"Jon" <jonsdak@midmaine.com> wrote:
: I filled my Dak today, and was dismayed to find after running the
: calculations twice, that I've just run through my worst mileage ever on a
: tank! 1781 miles on nearly 18 gallons, or 12.24 MPG!
: That's with mostly city driving (on tanks of which I usually get 14-15 MPG,
: 15-16 MPG mixed, and 17 MPG highway only)
: It has been really cold here (hasn't gotten above the teens in days), but
: other than that, no difference. My battery does seem to be on it's last
: legs though, but I don't think that would do anything to the mileage. It
: has been really windy, but a 2.5 MPG drop for wind?
Bill gave a good explanation elsewhere in this thread regarding
the effects of cold weather on gas mileage (cold air = dense air =
more fuel used by computer to keep the air/fuel mixtures the same).
Another factor that can come into play is the different formualation
of gas in many areas during the winter. I don't know the
technical specifics (no doubt a google search would turn them up)
but from what I have been able to gather, winter gas is crap. ;-)
Another factor is that your fluids (tranny, rearend, etc.) are going to be colder than normal when the truck is sitting, and will take
longer than normal to get up to temp, and may not reach the same
temps you'd see in the summer. In general, the colder these
liquids are, the less viscous they are, and there will be a
resultant increase in friction compared to summer. (Granted,
probably not a whole lot, but this is one of those deals where
a little here and a little there starts to add up.)
As far as the wind goes, yes that can definitely have a big
effect! Our trucks are about as aerodynamic as a brick, so when
its windy, gas mileage will certainly suffer. (Unless you
manage to get a tailwind of course.) ;-)
You didn't mention if there was snow on the roads or not, if
so that will reduce gas mileage too.
Have you been letting your truck warm up longer than usual
before driving it due to the cold? If so, there's a little more
gas consumed with no miles traveled. (You really should let the
engine warm up before driving though; at least a little bit...)
Probably your poor gas milage is just a combination of some
or all of the above factors - each one alone responsible for
only a small decrease in MPG, but when they are added together,
can create a most noticable difference!
---Jon-
.---- Jon Steiger ------ jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com ------. | I'm the: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA. Rec & UL Pilot - SEL | | 70 Cuda, 90 Dak 'vert, 92 Ram 4x4, 96 Dak, 96 Intruder 1400, 96 FireFly | `------------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com ----'
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