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#105466 - 09/13/07 12:27 AM 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage
picard120 Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 07/10/05
Posts: 763
I found the tips on the net to stretch your fuel mileage for your car, trucks.

http://www.egmcartech.com/2007/09/12/top...-honda-insight/

There is a group of hypermilers who knows how to stretch your fuel mileage. One guy can drive his Ford ranger truck to 84MPG.

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#105483 - 09/13/07 01:59 AM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: picard120]
jshannon Offline
Addict

Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 647
Loc: North Texas
4, 5, and 8 are goofy. The others make more sense.

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#105497 - 09/13/07 05:01 AM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: ]
Themalemutekid Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 11/17/06
Posts: 351
Loc: New Jersey
Intersting article...thanx for posting.
_________________________
....he felt the prompting of his heritage, the desire to possess, the wild danger-love, the thrill of battle, the power to conquer or to die. Jack London

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#105499 - 09/13/07 05:15 AM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: jshannon]
UTAlumnus Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/08/03
Posts: 1019
Loc: East Tennessee near Bristol
Using #1 you will sacrifice ride quality, handling, & maybe some tire life due to uneven wear.

#4 Works when approaching a stop. Accelerating afterward you can spend 90 seconds at 15 mpg or 30 seconds at 10 mpg. Does anybody have a stock instant mpg meter? The only ones I know of are on the hybrids. The Scangauge might do it.

#5 is a YMMV. My mileage goes up on the interstate when using cruise control. On all but the start of an up grade, the cruise sets a slightly lower amount of gas. I've set the cruise & let off the pedal & watched the instant mileage reading go up. Most grades around here are steep enough or long enough that you will have to add gas.

#6 only works if the speed limit is over 55 mph. Most gas engines are at their most efficient running between 60 & 70.

#7 will depend on the vehicle. Honda & Toyota both use this method with their hybrids. The Toyota Camry can get 35-38 mpg in the city (real world not EPA estimate). EPA City mileage on the gas only model with similar engine is 21. Getting this WILL require #4 & paying attention to the instant mileage readout.

#8 Every little bit helps.

#10 In my last truck, the AC ran better just above maximum. As far as I could tell the only thing maximum did was switch the ducting to recirculate from within the cab rather than from outside. Check yours & see what the difference is. In the 07 Camrys max fan is loud but backed down a bar or two is much quieter.

Edit: With that size engine it only costs maybe 2 mpg. I'd rather be cool than save three or four bucks a tank.


Edited by UTAlumnus (09/13/07 05:18 AM)

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#105502 - 09/13/07 11:44 AM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: UTAlumnus]
RayW Offline
Addict

Registered: 12/06/01
Posts: 601
Loc: Orlando, FL
Originally Posted By: UTAlumnus


#4 Works when approaching a stop. Accelerating afterward you can spend 90 seconds at 15 mpg or 30 seconds at 10 mpg. Does anybody have a stock instant mpg meter? The only ones I know of are on the hybrids. The Scangauge might do it.


Edit: With that size engine it only costs maybe 2 mpg. I'd rather be cool than save three or four bucks a tank.


Quite a few of the new cars and trucks have instant and average mpg meters, the last one i "borrowed" that had a mpg meter was one of these,

http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/1325/test2je4.jpg

The instant milage guage will go below 1 mpg smile On the flip side of that when i removed the lead out of my right foot and drove a little more normal i could average around 28 mpg on the highway with the AC and cruise control on.

And living in Florida the AC is worth every penny of the extra fuel it uses.

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#105506 - 09/13/07 12:24 PM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: picard120]
norad45 Offline
Veteran

Registered: 07/01/04
Posts: 1506
The problem with #10 is that without AC people will roll down their windows. This tends to create a drag on the vehicle that wastes more gas than you save by doing without the AC in the first place. And there is no way I'm riding around with the windows up, the AC off, and the thermometer outside above 90 F. Gas is expensive but so is heatstroke. blush


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#105507 - 09/13/07 12:26 PM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: ]
jshannon Offline
Addict

Registered: 02/02/03
Posts: 647
Loc: North Texas
I read somewhere that one should turn off the engine if the wait is more than about 30 seconds. It's right about alot of turning on and off too.

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2007/05/filling_up_for_.html

Mind your maintenance. A well-tuned car burns less gasoline, so get your oil and air filters changed regularly. Not sure if your filter needs changing? Take it out and hold it up to the light. If you can't see any light coming through, it's too dirty. It's also important to check your tire pressure monthly. (You'll get the most consistent results by using your own gauge when the car is cold.) Americans driving on under-inflated tires waste 4 million gallons of gas a day and reduce the lifespan of their tires.

Clear out the clutter. According to the Department of Energy, every 100 pounds you carry inside your car lowers its fuel economy by one to two percent. So if you don't need it on the trip you’re taking, don't have it in your trunk.

Don't drive like a jerk. Fast, aggressive driving is a big fuel waster. Try to maintain a constant speed--most cars reach peak efficiency while cruising steady between 55 and 60 miles per hour--and avoid rapid acceleration and braking, which can increase fuel consumption by as much as 40 percent. (And make everyone else on the road hate you.)

Keep your cool. Need relief from the heat? Consumer Reports recommends using the air conditioner if you're going faster than around 40 miles per hour, since a lot of engine power at high speeds goes to reducing drag. When you're cruising around town, it's more efficient to keep your windows open.

Think different. Could some of your short trips be made on public transportation, or by walking or riding a bike? Combining trips also helps, as does carpooling with friends.

Want to know how much you'd save on gas if your car got 40 miles to the gallon? Visit the Sierra Club's MPG calculator. Just enter in your car's make, model, and how many miles you drive each year, and it'll do the math for you.



Edited by jshannon (09/13/07 12:36 PM)

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#105517 - 09/13/07 01:52 PM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: jshannon]
thseng Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 900
Loc: NW NJ
There are good reasons to change your air cleaner regularly, but in my professional opinion gas mileage is not one of them!

"Engines work harder when they have to pull air through a dirty filter."

True, but there is also this little thing called a throttle plate who's PURPOSE is to make it harder to pull air through the intake. The power setting of the engine is determined by how much air you allow into it - it doesn't matter how much restriction there is in the air cleaner vs. the throttle, the total will always be the same for a given power setting.

The only thing a dirty air cleaner will do is limit the maximum power at full throttle.

I'd say that the most significant and most easily avoided waster of fuel is aggressive driving i.e. flooring it off line, charging up to the next red light and slamming on the brakes. Accelerate at a reasonable rate and as soon as you know the light is red up ahead just take your foot off the gas. It costs nothing! You’re not going anywhere until the light changes, what’s the big hurry to get there and wait?

The amount of fuel consumed by idling for ten seconds is nothing compared to the cost of a having to replace your battery and starter prematurely. Also, startup is rough on an engine - the oil pressure starts at zero.

#8 doesn’t even deserve a response.
_________________________
- Tom S.

"Never trust and engineer who doesn't carry a pocketknife."

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#105523 - 09/13/07 02:16 PM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: thseng]
GarlyDog Offline
ô¿ô
Old Hand

Registered: 04/05/07
Posts: 776
Loc: The People's Republic of IL
I bet the "hypermiler" is a nuisance on the highway.
_________________________
Gary








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#105525 - 09/13/07 02:35 PM Re: 10 tips to stretch your car fuel mileage [Re: thseng]
benjammin Offline
Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
Yep, there's a sweet spot in the power/torque curve where the engine runs at maximum efficiency, load being constant. Wind resistance in high gear usually has the peak efficiency somewhere just below the curve peak.

Modulating the fuel flow I hear can also improve mileage. Also, the way the fuel blends in the combustion chamber can have a dramatic effect, so keep those injectors clean.
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

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