Looking for better mileage?

i just checked my mpg and I'm getting 14.86 with 3.58 gears 35's and a heavy foot (winter fuel also) so you guys must have something going on I cant understand it though

 

AMSRacing
gotta tell you about my wife had similar problems with bad MPG,smell of gas and then hard starting..It ended up being a pinhole in the gas line right where a squeeze style fastener was,making it a little more difficult to find because the clamp was stoping the flow from showing up right away,your fuel problem could be similar GOOD LUCK

 

Thank you for the replies. I will have them look at the lines and see if they can find anything. I hope they can find something wrong with it.

Kurt

 

that seems way to low for mpgs, i have a 95.5 as well do you have the 3.4L? I have a throttle body sapcer and air raid intake that i had to modify from a 1999 model, 16x265/75 tires and i still get around 22-24mpgs and i have not even done the exhaust yet or electric rad fan. our maf sensor would be easy to clean as it look like a fricking air turbine........try changing your oils and fluids all to synthatic as well i know that helped me....oh yeah get a real air intake not a drop in

 

Good answer....
anybody with non-standard tires and hasn't recalibrated their speedo has no idea what their mileage is unless they use GPS for miles travelled.

 

Or factored it into their calculations...which is pretty simple; (actual miles travelled by odometer x new tire diameter / original tire diameter).

 

As far as the tires size goes;

-Taller tires will be harder on gas around town, because it takes more power to get them rolling everytime you accelerate.

-Taller tires can get you better mileage on the highway because they take you further with one revolution.

-Wider tires just hurt the gas mileage, city or highway. It takes more power to turn them. The width is a real mpg killer!

And like a couple guys already said, your mpg figures are going to be totally wrong if you changed your tire diameter and you continue to read your odometer as being correct. They way you drive also has a HUGE affect on your MPG. Fast acceleration, or accelerating up to a red light/stop sign, driving fast on the highway, etc


On this note; "What is with Dodge Ram drivers? Do they get free gas or something? The trucks are unbeleivably bad on gas when you drive them sensibly. But these drivers almost always drive like its a race car or a honda civic or something! I don't get it".

 

Does anyone watch MYTH BUSTERS?

Tailgate: Up or down?

Myth: Driving your pickup with the tailgate down gives you better fuel efficiency than with the tailgate up.
Update: Tailgate Up or Down Revisited
Test Setup

Adam and Jamie were each given identical, new model pickup trucks. They both had equal mileage, same tire pressure, and 30 gallons of gas. Jamie drove with the tailgate up and Adam the tailgate down.
The rules:

1. They have to maintain the speed limit
2. All acceleration must be done by cruise control
3. No drafting
4. Windows up, A/C must be exactly the same in both cars

The Test

After 300 miles there didn't appear to be much difference in the gas consumed, but after 500 miles Adam (tailgate down) ran out of gas. Jamie made it another 30 miles before he ran out of gas. This result was the exact opposite of the myth.
Water tunnel visualization

According to the experts, a circular pillow of air forms behind the cab of the truck when the tailgate is up. This "separated bubble"/"locked vortex flow" keep the faster moving air from contacting the truck, and thus reduces drag. With the tailgate down, the bubble breaks down and is no longer able to keep the fast moving air out, increasing drag.
In their scale model with the water tunnel, they were able to see that the increased drag. With the tailgate down, the particles in the water were dropping down and hitting the tailgate.
mythbusted



Tailgate Up or Down Revisited: Mesh tailgate, hardcover, tailgate removal

See: Tailgate Up or Down
For the original myth they did a driving test and a water vortex test, both of which showed that you save more gas with the tailgate up. Their viewers suggested that they test three new conditions:

• Hardroof cover over pickup bed
• Mesh tailgate
• Remove the entire tailgate

They had a much simpler test setup this time. They had an electronic flowmeter hooked into fuel line of Jamie's pickup. Adam: "For anyone out there that wants to e-mail telling me that we screwed up this test, we have already calibrated this thing, to this car. So it's going to be perfect!" They drove the pickup truck up and down the stretch of 101 around Candlestick and the Cow Palace.

• Tailgate down: 5.2 gallons/hr @ 55mph. 1.2 gallons/hr @ 25.
• Tailgate up: 5.0 gallons/hr @ 55mph. No reading for 25mph given, but tailgate up was once again confirmed as more efficient.
• Hardcover over pickup bed: 5.0 gallons/hr @ 55mph. 1.2 gallons/hr @25mph
• Tailgate mesh: 5% more efficient
• Tailgate removed: about the same as tailgate up and hardcover

Mesh was most efficient by 5%
still busted

 

If they really wanted to do it right they would travel a long distance (like I do) 375 miles one way.

@ 65 mph tailgate up I burned .5 gallons more than when it was off.

I used cruise control and didn't have to adjust my speed to slow down or speed up hardly at all.

If the mythbuster guys drove a circuit back and forth on 101 in the Bay area, that tells me that at some point (fairly often) they had to change direction in order to obtain 300+ miles. That means using more gas.....which destroys mileage fiures because of having to re-accelerate to freeway speed again.

Also, an "air cusion" may develop at 55, 60, and maybe 70 mph but not necessarily for every vehicle. Designs all differ.

Bottom line: .5 of a gallon over 375 miles ain't crap to be concerned about either way.

 

If you watch the episode you will see how the first test was preformed. It never said they didn't drive one way, all it said was: The Test

After 300 miles there didn't appear to be much difference in the gas consumed, but after 500 miles Adam (tailgate down) ran out of gas. Jamie made it another 30 miles before he ran out of gas. This result was the exact opposite of the myth.

So, Adam ran out of gas and Jamie went another 30 miles. (after 500 miles.)
The next test they preformed with the mesh tailgate and found that it out preformed both tailgate up and taligate down. This is the test where they drove back and forth. (the one you are referring to) They should have preformed the same exact test. But what matters most is that each truck preformed the exact course. True that a straight line will get better gas mileage but they were not trying to see which course got better mileage, rather which truck, on the same course, would get the better mileage.
They preformed the course untill they found which one started to out preform the other truck.

On your experience with tailgate up and down. You will need to drive the same exact path many times (at least 10 times) and take the average of all the trips. There are many variables than can make your experiment in accurate. Such as wind speed, Drafting,tire pressure, amount of weight in the vehicle. How did you messure your gas mileage consuptions? Scan gauge? The Gauge in your truck?

Also, not all gases are the same. This is a very hard experiment for someone to take all the variables out of the experiment, Mythbusters or yourself.

I think the mythbuster's experiment just proved that the airpocket that the tailgate creates is better for gas mileage and causes less drag on the truck.
And with gas prices the way they are every percent counts.

 

Winter gas does not cause a mileage loss of anything more than 1.5%, which is not even measurable, temperature, load, and number and temperature of cold starts are the factors that change winter mileage so drastically. Anyone who does not believe me, before posting, calculate the energy difference between "winter" gas formulations and summer gas. The energy difference is less than 2% Most of the difference relates to vaporisation and volatility concerns.
Tacomas enrich heavily on cold starts, presumably to light off the cats. Driving 1 mile on a cold start versus a warm start, results in nearly 70% more fuel being consumed. (ref:scangaugeII). Consider the drag from cold axles, trans, and T-case fluid.....

 

wow you guys get 20plus mpg , that is nice, i think i get about 18 maybe , but im riding on 35s. i need to improve my mpg but i knew when i lifted it and everything i was going to get this coming. well if you guys find something that might help you guys and you think i can do the same send me a messege, ill start to clean my sensors and fuel filter