Better Gas Mileage

I would like to thank groundpounder and all the others who are currently serving in the military, whether its in Iraq,afghanistan or anywhere. There is a lot of support from a lot of Americans. Not an easy job, for sure. I wish there was this kind of support when I was in the service during the latter half of the 60's. Keep your heads down and good luck.

jeff, 06,V6,6spd, SR5, Radiant Red, 4x4

 

Man this thread went so far off topic I couldn't even follow the long enough to get the results. Thanks for the link 007tacoma!! I'm not patient enough to sift through all the off topic stuff to get my answer.

 

Sounds like you will be getting a great truck, Klown, a 08, with a 6spd , can't ask for more. I love mine, as it does exactly what I bought it for.
Jeff, 06,V6,SR54x4, Radiant Red

 

Well, one more off-topic reply. Thx a lot ECOTAZ, I did not expect that. I feel like I am in the TV show Oprah. Now I couldnt wait to go home. Ed

 

that's a great thing you're doing ECOTAZ, see everybody, this is why TW kicks ass

 

very interesting

 

yes, interesting indeed

 

I haven't seen anything really.

 

Not exactly.

FI systems break down into the following styles.

Throttle body systems
Direct port systems ( most popular and also what the Tacoma's use )
Direct injection


Throttle body systems are no longer used. They were the first step away from carbs. They typically use lower fuel pressures and they are known also as wet manifold styles. Fuel and air are "mixed" in the intake manifold and drawn into the intake ports in the cylinder head(s). Not the most effective manner of fuel management due to inherrent manifold fuel puddling(sp?) and even fuel metering from cylinder to cylinder. The further away the cylinder from the injectors, the less accurate the metering will be.

Next we have port style injection systems. This style is the most popular and widely seen in new vehicles. A fuel injector in mounted just in front of the intake port on the intake manifold. The injector is aimed at the port and there is no fuel per say being drawn through the intake manifold. Being that the injector is much closer to the intake port than in a throttle body system, the fuel can be more accurately metered/controled. Also, being that the injector is as close to the intake valve/intake port, when the injector is spraying, the less distance the atomized fuel has to travel, the better the fuel stays atomized. The better the atomization of the fuel, the more effecient the burn will be.

The last style to be mentioned is a new innovation that I promise will become widespread over the next 10 years. It's known as DFI or Direct fuel injection. It's a very cool idea and similar to the injection systems in Diesel engines but with out the pre-combustion chambers.
DFI systems operate at very high pressures to maximize atomization and to take maximum advantage of the cooling properties of a fine mist of fuel being DIRECTLY injected into an engines combustion chamber. DIF systems have the greatest ability for computers to finely adjust the mixture. They are commonly used in performance engines with high compression(as high as 12:1) from what I have seen lately. DFI systems allow higher compression because they cool the air in the cylinders with the mist of fuel to prevent detonation. The more compression, the (generally speaking) more power can be generated, with less emissions. At light throttle positions, the AFR can be leaner without the NOX output that's common when running really lean with port injection or throttle body systems.


What this device seems to do from my vantage point ( I may be wrong with this......) is to reduce the "surface tension" of the fuel to allow greater atomization. It does this with a catlytic reaction. I have seen this technology used in other applications with some success. I look forward to reading 3rd party real world experiences with this thing.

 

That is the most accurate explanation that I have ever heard of Fuel Injection systems! Great Job!!!

When I saw that Audi and VW were using Direct Injection on their FSI engines (turbo gas), I was hoping Toyota wasn't far behind on bringing this over. Not yet.

TDI Diesel Engines (VW) use direct injection, and the fuel control is much more precise than the older IDI (InDirect Injection) engines. I can't wait until this is widespread on all engines. More expensive (slightly), but much better tuning for power and fuel economy.

Cheers!

 

that was a good description of the different fuel injection methods, finally somebody pointed out a different way that ECOTAZ's contraption helps

 

Ok so I've been away awhile but this is one of the threads I've been following.

My MPG in my 1994 Toyota pickup I was getting 36MPG.

In my 2007 I4 Tacoma Access Cab? About 20MPG.


Now admittedly I drive pretty aggressive. But I did so in my 1994 5 speed as well, if not more so.

So right before Thanks Giving I get a speeding ticket. I decided it was time to start driving like my dad. On my next fill up I reset the trip odometer and drive the whole take without my tachometer going over 2.5, and rarely above 2. I made nice and slow accelerating starts and lowered my cruising speed to the bare minimum of the speed limit. I did this for a total of 2 tanks of gas.

Before Thanksgiving: 20.81

Next two tanks after the ticket: 22.4 and 22.2

I was so pissed off. I convinced myself that if I could make a significant dent in my fuel economy I would drive that way for life, but to find out I was driving like an old man to save an avg of 1.5 MPG on average just had me enraged... I was always told how much gas you would save driving "normal".

So I tore out of QuickTrip parking lot... down the on ramp... onto the highway... over the hill... and right in to a laser speeding trap.

2 tickets in one month.

I paid the damn tickets then while taking back a Parrot BlueTooth speaker phone (horrible) to CircuitCity I purchased a BEL 965.

I drove for 2 weeks with only picking up the same annoying false readings from automatic doors and traffic light sensors that I had in the mid 90's. finally a couple of days ago I passed a cop running Ka band. It gave me a dramatic warning from almost 1.5 miles away. I was psyched! These things had improved.

Yesterday I was in moderate traffic. People beside me and in front of me. I am about 1/2 mile from an overpass when the Laser warning goes ape sh1t. This was not cast from another vehicle. This was a direct hit. No warning whatsoever. If I had been speeding I would have ticket number 3.

Today I took the radar detector back. Still driving aggressively but no more than 7 over the speed limit...

 

Just think of that difference in percentage terms. You got an average of 7.16% more mileage from those tanks. Assuming 12K miles a year and average $3.00 per gallon of gas, thats a savings of about $115 for the year. Not a HUGE number, but $$ is $$.

I'm a numbers junkie... have I mentioned that yet?

 

Here is some numbers for you to play with. My current numbers for my 2008 /V6 / Auto / 4x4 / AFE CAI / ECCO1 VPE

312 miles
4 wot / mix free way and city
19.873 gallons

347.4 miles
Half freeway / 4 wot / on 87 octane
19.4 gallons

328.3
Half freeway / 91 octane
City driving and minor towing
19.5 gallons

306
City for 70p / raced a truck - WOT 4 times
19.636 gallons

 

Since this seems to be close enough on topic to this thread...

After driving my truck for 217 miles since I purchased it a few days back, I filled up the tank to get an initial feel for the mpg.

217 miles
9.697 gallons
= 22.38 mpg

Most of my driving is on the interstate highway connector through downtown Atlanta. A few variables in that I went ahead and did the calculation just before my tank fell to the halfway mark, I filled up at a different fuel pump, and I spent a good half hour moving slowly in a big traffic jam yesterday. Traffic jams are part of Atlanta life, though, and that's to be expected.

Not bad, though, and I'll let my tank get below the halfway point before I measure my next mpg.

My 2.7 L Tacoma 4X2 Regular will obviously run me a few bucks more per week than my old '99 Toyota Corolla did, but the difference won't be that vast. I usually drive 65-70 though the Atlanta commute and am passed by most cars on the freeway, but I can be rough on the driving sometimes.

 

Yeah, I drove my old Dunlop tires like I stole them. I wanted them gone. Now that I have the Firestones - I want them to last. I dropped my average speed down to 70 MPH, but since the tire weight, tire footprint, and two sandbags have been added to my truck, my MPG stayed the same. I average 22 MPG.

Sorry to hear about your tickets. I will probably come back from New Mexico next week with one as well (my wife and I don't like to stop).

 

I have been reading this thread with interest. I have a 2007 Tacoma (4 cyl, auto, access cab - purchased new) and after driving it 1,960 miles my average MPG is 19.49. 80% in town driving.

It is amazing to me that gas mileage has actually improved so little in recent years. My 1991 Ford Ranger with 4 cyl and 5-speed manual got about 21 MPG. So in 16 years the technology has not improved much.

I love this truck and use it as a truck enough to justify using it as my everyday vehicle, but spending less on fuel would certainly be nice.

 

Most companies have been much more interested in output than in consumption. The 4cyl engines today have much more hp than those of the 90s. They are able to get this additional power without sacraficing fuel economy because that was what the consumer demanded. If they had developed the newer engines with the intent to get maximum fuel economy and keep the hp the same, you'd see a different picture.

 

All of that is going to change with the new federally mandated fleet fuel economy figures.

 

I hope so. That's the only reason some companies have even considered putting a hybrid on the market, to balance the big fuel guzzelers out. Only so much you can change your average if there's a 12mpg slug in your line-up.