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Question about engine speeds, road speeds and MPG

Greetings and Salutations

I find myself having to do a lot of long hauls - the sort where you pack a lunch, fill up the ipod, and try to get out early because there's a whole lot of nothing along the way. Six hours on the road. You get to recognize other drivers, watch the weather develop, the planets move in their orbits ... it isn't all boredom.

But, speed vs mileage. That's my big concern - cause the first trip I was late leaving, got caught in city traffic, and had to push it to get there on time. So a Mazda B2500 2.3liter, EFI engine and a five speed manual transmission will haul, but at seventy, it does seem to suck down the gas. As in "second stop" will be to refuel." 23.96 mpg if I recall correctly. Heading back, I was able to maintain a more "sedate" sixty five, and got slightly better mileage. 24.56 - did I mention the 3000 foot pass that is the alternative to the 4000 foot route (even if it is 30 miles shorter)?

So the question has been raised, what is the "power band" in the FordMazda engine, especially for climbing up the pass? Or The Pass as it is known. (As in "traction tires/chains are /advised/required" kind of warnings in the winter.) I have tried googleing but my google foo is low, I keep getting too many hits on how to improve performance with after market parts. So I was wondering if anyone has some shortcuts to the tech specs.

I'm not towing anything, on occasion I do "load it up" - but not enough to point the nose up. (I did that last summer, but I'm not running books to California any more.)

thanks for any advice.

pyotr

Reply to
pyotr filipivich
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One thing to consider along with speed is elevation change.

If one end of the trip is at sea level and the other end is at 3000 ft above seal level, then one direction of the trip will be net uphill travel and the other direction will be net downhill. If you went 60 uphill and 80 down, then you could see better mileage at 80 than 60. Or, 80 both ways will see good mileage one way and poor mileage the other.

It doesn't matter what the elevation is, it mostly matters what the difference is. You are climbing the same pass going both ways, so there is a consideration of the actual grade of the highway. If the hill in one direction is 4%, and in the other direction it is 6%, then the steeper grade will take more gas, but a steeper grade is generally a shorter haul so the shallow grade can be the longer route.

My former commute was only 40 miles, but the trip to work was downhill and the trip home was uphill. The difference in elevation was roughly 1,000 ft.

Basically, if you were making the trip in a car with an automatic, and the transmission wanted to shift down from OD, then recover speed and shift up again, then lose speed and shift down, then you should manually shift out of OD and hold the lower gear until you get to level ground again. In your truck, I suspect 4th would give better performance going over the pass. That's a gut feeling, since you are making the trip pretty regularly, I'd suggest you test the theory with a tank or two of gas and run the numbers.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

"Jeff Strickland" on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 09:44:55

-0800 typed in alt.trucks.ford the following:

Hadn't thought of that, aside from the obvious.

LOL. I used to live close enough to work to walk, and decided I would start. Because there used to be a glacier over this area, there is a large moraine half way between home and work. Or between work and home. The first day I decided to actually walk, it had snowed. So yes, "I had to walk to work, through the snow, uphill - both ways!..."

The route west to east is basically "up the mountains, down the other side, into the basin, up the other side, down into the first river's gorge, up the other side, then down into the other river valley, and I'm there" - "up hill all the way" A lot of flat, which is not the same as 'level'. Climbing the "passes" is 4th gear mostly. I figure I've an option of fast, or 'cheap' - pick one.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Following up my own post, to ask the question I wanted answered.

pyotr filipivich on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:02:51

-0800 typed in alt.trucks.ford the following:

But, in terms of speed vs mileage vs cargo capacity. For a Mazda B2500 2.3liter, EFI engine and a five speed manual transmission what is the "power band" in the FordMazda engine, especially for cargo.

Does anyone know what the Ford?Mazda Engineers beelive to be the "sweet" spot of that engine, where the RPM/Torque magic occurs?

tschus pyotr

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

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