Surprising increase in truck MPG

Once you get below around half a tank, the vertically mounted fuel pump is no longer submerged. The motor still gets some cooling from the gas flowing over it inside the pump, but you loose all the thermal conductivity of gas around the outside of the metal pump housing carrying heat away.

That's a definite possibility and march / april would likely be when it would change in most areas.

Reply to
Pete C.
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Not many years ago, didn't some cars have factory installed miles per gallon gauges in the dashboard.I think J.C.Whitney.com company sells some miles per gallon gauges.I have seen them advertised many years ago in some magazines. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Cite.

Reply to
clifto

So you don't drive the truck, you use it to store your investment gasoline. :)

Reply to
clifto

LOL.

My Jeep has had a gas gauge that works when it wants to, like maybe 2 years out of the last ten and I use the odometer all the time for fill-ups.

We even take it on 3 and 4000 mile camping trips to the east coast. When I hit 350 miles on my 20 gallon tank on a trip I know I need fuel soon. I ran out once at 386 miles I think it was fully loaded running hard (70+ mph which would be about 19 mpg). If I keep mine under 65 mph, I can get 21-22 mpg. Not bad for something with the aerodynamics of a brick.

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:
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Reply to
Mike Romain

*gallons per topoff as his gauge-needle approaches 'empty'*. And to be more nearly accurate, it is all obtained as the needle approaches, but never reaches 'E'. Remind anyone of "limits" in Calc 101? In older times a prof. I had would say "as the needle approaches "E" asymptotically". Enough of my bull***t. Romain and others got it right. I esp. enjoyed being reminded of the variables mentioned: esp. the one about which spouse is driving (quite true in my case as well). And I want to add one more: expansion of gas with heat. Fill the tank *early* one morning when temp. is much colder than it will be that evening when you return to the same spot to re-fill it. Even with top-of-the-brim fills both times, the increased temp., both ambient and of the vehicle itself, will yield an inaccurately high mpg. Good way to impress a friend with how good your mpg is. Also to help sell your used gas-hog to your penny-pinching, unpopular neighbor--heck, let him fill it back up! Luck to you, iggy, and you're correct to not expect great mpg with a 3/4 ton pickup. And as always, my input is based on my personal mileage and/or beliefs. With price of gas, thanks to all who can help us do better. s .
Reply to
sdlomi2

Any other changes? Tire pressure? Add a cap (shell or bed cover)? Break in usually adds 5-10% mileage because of less friction throughout the drivetrain. Like others stated, running the fuel pump dry is not good for it, plus the injectors should not run dry either since they rely on fuel for lubrication.

Reply to
ff

Clifto, it's really simple.... they take 10 gallons of gasoline and then add a gallon of alcohol. They then divide the miles driven by ten to get their mpg figure.

Now if they divided by 11 it would go down because that gallon of alcohol had less energy than a gallon of gasoline, but when they just add alcohol and neglect its volume, they've added energy in the form of alcohol but haven't corrected for its volume.

Reply to
Brent P

"SteveB" wrote in news:vXmOj.12525$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe12.phx:

Reducing speed by 5 MPH can also have a noticeable impact upon fuel economy.

So can adding a bit of air pressure to the tires if they're not already at maximum.

In city driving, shutting off the engine while waiting for the traffic jam to resolve itself can save quite a bit as will any other technique that reduces engine idle time. [Sweating uses less fuel than staying cool.]

Reply to
Eregon

The difference between winter and summer blend will *not* produce a 25% improvement in fuel mileage. There's something else going on.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Yup for E85 fuel gasoline wins but for E10 fuel there have been studies that go both ways. They vary from 3% increase to 3% decrease and often no difference. None of the tests have shown ethanol to be as bad as the theoretical calculations of 4% less heat content. No one disputes that ethanol added to gasoline produces combustion that is more complete and raises octane levels. So if you are buying 87 octane E10 and don't get the mileage you think you should the problem is the crappy low grade fuel that occupies 90% of the tank not the 10% that is ethanol. The tests that use the same fuel with or without ethanol added have consistently shown an improvement in mileage because most modern cars are able to take advantage of the increased octane to some degree run more efficiently.

-jim

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Reply to
jim

It shouldn't be. Ethanol has about 80% the energy by volume as gasoline, but gasohol is only 10% ethanol, so it shouldn't make that big a difference. The E85 users will really see the difference, though.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Pete C. wrote: Axle ratio can make a pretty

Really! I had an MR2 years ago, tiny bug of a car, and was APALLED that it got about 16 MPG! My Corolla station wagon has a similar engine, but carburetor instead of FI, and gets about 34 MPG in mixed driving, and 39-42 on the highway. Both had 5-speed manual trans. But, I can tell the Corolla has a MUCH lower final ratio. I even thought of swapping out the final gears in the MR2, but got offered one of those insurance settlements you can never pass up, especially as an increasing family size was looming, so I let them have it.

Took a couple years to figure out why I was having so many "incidents" with the MR2 - people just DIDN'T SEE the thing! At least once a week I had somebody pull out of a driveway or side street RIGHT in front of me!

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

no it doesn't.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

That's a little better than my '95 Cherokee with the 4.0 liter. I get a fairly steady 19 MPG at 60 MPH. Haven't tried it too much faster, there are no roads in Michigan's U.P that are over 55 MPH. Like you mentioned, aerodynamics of a barn door.

Reply to
Jim

That's basically what I figured. The few times I've gotten any REAL gasoline without alcohol in it lately, my mileage has gone up.

Reply to
clifto

Yike, it used to be 70 or maybe 75 in some parts of the UP. But gas was 36 cents/gallon then. d8-)

It's 65 here in NJ. Does anyone stick to the 55 mph limit up there?

(Of my two cars, the one that gets the worst mileage is around 31 mpg highway. 'Sure glad I don't have a truck right now. )

Reply to
Ed Huntress

"Ed Huntress" wrote in news:480a63d0$0$25050 $ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

The onetime car that I miss most these days was my '62 MG Midget.

948 cc 4-banger with 2 side-draft carbs, mechanical tach driven off the generator, Lucas electricals, and all. 33 MPG City and 55 MPG Highway.

'Course, it'd only do 85 MPH falling off a very high cliff...

Reply to
RAM

Indeed. Less than 65%

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

Reply to
Todd Rich

"Doug Miller" wrote: (clip) pumping premium instead of regular.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Premium does not have more energy per gallon than regular. It has a higher antiknock rating. Period. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ One really hot day, that raised the pressure inside the tank just enough to pop out a large dent. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I've been racking my brain trying to think of how he could have got a

*negative* dent in his tank. Thanks for answering that for me. But, now we have to go back and search for the time he posted a question about why his miles per tankful suddenly dropped, and how tuneups, etc, are not helping.
Reply to
Leo Lichtman

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