Just wondering if anyone here has tried fitting fuel saving devices to their car (magnetic clamp onto the fuel line, fan blades inserted into the air intake, etc.) and if these actually did anything for fuel economy - or not.
Thanks for reading...
Allan.
My 240 had one of these on it when I bought it. Took it off immediately. A recidivous concept. At least real snake oil gets you drunk!
I put these in the same class as deer whistles.
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"
fuel savings stratagy >>
cut back on driving......i can see imediate results....
They're 100% pure bullshit, they are guaranteed to work at emptying your wallet though.
probably the best fuel-saving device is a good tire pressure gauge... use it regularly to keep the pressure up, and that will help reduce fuel use as well as prolong the life of the tires! I keep my 240 around 36PSI, which is a bit higher than the figure posted on the car, but I like the firm ride and tight steering.
Especially important to check the pressure during the spring and fall, when temperature is changing almost daily!
They do great for the seller - transferring $ from your pocket to theirs. Other than that, nothing.
Jack G.
None of 'em work. Consumer Reports recently did a test of a number of popular types. Most did nothing, some did harm.
I've been a car nut for 35 years now and have seen the magic spark plugs, magic air filters, magic magnets and such and they are all B.S.
John
Randy G. wrote: (...)
The larger animal warning whistles do work. I've used them for years, and for the decade or so I was coming home at 4:00am (a peak time for deer and other animal activity), they turned lots of critters away from my path. Sometimes they would spook them out into the road, but it was always well ahead of me - I never had to lock the wheels, or even brake hard. A big improvement over having deer run out 10 feet in front of you, in either case. They are useless in the case of amphibians, though.
We have a 1978 244 - I *think* the tyres are supposed to be 32 PSI according to a label on the car. I can't stand it at that pressure - the steering is so HEAVY. I recently put 40 in, but the tyres were hot at the time, so yep, about 36 is usual for us too.
Wow. I didn't think the magnetic ones would do anything from my electronics training (petrol not magnetic - duh). But I thought the air ones would get some positives. Unless I didn't describe it correctly... See here for one type:
As for the guy who said to drive less... We already walk as much as possible - I'd love to fit a steam engine in the 244... I've been dreaming of that for years before fuel skyrocketed!
Allan.
I saw this thing on ebay...it essentially wraps the fuel line around the radiator hose, warming up the fuel before getting the the engine. As an backyard engineer, this seems to make more sense than the other nonsense I've seen.
Deer whistles were a hot topic in our department a year or two ago. We never reached any sort of resolution - we could use them if we wanted or not. The "antis" pointed out that the frequency is so high (1/4 wavelength is way less than the deer's ear spacing) it is impossible to tell which way the sound is coming from, and that deer have no way of deciding what (if anything) to do. Your experience is the most positive thing I've heard.
Mike
No. The throttle plate will nullify any swirl appearing before it and will introduce many times more turbulence of its own, and the valves will nullify the throttle plate turbulence while introducing their own flow pattern.
Engine manufacturers began engineering intake flow beginning with the Honda CVCC engine in the early 70s. Any change is going to be for the worse.
Mike
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Until you consider that warming the fuel reduces the density of the charge going into the combustion chamber, therefore reducing the energy obtained when it burns. That's why you see lots of cold air induction systems made for cars; things only need to be warm during starting in low ambient temperatures.
Similarly, the devices that induce turbulence to "help mix the fuel" are a joke; engineers spend thousands of hours getting rid of turbulence in the intake. The smoother the air flows, the more of it gets into the chamber, the more power you get--unless you have that fuel heater gadget installed.
Gary
Magnets on the fuel line do absolutely nothing. All little boys think magnets are magical. Some adults still believe it.
Yep, still no.
Think about it. Auto manufacturers spend a fortune to meet fuel economy regulations and maximize power. Any simple cheap ways of doing so are already being done.
John
There was a study that showed that the "whistles" create sounds that are beyond the hearing range of the animals they are supposd to be effective on. How that is supposed to work is beyond me.
Read here: Hearing Sensitivity in White-tailed Deer Ken Risenhoover, Jon Hunter, Roy Jacobson, and Glenn Stout
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"
Don't you think the automakers would have installed them from the factory if it was that simple to improve economy?
all fuel gadgets work, and some better than others. The trick is not to install them per the manufacturers instructions, but under the throtle pedal limiting movement
That's exactly the opposite of what you would want. The ideal situation would be to chill the air, chill the gas, and add a bit of humidity to the intoake air. vr wonder why the car seems to run so well on cool, damp days? Denser air, denser ful, and greater expansion in the combiustion process.
"Robert Polk" wrote:
__ __ Randy & \ \/ /alerie's \__/olvos '90 245 Estate - '93 965 Estate "Shelby" & "Kate"
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