How to raise gas mileage?

[aldive]

Originally posted by ok89
Aldive when you said you removed your roof rack do you just mean the 2 bars that run perpendicular to the car? How much of a change did this make?

Yes. just the cross bars and it was about 0.5 MPG.

 

[aldive]

Originally posted by MSTNGGUY88
I'm not trying to put you down tbomb but wax does help. I drag race and we actually pic up 2 tenths in the quarter just keeping a good coat of wax on the stang. It's common sense less friction and drag on the vehicle actually will equal better fuel mileage. Maybe not a very noticeable difference but it does help.

It does indeed help, not in huge numbers, but everything adds up. Plus your truck looks so much better.

Ever wonder how much wax/polish a NASCAR ot Indy or Formulat 1 car has on it? And its not just for looks.

 

[EliteConcept]

i am not sure what others did totally but heres what i did on my 92 X and i got about 17.5-18 miles in the city 19-21 highway during the summmer, due to "winter gas" my average droped to about 15.5.....so if my 92 can get good gas mileage all you newer X's with V6s can too

i've done this so far

1. New Battery, OPTIMA yellow top
2. K&N drop in air filter
3. New plugs and wires
4. FLOWMASTER non delta 40 series
5. I change my oil every 3000 miles no matter what...which is about every 2 months
6. also had my tranny fliud changed, don't know if that helped or not.


well hope i helped ya out


ryan

 

[drnaline]

98 AWD V8

I help crew a nostalga Top Fueler, 6.12@257MPH. It will do only 6.14@252MPH in primer. No wax included.

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

I'm with tbomb, the waxing/polishing wont increase your mileage. If it does, it is VERY minimal. Yes, I wont argue that it doesnt help with dragsters or NASCARs, but look at these cars, look at the power feeding through them and the aerodynamics. They have this stuff down to numbers, how much spoiler angle and all that stuff. These folks will only put one coat of paint on their cars just to drop a few pounds off of it. Most people dont get their Explorer past 75-80 mph. I dont think by having your car all waxed up it will be that much more efficient. It might gain half a mpg, if that. I dont mean to rag on anybody, but I'm just saying. But yes, I bet your trucks all look really nice

 

[tbomb]

Originally posted by 95ExplorerLtd
I'm with tbomb, the waxing/polishing wont increase your mileage. If it does, it is VERY minimal. Yes, I wont argue that it doesnt help with dragsters or NASCARs, but look at these cars, look at the power feeding through them and the aerodynamics. They have this stuff down to numbers, how much spoiler angle and all that stuff. These folks will only put one coat of paint on their cars just to drop a few pounds off of it. Most people dont get their Explorer past 75-80 mph. I dont think by having your car all waxed up it will be that much more efficient. It might gain half a mpg, if that. I dont mean to rag on anybody, but I'm just saying. But yes, I bet your trucks all look really nice

thats so right; in nascar, they have it down to thousandths of a sec in qualifying, so even wax is a factor.

as far as picking up 2 tenths of a sec, just because of wax, is utterly absurd. i dont drag race every week, but im no stranger to the track, and wax does not equal 2 tenths. it may help cut down a little bit of friction drag, but not that much, and as far as pressure drag goes, you cant change that, unless you take off your front hood and fenders and grill and bumper and make your truck come to a point out front with some fabbed up panels, like a pencil.

i understand what al says about every little thing helping a little bit, but for most guys, removing roof racks and bug deflectors and adding coats upon coats of wax just isnt feasible, for the small gain youll see.

 

[Texan01]

I manage to pull a consistent 20mpg in highway driving on my 95 going at 75mph, my little 86 Pontiac 6000 with it's 3 speed auto and FI 2.8 V-6, would manage about 24-25 at the same speed, 'course the engine runs at 3400 'cause of a lack of an overdrive. So for me, either one still gets better than my old '76 Chevelle ever could, 14 in town and 18 on the road no matter if you drive 55 or 105.

depending on how many miles you have, checking and/or replacing the O2 sensors and the coolant sensor may pick up 1-3 mpg. Case in point, I checked the coolant sensor (computer not gauge) on my 6000 and found that while it didn't trip the Check Engine light, it thought that the engine was running in -40 degree op. temp. before all this it would pull 15 in town, after could pull 18-20 in town.


I did take the crossbars off the roof rack, mainly cause I would never use the rack and I wanted to add some charecter to it, a side benefit also to taking the rack off, it's a little quieter in my opinon.

And speed does make a difference esp. on late model cars, my 6000 at 90 mph gets 16 mpg, at 75 gets 24.

 

[jimmiecakes]

I'm with TBOMB. If I need to be this enthusiastic about improving my gas mileage, it's time for me to sell the "Peanut" and buy a bicycle.

 

[Kontrol-Trak]

Originally posted by jimmiecakes
I'm with TBOMB. If I need to be this enthusiastic about improving my gas mileage, it's time for me to sell the "Peanut" and buy a bicycle.

or you can buy a motorcycle, save alot of gas and money plus smoke any car on the road

 

[Ross-N-Chicago]

The easy way out

Just get a company gas card, floor it all the time, track your mpg's, turn in your receipts, get fired, then drive normally to the unemployment office.

 

[DannyD28]

IMO . The biggest thing anyone can do to improve gas mileage is to accelerate slower, by not flooring it when pulling out and such. Now I admit, as most people do, I have this bad habit, but you would really really be suprised how much better your mileage can be when you do this.

 

[95ExplorerLtd]

Danny makes a good point. I'm guilty of doing it too, and its a lot of fun to get into the throttle and take off fast (just because I dont like when people take off from the line and poke ) but it really sucks up gas. The 4.0's really guzzle it up, especially in constant hilly curves (all uphill) where you really have to dip into it to keep a good speed. Highway or interstate isnt all that bad. When we left my house to go to Attica a year or so ago, I believe we had a full tank, and we had to fill up when we got there (I think). But if I'm wrong and we didnt, we filled up going back

Anyway, the way we take up there is all uphill and a bunch of curves, so it was a real drag on the engine, and we lost a lot of mileage.