I have to disagree on the "Ethanol" a little. A local gas station started
putting Ethanol in the gas. The truck does seem to run better but on the
last two tanks I have lost about 1 mile per gallon. My driving has not
changed and I have been tracking the MPG on this truck for about 2 years
now.
Also on the heating of the fuel. In the early days of drag racing they used
to have a thing called a "cool can". Basically it was a can filled with ice
and a coil of fuel line running through. This was supposedlly done to
increase HP. Don't know how true this is. Just something I came across
several years ago.
What id know is as mentioned free up the moving air. Both incoming and
outgoing air. Carry the least amount of weight as possible, ie lose the
tools that are not needed. And drive easy as was also mentioned.
""Woodruff, Jason P"" <jason.p.woodruff@boeing.com> wrote in message
news:27F0D40EF9B2CF4E9F15229B7D1D90490BCDB3@XCH-SW-2V2.sw.nos.boeing.com...
>
> Well, I was once told you can't make chicken soup out of chicken shit. So
> best you can hope for in you truck is to do better, not to do 'well'.
>
> In terms of cost effectiveness:
> Lowest grade gas you can find - Lower octane burns better and yields more
> power/efficiency than higher octane. I know this is counter intuitive
> since higher octane cost more is MUST be better ;-). Higher octane is
> required for horsepower tuned motors that give low priority to efficiency.
> Additionally low octane gas is cheaper, so there's some $$ saved.
> Depending on what your using right now, 0-5% gains for negative $$.
>
> Driving Habits - Obvious: Don't floor it, drive smooth and as slow as you
> can stand. 5.2L mpgs drop dramatically over 55mph. Not so obvious: Draft
> (tailgate) big trucks on the highway. Not the safest thing to do, but
> your brakes should work better than theirs. This reduces a lot of wind
> drag, but just as importantly it tends to keep your speed lower. Also,
> coast in gear as far as possible, especially in a manual. On a manual,
> coasting in gear shuts off the fuel injectors while coasting in neutral
> the motor has to have fuel to idle. Depending on you current driving
> habits, 0-40% gains and no $$.
>
> Advance Timing - I don't know if you can do this or not. My 2000 4.7L has
> computer controlled timing, no traditional cap and rotor. If you can
> advance the timing, do so, as far as possible without pre-detonation. You
> might have to do some trade studies with this and the low octane gas
> advice above. If your real serious about it you might even want to adjust
> your timing based on what kind of driving your going to do. On my Geo (my
> MPG car) I have two timing settings marked; one very advanced for my
> everyday driving where I accelerate lightly and on mostly flat ground and
> a second retarded setting when I expect to find some sustained hills on my
> path. It takes about 30seconds to switch between them. The advance
> timing will ping under up hill loads, but gets several mpgs better. 2-15%
> gains for no $$.
>
> Air Tires - Find the trade off. More pressure gives you better mileage
> but will have the diminishing returns of center tire wear and handling
> problems. All cars are different, I run 42psi in the Toyota and 45 in the
> Geo with no adverse effects, but 40psi in the Dakota's tires cause some
> bad wear. The tire's max inflation is a good place to start, don't be
> afraid to go a little over that number too. And take pressure
> measurements COLD. Depending on what pressures you drive now: 0-10%
> gains, little to no $$ on tire wear.
>
> T'Stat - Have you ever changed your thermostat? If not, your fine, but if
> so you might want to double check that it was the right temperature.
> Factory t'stats are set to operate at 210deg. "Performance" t-stats
> usually operate at 160-190. This is like octane, higher temperature is
> more efficient while lower temperature is required for hopped up engines.
> I say double check because twice now I've gone into an auto parts store
> and asked for a "Stock" T-stat only to find that they gave each gave me a
> colder one and called it "stock". When I went back to exchange it they
> said, "oh... you wanted an OEM temperature T'stat." I put a 180 t'stat in
> my previous 4.7L Dakota, mileage dropped about 2mpgs. So depending on
> what your using now: 0-15% gains for a one time $20 (T'stat and new
> coolant).
>
> Additive tricks - There are various additives that some people claim. All
> kinds of crap, most of which doesn't work. The only one I've had luck
> with is acetone doping. The recommendations for acetone go from
> 1-4oz/10gal and claims go from zero to 20%. In my geo I add 3oz of pure
> acetone to 10gal of gas and have been recording a 8-10% gain. The idea is
> that the acetone acts as a vaporizing agent, helps fog the fuel better in
> the combustion chamber, which will give you a better, more complete burn
> of the gas. The concentration is too low to raise octane rating (a common
> use of higher concentrations of acetone). The gains aren't consistent
> from car to car and seems to be less effective on newer cars, but I think
> your 99 would see some gains. Many people are scared of Acetone. It is
> nasty stuff, don't get it on your paint and try not to get it on your
> hands (it "tickles"), but in the very diluted quantities that are
> recommended it will have no corrosive effect on your fuel system. I know
> two guys using it in their Dakotas (not sure models/years). My guess on
> your Dakota 2-15% gains, about $1 per 20gal tank.
>
> Air Filter and Exhaust - This is easy. Less restrictive, more efficient.
> The boost in HP will likely cause you to put your foot down a few times at
> first, but once the novelty of 10 more HP wears off you'll get some MPG
> gains. The only problem is this stuff is expensive. K&N Air filters are
> at least $50, but at you can stop buying the paper ones, but the exhaust
> system (high flow cat all the way through) can be $500. These mods only
> really work well together, so I'd say 2-10% gains, but high one time $$.
>
> Wheels/tires - You mentioned bigger tires. I've heard theories that
> bigger tires increase your gear ratio and in effect increase your MPGs.
> Well, I've never had luck with that. The increased tire diameter has
> always come with a lot more weight, which along with the gear change
> really slowed my acceleration and reduced my MPGs. Even if the tire
> weighs the same on a scale, the rotational mass of a bigger tire is
> heavier since the weight is further out. Additionally width is important.
> Rolling resistance and significant wind resistance comes with wider tires.
> Here's another trade off as wider tires handle better and usually just
> look better. Same idea on wheels, lighter is better. I've found unless
> you specifically look for (and pay for) light weight wheels that the stock
> wheels are lighter than any aftermarket set. My geo has 'upgraded'
> 155/80/13 tires on it, I've got some stock sized 145/80/12 wheels and
> tires ready to go on when the current tires expire, I expect to see some
> gains. Depending on what your using and how big of a change you make,
> 0-25%, but might cost some big $$ for new rims.
>
> Other complicated tricks - There are many other complicated tricks that
> have questionable returns in my mind. Search around for results, after
> sifting through some right wing conspiracy theories you might find some
> ideas you'd like to try. One that I'm going to try is pre-heating fuel.
> Theory is that warm fuel burns faster and more completely. A modification
> can be as simple as running the fuel line through a copper tube wrapped
> around a heater line. I've got a sweet little heat exchanger I can run
> coolant and fuel through. I'll test it out by the end of the year.
>
> Ethanol - Not sure if your in it for the $$ savings, the environmental
> reasons or if you just want to stick it to middle eastern price gougers.
> But Ethanol is an interesting idea. Domestically grown, burns much, much
> cleaner, and despite the roomers takes about 1/3 gal of gas to produce 1
> gal of Ethanol. Consumer available ethanol fuel comes in two varieties,
> E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gas) and E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gas). E10 is deemed
> safe for all vehicles without modification and is commonly pumped into
> your car in pollution prone cities while you might not even know. E85
> requires special fuel systems to handle the nastier fuel. If you had the
> $$ you could upgrade your fuel system or buy a flexible fuel vehicle (FFV)
> to run E85, but that gets beyond most people's scope. Supposedly E85 is
> comparable to regular gas in cost (I'll believe that when I see it). I
> plan on trying to blend some of my own E10 fuel. I'll buy 10gal of E85 in
> a storage tank and just blend 1gal with 9gal of gas. This should give me
> about E10. It's not going to be any cheaper and won't get better miles
> per gallon of FUEL, but will be cleaner and will get 10% better mpg of
> GAS.
>
> No matter what you do, a 30year old style motor in a 4200lb wind brick
> isn't going to win any MPG contest. But maybe the above advice will help.
> Best MPG upgrade the wife and I did was park our Explorer and Dakota and
> bought a very nice Prius and a very crappy Geo Metro. We've gone from
> 17mpg cars to 50+ mpg cars, Saudi Arabia can suck on that.
>
> The Geo is more of an experimental vehicle than anything. When I bought
> it, I got 41-43mpg, various tuning and techniques as described above and I
> get a consistent 50-51mpg.
>
> Jay W
> 505/287 Dakota
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
>
> OK, I am archive callenged, so I will re-ask the milage question for the
> millionth time. What is the list of $hit to check to make sure your
> mileage is as good as it can be?
> 99, 4x4, 5.2L, 105,000mi, bone stock except for big tires.
> Air up tires
> Clean air filter
> Sparkplugs? what kind? How often?
> Cap'n Rotor? what kind? How often?
> What Else?
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jul 01 2005 - 09:48:06 EDT