Trying to improve gas mileage

[v1rotv2]

I know some guys are.....

I am willing to bet that somebody will produce parts to make our older Explorers and Rangers become a hybrid type of vehicle or battery powered.

We will then be able to prove what these old beasts can still do.

converting older Chevy Luvs into battery power plug-ins. They get about 50 miles on a charge. No gas engine, pure electric. That would work for me to get to town. Winter driving when you need 4x4 drive would be a problem. My ideal vehicle is a clean smaller diesel that drives a generator that powers two drive motors mounted to the front wheels then have two more smaller motors mounted to the rear wheels to be engaged or powered when 4x4 is needed. Since most of the time your moving slower in 4x4 drive you can get away with the smaller motors in the back. Anytime you want 4x4 just flip a switch.

There is a guy in, I think Witchita KS, that is converting the H3 Hummer into this type of set up. He claims he is more than 3x the horse power and getting around 60 mpg. If I can get his website I'll post it. If I could convert my 93' Limited to that arrangement for a reasonable cost, I would never get rid of her.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/20/biodiesel-turbine-super-capacitor-series-hybrid-hummer-60/

 

[Willard]

How do you get 2x the horsepower out of the same motor? It's not like going to electricity will gain you power.

 

[djsk8r33]

keep your stinkin hybrids away from me! i like my v-8's! and i dont care what gas costs to fill it!!!

(althought it hurts very bad)

 

[bkkbb1]

I have been monitoring my gas mileage for months and I get 15.5 in town. I don't hit the highway except vacations and then it's about 17-18 mpgs. I haven't changed the plugs since I got it 2 years ago and I am sure that it will help. Just isn't on the need to do list at the moment.

 

[Jack Flash]

my '92 EX (3.08 gears) is my daily driver and I get 22.1 in mixed driving....my daughter has a Kia Optima and it makes me mad...the damned thing gets 32 plus on the interstate at 80 mph and the a/c on.

I also have a '99 Ranger which I bought new. the best mpg that it ever got was 23.3 on a long trip. (3.73 gears)

...jjf <----looking hard at a bicycle....lol

 

[JMan689]

I would have to figure the cost of buying a car vs. paying for gas. You have to burn a hell of lot of fuel to justify spending for the cost of another vehicle. One comparison that I saw for getting rid of a paid off car worth $6000 and then buying a new prius was something like 47 years if you drove 10,000 miles a year and fuel costing $2.50 a gal. Now I know the time required would make up the difference now that fuel is at $3.45 a gal will be somewhat less but still over 20 years. We drive around 7500 to 8000 a year so it just does not make sense to buy into another gasoline car with the technology changing in the near future. By that I mean in the next 4 or 5 years hybrids with plug-in capability will be the mainstay. I will wait for that. We live about 7.5 miles from town and will not use one drop of fuel going to and from town with a plug-in.

That's why if i sell my 94 (which i probably will) I'm going to try and get it for almost what my new daily driver will cost me.

 

[fordnut71]

$3 a gallon? WTF That's cheap.

That works out to like 0.80 cents a liter.

I'm paying $1.06 - $1.09 a liter right now and it's not even spring yet. Which is around the $4 a gallon mark.

About time you boys starting paying as much as us for gas. Hell the stuff is made in my city and I still get ripped off.

But ya the prices suck regardless so better mileage out of these gas pigs would be nice.

ya i like how the americans cry about gas prices. 85 percent of american oil is from canada an we have to pay to give it to them

 

[Guido0136]

Fordnut71 - Here here, why can Canadians keep their own oil???

 

[v1rotv2]

What I think he is doing......

How do you get 2x the horsepower out of the same motor? It's not like going to electricity will gain you power.

is converting the added torque the electric motors are putting out. No gas engine can compare to an electric motor for torque. The horse power increase is coming from measuring the out put of the electric motors. Go to the ink and check it out for yourself. It's because of this that all train locomotives are diesel electric. The commercial on tv about one of the railroad companies says they can move one ton of freight 400 miles on one gal. of fuel. I know that's also because of way they package train sets but they are far more efficient than straight fuel engines.

 

[Glen4X4]

Yeah...i been thinkin bout this for awhile...bout selling my 95 even though I love the thing to death...but think its going to have to go already, I've only had it for a couple months.

 

[fordnut71]

i know the cry on gas again i was in vegas 10 days ago an they are at $3.15 a gallon like geez id kill for them prices

 

[Mr.Ford]

No bueno, i'm already getting around 18-20 depending on how my right foot feels. Drive 50 miles 5 days a week though it just isn't enough.

Well hell. what are you complaining for. 94xlt-11-13mpg.

 

[boggs1227]

i thought this thread had died...lol ....

update : two days ago i went for a long trip into the mountains and the trip was about 200 miles round trip...did a fill up and calculated i'm getting .....
----> 21.3 mpg !

thats better than before when i posted last in this thread .i bet if i change out my diff fluid and get some better tires i wonder how much i could go beyond that !?

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

Ok, i've read Aldive's Quest for 30 thread so i know what hes done but i don't have nearly that much money to dump into my X.

Now i know having a correct alignment and all that will improve gas mileage.

I also know i need new coil/leaf springs, ball joints and wheel bearings, if i replace all those how much better gas mileage should i see?

Yes i know i should replace them regardless but if i can't get some good highway gas mileage out of this thing i'll be needing to look for another vehicle.

What year explorer are we talking, if it's the 94 or 92 you won't get to much better then the 18-20 you've mentioned later in the thread.

 

[JMan689]

Its a 94, its in the For Sale section now.

 

[SwaintaN]

I seen the headline was trying to save gas.... i bought the hho kit (email me) and it made 4 more mpg on mine. (not alot but saves in the long run)

 

[calmac06]

Yeah, I feel the pain too, gas here is about $3.35ish now and I have driven about 13,500 miles since September, or about 1687.5 miles a month or 20,250 miles a year. At $3.35 a gal and ~17 mpg that's about $3990 a year for gas...

Here's my solution:

How is about 50+ miles per gallon? I'm planning to be picking this up next month!

 

[SwaintaN]

lol I dont wanna do the math, but bought the car in late 2006, had 145 thou miles on it, now its got 210 thou miles on it, so roughly 65 thou miles in 2 years... yeah and its 3.49 a gallon here in Mansfield Ohio. Plus mine was only getting 15 mpg, thank god for searching on the internet! i get a little better mpg, lol my fix for the situation, im buying a geo, ROFL

 

[boggs1227]

hey swaintan...i was reading up on the hho tech and it seems interesting .

so you got 4 more mpg right? on mine that would put me up to 24 mpg not to bad ...i get that practically in my 2005 colorado 4 cly... thats about average i guess now days .

so, the hho set up ,just a holding tank with two electrodes,power source (car battery) and a hose to inject it into the fuel line right ??

on this setup you have is there a varible rate valve that controls hydrogen into the fuel line ?

sorry to any that this reply may seem like it belongs in a another spot but since we're talking mpg here i think it's a good time to ask .

thanks in advance

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

keep your stinkin hybrids away from me! i like my v-8's! and i dont care what gas costs to fill it!!!

(althought it hurts very bad)

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/Feg/noframes/25122.shtml

2008 Chevy Tahoe - Hybrid

Packed with a 6.0L V-8 Engine, and with that kidn of mileage, heck yea!

I read that when you're on the highway, it'll cut off 4 cylinders when you're maintaining speed, it's to bad Ford won't incorporate this technology into the Explorers and keep them around.