4 Bangin, Fuel Sippin, Full Tank Challenge!

Another great tank!

And damn you like cutting it close with those 20 gallon fill-ups.

 

490 miles / 25.5 MPG = 19.2 gal.

Light comes on at ~17 gal. So, 19.2 - 17 = roughly 2.2 gal in the fill tube.


BTW, URD short throw shifter on the way.

 

Great tank, Keep it going. Soon winter blend will be here.

 

If your light came on at 490 miles, and I assume you still achieved the same 25.5 MPG as you did for the entire tank, then that means you used about 19.2 gallons of fuel at that point. Since the light would normally come on at 17 gallons, simply subtract 17 from 19.2 and find the difference (being the amount of fuel in the filler tube).

So 21.1 + 2.2 = 23.3 gallons roughly. You got it.

Ethanol is much less energetic than gasoline, so you generally see a decrease in fuel economy. But the main reason for the decrease in economy is due to the weather itself. Fuel doesn't burn as efficiently when it's cold, and it takes longer to get the engine up to operating temperatures, so the motor runs rich for a while.

 

Speaking of winter weather, what about using heat full blast? My understanding is that the fan is blowing air over the engine anyway, and that using full heat just redirects the engine-heated air through your vents instead of outside. Does using heat affect MPG negatively at all?

 

Speaking on the window up/down topic, I've noticed with the UG that even the window halfway down, it does lower the mpgs a little. With no difference in pedal pressure and rolling the window up, UG Impgs go up 1 or 2.

TTL - In cab heat is attained by what is called a heater core. It's basically a mini-radiator buried in the dash. Hot coolant flows through it, the heat is then transfered to the inside of the cabin.

 

I am. I feel as though I have a lot to learn though. I read through the thread and thought I was screwed because I have an automatic. Turns out I don't think I am. Every vehicle I've had up until now has been a manual and I'd gotten used to controlling engine rpm and gear changes. I'd even given up tracking my MPG on Fuelly. I appear to be the problem though.

I started this last week with about 30 miles on this tank. For those 30 miles I drove as though my hair was on fire like I normally do. I usually have to in order to meet commitments so I have conditioned myself to drive that way all the time I guess. One night last week I had a bunch of driving to do in a more relaxed manner in town so I did some experimenting.

Normally my auto winds itself out a little because that's how I normally drive. I wanted it to go into a higher gear and shift at 2k rpm though as recommended. I was able to get it to by letting off the accelerator slightly ...... So I'd take it up to 2000 rpm gently and hold it there. To get it to change to the higher gear I'd slightly let up. Once it shifted I'd start accelerating gently again. It seemed to work pretty well. I'm guessing the ECU pays attention to trending because after a while it wouldn't hold at 2k rpm like it normally does. It would go to a higher gear on its own. After a while it would on its own go to between 1200 and 1400 rpm around town. Being gentle on the pedal that is. Now it seems to do so after it has warmed up some.

Afterwards on the highway I did what I could to learn how to keep the RPMs low on the highway also. In both city and highway driving it looks as though the maximum I should press the accelerator is half to three quarters of an inch. That gives gentle but acceptable acceleration in town and can maintain a highway speed of about 70 at a little more than 2k rpm. I also didn’t use cruise control. I’d just hold the accelerator about five eights of an inch down which seemed to be about the threshold of it wanting to jump back down into 3rd if it needed. If it slowed down going up a hill, it slowed down. I drove RPM more than MPH. It would slow down to about 65 MPH going up a long hill, but that’s the speed limit where I was driving anyway.

I took it down to about three quarters of a tank that night with 130 miles driven on it. 30 miles pedal to the metal, 10 miles figuring out what to do, 30 highway miles, and 60 in town miles.

I've also changed my route to work slightly. I normally take a back road that’s a little quicker but it’s kind of windy and has a few stop signs. I’m now going a slightly longer route, but it's all straight aways with a little higher speed limit and less stop and go. I’m going to try and give myself more time to get places also.

It's also been getting cooler so the other night I checked my tire pressure. I didn't realize I was down to about 25 psi all around. The max on the tire is 44 psi so I took them up to 40. I could tell the difference. Pulling away from the air pump it felt as though I may as well been driving in wet grass before it.

I was surprised also how the decrease in rolling resistance helped at lower speeds. It didn't seem to help much on the highway. I'm guessing that at higher speeds, the centrifugal force of the tire itself helps to compensate if you're a few psi low.

This tank has been a learning one. I was still able to get it up to 330 miles with a quarter of a tank left. That's with about 60% to 70% city driving. I think I can get about 400 miles or more out of this tank. I’m hoping to get at least a tie with my best MPG so far. Next tank I hope to do better.

 

That is my understanding as well.

 

I've gone from roughly 21.5 mpg, then 22.5 mpg, and my last fuel up was 24.9 mpg.

I've been using some "hypermiling" tendencies while driving, like:
1) Keeping my RPMs below 2000
2) Coasting to stop signs or red lights
3) Keeping top speed at 60 MPH

I have a roll-up tonneau cover, but I'm not sure if that's really helping much. Other than a Dee-Zee rubber bed mat, that's my only "mod". Everything else is stock.

Future potential increases in MPG:
1) Inflating tires from 30psi (which is what it has coming from the dealer) to 51 psi
2) The "breaking in" of the engine, which ought to raise MPG by 2-3
3) Using only ethanol-free fuel

I'm amazed at the progress I've had so far. Thanks for the advice everyone in the mean time.

Try it out!

 

410.9 miles! Makes me proud to own a 4 cylinder!

 

eh, not so good. lol.

 

All good accept you are way overestimating the break in, .5 is optimistic.

 

yeah i could probably push mine over the 500 mile mark but i cant stand to shift at anything lower than 2500 or 3000 RPMs which i think is the main cause it does not get as good of MPG, 410.9 is a record for mine though, i drove it about 20 miles after the fuel light came on!

 

402.1 miles and filled all the up with 17.3 gallons for 23.24 mpg with mostly city driving and some horsing around still here and there.

I'm glad automatics can be driven efficiently too.

 

I really like your dash. Edit... The 410.9 is pretty cool too.

 

http://pure-gas.org/

 

Aweswome pics and mileage everyone!

City traffic really just sucks, it has been a re-learning of how to drive trying to get the most miles to a tank. I do try and take the path with the least resistance, ie, lights, traffic, etc. I'll even travel further than I need, if I can maintain a more constant speed.

 

Agreed!


And I'll also go a few miles out of my way just so I don't have to sit still in traffic.

 

406 miles when the light came on with a 18 gallon fill up. this equates to 22.5 mpg. I have an 05 Access cab 4x2 Prerunner

 

4x4 Auto. 20.4 mpg. First tank after picking it up. Drove home 200 miles on interstate mostly 75 and through the mountains, then mostly city driving.

16.6gal to fill when light came on (Is that early for the light to come on?)