Optimum gas mileage

[2airishuman]

...using it as a feedback tool can help us...

hihosilver!

i agree competely, no bad driving habits here either

one could tape a ping pong ball to the go pedal,

or a sheet of tacks (drive barefoot) might work.

we taped a paper cup on the hood at driving school and filled it with water....

driver with the most water still IN his cup was the winner....

my results were definitive...

nearly died of thurst.

cheers
2air'

[HiHoAgRV]

I have a device that monitors my driving and lets me know when I'm being aggressive and waisting fuel--- Mrs. HiHo

[Brad Hunt]

Unless your intersection is at a speed between 40-45 mph the answer is NO. Here's why:

Your engine may be working at its most efficient at the intersection however wind resistance is a drag (pun intended) that doesn't increase 40,41,42,43 where each mph represents a 2.5-2.0 increase in resistance between 40 and 50 mph. Rather 41 has perhaps 9% more resistance than 40 and 42 has 10% more than 41; in short drag increases dramatically out of proportion to a minimal increase in speed.

Engine efficiency is only one factor but by far the most important factor and it becomes a bigger and bigger factor for every mph faster is wind resistance (drag). If the intersection is much over 45 mph then the slightly less efficient engine at 45 mph should use less fuel than the optimum engine at 55 mph with 125% (and this figure is probably low) more drag

In short, once your running in 5th or 6th gear, whatever your truck has, lower wind resistance (drag) trumps absolute engine efficiency.

[safari 28]

Seems to me on this trip wind and hills were the factor for fuel consumption. Overall avg on 7.2k and going is 12.3. Immediate checks vary from 14 down to 7. I find now running on e85 and quick checks at 65mph and a tail wind is 12.6. Not bad for 28 safari and 2 buck a gallon corn fuel.

[geirws]

I also found with my rig not to use the cruise control. I used it one day going east across the praires. Flat staight hyw. Got bad gas milage

[Gene]

I use the cruise because my leg feels better at the end of a long day on interstates or straight two lanes (I prefer to make my own decisions on curves). I think it gives me better mileage, but never did any real comparison. But, sometimes going up a moderate grade to maintain 65 towing, it downshifts (sounds like 3rd or 2nd out of 6) and if I were in control, I'd have let it slow down a bit. It doesn't know enough (no eyes) to upshift near the top of the grade. I figure I can do that better, but can't keep the speed perfectly even on the flats. Everything's a tradeoff, but I wish cruise had a better brain and eyes too. At least my partially repaired right knee feels better. I have surrendered to cruise.

My truck tells me how many mpg I am getting at any one point. I like it when I rolling downhill and it reads "99" mpg. I wish it went higher, but there's no third digit. Going up a pass it reads 3 or 4, so I don't like looking at it then. Between feeling bad and watching the numbers change constantly, I turn the readout back to the temperature so I don't run into anything. I don't know how accurate those average mileage readings really are. In two other trucks they were 1 to 2 mpg high—I figured Toyota wanted us to feel good. The new Tundra seems to be really close to the old reliable: figuring it out at the gas station.

Days when we're traveling on back roads and going 40 to 45 we get the best mileage. We don't get very far. Another trade off. Boring interstates get us there, fewer stops in campgrounds make up for the increased fuel cost. What I try to control is accelerating too fast. I think that's where the most fuel is burned for us guys who love our trucks, but wish we still had those sports cars we had in our 20's. My Tundra would leave my TR4A or MGB in the dust off the line, but those cars were a lot of fun to drive and gas was cheap.

Gene

[mrmossyone]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

I have a device that monitors my driving and lets me know when I'm being aggressive and waisting fuel--- Mrs. HiHo

Is the device called Mr. HiHo??????

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by mrmossyone

Is the device called Mr. HiHo??????

Sort of.
Mrs. HiHo (the fuel use monitor) lets Mr. HiHo (the fuel user) know that he is driving like a idot and needs to slow down. Usually followed by "Are you TRYING to scare me?"

[mrmossyone]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Sort of.
Mrs. HiHo (the fuel use monitor) lets Mr. HiHo (the fuel user) know that he is driving like a idot and needs to slow down. Usually followed by "Are you TRYING to scare me?"

There must not be a patent on that device as I have one lisenced under a different name and also has the question "Are we in a hurry?" spoken in a rather sarcastic and snide tone.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

I have a device that monitors my driving and lets me know when I'm being aggressive and waisting fuel--- Mrs. HiHo

YES....AND MINE IS FULLY AUTOMATIC. ONLY A VERY SLIGHT

HORIZONTAL ADJUSTMENT NEEDED AT THE END OF THE DAY

[Glenn G]

General info...... The fuel economy sticker on new vehicles is less than it has been in the past (ie more accurate) because of the change in standards thus reflecting more of the actual economy.

[Airstreamer67]

General Disarray, in case noone has answered your question about vacuum gauges on diesel engines, the answer is no. Today's diesels do not have a manifold that develops a vacuum like, for instance, carburetor-equipped gasoline engines.

On diesels, which generally today are fuel-injected and turbocharged, two gauges are good for indicating how hard the engine is working: an exhaust gas temperature gauge, and a pressure gauge on the turbocharger output. With these gauges, generally the lower the exhaust gas temperature and the lower the output pressure of the turbocharger is, the less work the engine is doing and thus the less fuel consumed.