great forum, full of very useful information on really great cars. Why does it seem like anytime anyone mentions fuel economy, everyone here reverts to the second grade and starts fighting? Are we no better than that?

 

As for increasing the fuel economy in our cars, there are as many opinions as there are people here. None of them is gosple. none of them is complete crap. In my book, when you get into personal attacks in arguing your point, you lose by default. I'm happy with the fuel economy of my 14 year old Legacy wagon. 25MPG mixed driving is good in my book, for an AWD car that can hit and hold 120MPH with 200K on the odometer. That may just be me, though. I do not do much to increase the milage, but I do try to keep the car running as clean as I can. I'm more concerned about emmissions than I am about economy. In that regard, My Subaru is great! I consistantly get very good numbers when I smog the car.

[ron917]

I replaced my front oxygen sensor a few weeks ago. My fuel mileage increased from 23 MPG to 25 MPG. The inside of my tailpipe is now grey instead of black, indicating that the car was running somewhat rich previously. The sensor was original and had 108K miles on it.

[boxerhummfetish]

I may consider a new sensor soon; I guess with the car being in mid life (11 yrs) and the black tailpipe, it's not a bad time to do that soon.

 

Also, the winter tires I got were about 3% and made the engine rev lower on the freeway. The mileage was about the same as with the smaller tires while the odo/speedo would underestimate the actual mileage by 3%. So, that's close to a 1mpg improvement. Not a bad idea for older imp 5sp's which rev hi at 70mph. My next set of summer tires will be larger.

 

The biggest diff in mpg is whether i take it easy on the fwy or not. Makes a 2mpg diff.

 

I replaced my front oxygen sensor a few weeks ago. My fuel mileage increased from 23 MPG to 25 MPG. The inside of my tailpipe is now grey instead of black, indicating that the car was running somewhat rich previously. The sensor was original and had 108K miles on it.