Hi, new guy here :)

[AndrewH.]

So traded an 99 expedition with 230k miles for a 95 4dr dx 5speed with 130k miles.
Man I LOVE this car.
i havent done anything to it but wash it.
So on saturday i filled up the tank and it lasted me till today im at 335 miles, 270 of those miles were nothing but city and the rest were highway.
So question is how do i calculate MPG? do i do 335/11.9 (which is my fuel tank capacity) or 335/8? it took 8 gallons to fill up the tank on saturday.

this is my first stick shift car so i know i could have gotten better MPG but im still a little rusty in taken off smoothly and such. and when coming to a stop i usually put it in neutral and break. a buddy of mine told me to leave it in gear and then around 15mph step in the clutch and break.
im going to be changing the spark plugs, wires, fuel and air filter, and do an oild change pretty soon. hoping to get better MPG.

any other driving advice any of you can give me?

[darcane]

For accurate mpgs, fill tank completely and reset the trip odometer, drive, then fill tank completely. Divide distance shown on trip odometer by the amount of gas you put in. Repeat for every tank.

Read the 65+ Efficiency Mods and 100+ Hypermiling Tips (See links at top of page). Once you understand them, start using the techniques and see your economy improve.

[CAPTAIN CHAOS]

Welcome.

Agreed, divide miles driven by how much gas you actually put in to fill. The only time tank capacity would be used is if you ran it bone dry and pushed it to the gas station. Lol.

There are LOTS of tricks with a stick that can be used.
My usual arsenal consists of:

-Shift low. Most cars I've driven respond favorably to shift points at roughly 1800-2000rpm. Lower than that seems to be a gamble as with some cars it puts too much load on the engine (which hurts economy). This may take some trial and error, or data logging, on your part to see what your car “likes”. Keep in mind, this only applies when you’re accelerating. Once at cruising speed put it in the highest gear possible.

-When in doubt, pick the higher gear. Cruising in 3rd gear in town is a sure fire way to kill your mileage (I’ve seen it done). 90% of the time you will be able to use 5th at any speed above 25-30mph. If you need to accelerate with a little gusto for some reason, drop it down a gear.

-COAST, COAST, COAST! Sticks are the kings of coasting, use it to your advantage. Push the clutch in and glide as much as possible. With a careful eye and a little luck, you can alternate light throttle and coasting and make it through consecutive traffic lights without stopping, sort of a "pulse and glide" in town. Now, you’ll inevitably have someone riding your bumper doing this but they are the same people that will gas it hard off the red light and then be forced to slam on the brakes at the next so just ignore them. Maintaining a steady pace without stopping will have you’re mpg’s climbing like crazy.
Now, some people (like your friend) will tell you to coast in gear. What they’re trying to do is get the car to go into fuel cut (most new cars will cut the fuel when coasting) but in my experience, doing this with a stick cuts you’re coasting distance a TON as the direct connection between the engine and drivetrain makes for a LOT of drag when off the throttle (engine braking). The tiny amount of fuel an engine uses to idle is more than made up for by the fact that you can coast SO much longer with the clutch in.

-The kinda goes with the previous point, Coast down hills (even small ones). Pushing in the clutch and coasting down hills can be done without losing speed and impeding traffic even on very small hills. Just remember: when you’re moving any decent speed with the clutch in and the engine idling, you’re getting 100mpg+. The more often you can do that the more it’ll bring your overall average up. There are a LOT of opportunities to coast in town, look for them and use them.

Overall though, it seems like you’re doing VERY well already. 335 miles on 8 gallons is 41.9mpg.
A little different than the Expedition, huh.

[MetroMPG]

Congrats on the trade, and double-congrats on going for the manual transmission!

Learn to be smooth. Learn rev-matching (google it). Lots of fun, way more efficiency potential than an equivalent automatic.

Others already answered, but:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...rmula-352.html

Start a fuel log.

Get fuel consumption instrumentation! You'll need an MPGuino, since your car is pre-OBD-II. Makes driving for efficiency more fun, plus instant feedback is critical for optimizing your technique.

[YeahPete]

They pretty much covered everything.
Especially:
"Read the 65+ Efficiency Mods and 100+ Hypermiling Tips "

Welcome to the club!

[Flakbadger]

Welcome to the forums!

Engine braking (keeping engine in-gear while decelerating) is great, but needing to slow down less often is even better

The largest gains I've made in fuel efficiency have been made from reading through these forums. Spend some time doing that and you'll learn a lot, especially if you search for the subsequent questions you think of.

Good luck and happy Ecomodding!

[AndrewH.]

Originally Posted by CAPTAIN CHAOS

Welcome.

Agreed, divide miles driven by how much gas you actually put in to fill. The only time tank capacity would be used is if you ran it bone dry and pushed it to the gas station. Lol.

There are LOTS of tricks with a stick that can be used.
My usual arsenal consists of:

-Shift low. Most cars I've driven respond favorably to shift points at roughly 1800-2000rpm. Lower than that seems to be a gamble as with some cars it puts too much load on the engine (which hurts economy). This may take some trial and error, or data logging, on your part to see what your car “likes”. Keep in mind, this only applies when you’re accelerating. Once at cruising speed put it in the highest gear possible.

-When in doubt, pick the higher gear. Cruising in 3rd gear in town is a sure fire way to kill your mileage (I’ve seen it done). 90% of the time you will be able to use 5th at any speed above 25-30mph. If you need to accelerate with a little gusto for some reason, drop it down a gear.

-COAST, COAST, COAST! Sticks are the kings of coasting, use it to your advantage. Push the clutch in and glide as much as possible. With a careful eye and a little luck, you can alternate light throttle and coasting and make it through consecutive traffic lights without stopping, sort of a "pulse and glide" in town. Now, you’ll inevitably have someone riding your bumper doing this but they are the same people that will gas it hard off the red light and then be forced to slam on the brakes at the next so just ignore them. Maintaining a steady pace without stopping will have you’re mpg’s climbing like crazy.
Now, some people (like your friend) will tell you to coast in gear. What they’re trying to do is get the car to go into fuel cut (most new cars will cut the fuel when coasting) but in my experience, doing this with a stick cuts you’re coasting distance a TON as the direct connection between the engine and drivetrain makes for a LOT of drag when off the throttle (engine braking). The tiny amount of fuel an engine uses to idle is more than made up for by the fact that you can coast SO much longer with the clutch in.

-The kinda goes with the previous point, Coast down hills (even small ones). Pushing in the clutch and coasting down hills can be done without losing speed and impeding traffic even on very small hills. Just remember: when you’re moving any decent speed with the clutch in and the engine idling, you’re getting 100mpg+. The more often you can do that the more it’ll bring your overall average up. There are a LOT of opportunities to coast in town, look for them and use them.

Overall though, it seems like you’re doing VERY well already. 335 miles on 8 gallons is 41.9mpg.
A little different than the Expedition, huh.

A little different? a Big DIFFERENCE! lol,
i deliver pizza so most of my driving is in the city, and im glad im doing 40MPG.
Going to try and aim for 45 after the tune up, and im going to read the stickies.
Thanks guys for the welcomes.

[bestclimb]

weclome, I would get an MPGuino in that thing quick. Anything you do you can do better with fuel consumption redouts.

[MetroMPG]

City mileage isn't a problem. Depending on how far you want to take your technique, you can beat highway MPG in the city.

You'll probably want to be searching/reading up on how to add a shifter-mounted engine kill switch.

Timing the lights/slowdowns is a hugely effective city technique. Keep the car moving! Momentum is your friend and the brake pedal is your enemy. It's all there in the 100+ driving tips list at the top of the page.

[AndrewH.]

i have those tabs open and im going to get ready to read them all
and how do you put that white circle in your sig?
i keep trying ad trying and cant find a way.