Joe Dirt
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- October 4, 2007
- Messages
- 13,321
- Reaction score
- 31
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 07 Camry
Ok, just to introduce some food for thought. I have recently purchased the OBD bluetooth dongle and Torque for my Android.
I have been driving with it for about a week now, and have made some interesting observations which some go contrary to my past thoughts. The overall readings are still spot on to previous calculator findings, so I have no reason to not believe the results.
I'm running a bone stock 2000 V8, with no "fuel economy mods" except for a roof rack that has been removed. I'm not putting in a CAI, a chip, a tuner, or anything else. I'm really not interested in improving the economy beyond what I can do by changing how I drive, the whole point of this thread is simply to post some results so everyone can finally see what their truck is doing, how it acts, and what your various scenarios are as seen and reported by your OBD system.
If you want me to try something, let me know, maybe I will- so you can say "hmmm, that's interesting, I thought it would be different than that..."
Anyway, here is my initial finding-
When accelerating from a light, in general, keeping at "under 2,000 RPM's" means running at about 17-25% throttle. Problem is, that under the instant readings, when the Ex (at least my V8) when accelerating at all, I see about 4-8 MPG regardless of how hard I'm accelerating up to about 50% throttle, which is a pretty good clip. The instant MPG will start to rise as the truck speeds up simply because you're covering more ground per the gas you're burning- to about 12 MPG when at about 30-35 mph. Problem is, that it takes too long to easily creep up to 40-45 doing that, and your overall trip economy will suffer. That was contrary to what I thought it would show. I thought it would show much better as compared to a harder acceleration. Not so...
I've found that over the course of a few miles, I lose a lot of overall economy doing the "under 2,000 RPM" thing vs. what I'm doing now. ANY acceleration drops it to 12-13 MPG. The thing is a hog, so as much steady throttle and especially coasting- is what will be your helper. Not easy throttle- even easy throttle equals sub-13 MPG and hurts your overall reading.
Now when leaving a light, I'll smoothly accelerate to 40 or 45 (local speed limits in the city) at about 40% throttle. That felt weird to me at first since it seems like I'm burning more gas. Not so. The instant MPG readings were exactly the same, but I was able to hit 40-45 much faster, then throttle out, and completely shift out back to 1200 RPM and maintain throttle.
I would estimate that I lose about .5 AVG MPG over the course of an acceleration to 45 when feathering the throttle to 40-45, when smoothly accelerating up at 40% throttle, I only lose .1 AVG MPG.
At 40-45 I see 21-24 MPG instant, and that drives me up accordingly. I'll have to get some screenshots of the acceleration readings, as they're quite interesting...
Here are some speed comparisons, for everyone's entertainment. These are the AWD V8 on the city streets or highway, flat land runs, steady throttle to maintain speed, at about 80*F, about 50% humidity.
Disregard the AVE MPG readings, as the screen shots were taken at different times, I just put them in this order for ease of reading the post as increasing MPH readings. The instant readings are the top left corner. The other gauges are listed for your entertainment and knowledge.
40 MPH
58 MPH
66 MPH
70 MPH
Way more things to try yet, but thought I'd post the initial findings here as it can be an ongoing thread...
I have been driving with it for about a week now, and have made some interesting observations which some go contrary to my past thoughts. The overall readings are still spot on to previous calculator findings, so I have no reason to not believe the results.
I'm running a bone stock 2000 V8, with no "fuel economy mods" except for a roof rack that has been removed. I'm not putting in a CAI, a chip, a tuner, or anything else. I'm really not interested in improving the economy beyond what I can do by changing how I drive, the whole point of this thread is simply to post some results so everyone can finally see what their truck is doing, how it acts, and what your various scenarios are as seen and reported by your OBD system.
If you want me to try something, let me know, maybe I will- so you can say "hmmm, that's interesting, I thought it would be different than that..."
Anyway, here is my initial finding-
When accelerating from a light, in general, keeping at "under 2,000 RPM's" means running at about 17-25% throttle. Problem is, that under the instant readings, when the Ex (at least my V8) when accelerating at all, I see about 4-8 MPG regardless of how hard I'm accelerating up to about 50% throttle, which is a pretty good clip. The instant MPG will start to rise as the truck speeds up simply because you're covering more ground per the gas you're burning- to about 12 MPG when at about 30-35 mph. Problem is, that it takes too long to easily creep up to 40-45 doing that, and your overall trip economy will suffer. That was contrary to what I thought it would show. I thought it would show much better as compared to a harder acceleration. Not so...
I've found that over the course of a few miles, I lose a lot of overall economy doing the "under 2,000 RPM" thing vs. what I'm doing now. ANY acceleration drops it to 12-13 MPG. The thing is a hog, so as much steady throttle and especially coasting- is what will be your helper. Not easy throttle- even easy throttle equals sub-13 MPG and hurts your overall reading.
Now when leaving a light, I'll smoothly accelerate to 40 or 45 (local speed limits in the city) at about 40% throttle. That felt weird to me at first since it seems like I'm burning more gas. Not so. The instant MPG readings were exactly the same, but I was able to hit 40-45 much faster, then throttle out, and completely shift out back to 1200 RPM and maintain throttle.
I would estimate that I lose about .5 AVG MPG over the course of an acceleration to 45 when feathering the throttle to 40-45, when smoothly accelerating up at 40% throttle, I only lose .1 AVG MPG.
At 40-45 I see 21-24 MPG instant, and that drives me up accordingly. I'll have to get some screenshots of the acceleration readings, as they're quite interesting...
Here are some speed comparisons, for everyone's entertainment. These are the AWD V8 on the city streets or highway, flat land runs, steady throttle to maintain speed, at about 80*F, about 50% humidity.
Disregard the AVE MPG readings, as the screen shots were taken at different times, I just put them in this order for ease of reading the post as increasing MPH readings. The instant readings are the top left corner. The other gauges are listed for your entertainment and knowledge.
40 MPH
58 MPH
66 MPH
70 MPH
Way more things to try yet, but thought I'd post the initial findings here as it can be an ongoing thread...
