Surprising increase in truck MPG

So, is "gasohol" really that much less energy dense???

i

In rec.crafts.metalworking Ignoramus15242 wrote: (snip)

Gasoline is 9700 Wh/l Ethanol is 6100 Wh/l

So, from that, 10% ethanol gasoline is: 9340 Wh/l, so somewhere in the range of about 4% less energy dense.

Other oxygenates can have a better or worse effect than ethanol.

Far easier to fill up at the same station and pump each time and to top off the tank (despite the dire warning stickers), collect the receipt from the pump and write the current mileage on it. Collect a handful of these receipts and you can easily calculate a very accurate MPG.

Man, nobody except a TV show is going to do that. Yes, feasible, but it isnt going to happen.

Previously posted how to measure miles per gallon.

One thing that you can be sure of, synthetic oil did not result in this perceived increase. I have nothing against synthetics, but feel that they are oversold with respect to the miracles that are claimed for them.

After 18 months, you cannot hope to account for this level of increase because of engine "wearing in". Malarkey.

You are either not measuring the mileage accurately, OR you have a different gasoline mixture, OR your driving conditions are grossly different from previously.

I hope I could be wrong, but it is unlikely.

Lubricants get thinner when it is warmer. Less energy loss. Less ethanol in the fuel will give better "mileage". Keep track of the # of miles and gallons for 10 tanks, then average them to see if you have a "real" difference, but don't change the way or the places you go if you want useful data. Is anybody else driving your vehicle? My wife gets about 6 mpg less than I do in the same car, going the same places. Are you always getting the fuel at the same place? No, not all fueling ramps are level, at least not where I go sometimes. This can make a gallon difference. The way you are measuring, you could simply have a change in the float of your fuel gage.

Pete Stanaitis

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Where are you and what is the weather situation My 94 TransSpert gets almost double the mileage in the summer than what it gets in the winter - particularly around town. Also, the engine IS now broken in on yours (mine too - I've got

100,000km on the new rebuilt) ** Posted from **

Yes. If your fuel is 10% ethanol, it will have about 5% less energy than an equivalent volume of straight gasoline.

nate

10% ethanol costs you 5% in power because ethanol has half the btu/gallon (roughly) of straight gasoline. If you know one fas is E10, and the other is E0 (straight gasoline) you are just as far ahead paying $4.20 a gallon of the E) as $4.00 per gallon for E10. ** Posted from **

It was the EPAs test method until they switched to the current computer modeling system. It is also in many of the older engine textbooks as well.

Also really difficult to do on Iggy's 18 month old *fuel injected* truck.

I think that most likely, you are right.

i

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

exactly my point!

How is that a measure of anything useful? Assuming that you need

I have a watch, and the gas pump tells me how much gas I pumped

cheers T.Alan

Oh, so you're talking about gallons per hour going INTO the tank. That's more of a property of the gas pump than the car.

I agree, it used to be a standard way of doing things, but with most cars having fuel injection now it is not too convenient. By the same token, I doubt the OP has the equipment to safely jury rig such a device on a carbureted automobile.

So I stand by "feasible, but is isnt going to happen"

But that is a totally meaningless statement given that you are talking to a guy who is getting 10 miles per gallon which means he is throwing away (wasting) a lot more energy in every gallon of fuel than he is using.

Studies in fleet vehicles have consistently shown that adding 10% alcohol to gasoline INCREASES mpg by about 3 to 5 percent. It is also well known that the addition of alcohol to gasoline results in higher octane and in more complete combustion of the fuel than gasoline alone. Which explains why energy content calculations mean nothing.

However, The OP reports he was getting 10 mpg and it has recently increased to about 12 mpg - it is doubtful ethanol has much to do with his poor gas mileage. But if it does have anything to do with it - it is more likely the increase in mileage was due to gasohol not the other way around.

-jim

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Baloney. 10 MPG is a perfectly reasonable figure depending on the vehicle and what you are doing with it. If he was getting 10 MPG and it suddenly improved a couple MPG and his pickup isn't a 1 T heavy duty model then perhaps has has had a problem with a bad sensor connection or something that was hurting the mileage and that problem has cleared itself. 10 MPG isn't unreasonable for a 1 T dually with a big block hauling stuff around, but if it's a 1/2 T SRW under ordinary use it should do a bit better than that. Perhaps Iggy can post the detail on the truck, including axle ratio so others can give him and idea of what he should be getting for MPG and he can see if his MPG is in the expected range.

I improved my MPG quite a bit recently. I changed my air filter. There are quite a few things one can do to improve mileage that are cheap or free.

Steve

Don't forget that the OP is actually 'eyeballing' his gas gauge for these 'tests'.

He is 'not' checking his MPG, only his eye's accuracy on guessing what a gauge reading means....

When his 'eyeball' says the needle is on E, he fills up and thinks that is his 'gas mileage'. He says he does have a gas can 'just in case'. but has never actually run the tank empty in 'reality' to test how far a full tank might take him, nor has he ever done an odometer vs volume check.

Just an observation most here are ignoring for some strange reason.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 'New' frame in the works for '08. Some Canadian Bush Trip and Build Photos: