Kia Sportage 2L turbo Diesel - ecomodding

[DieselMe]

Hi Ladies and Gent's,

I've been reading the forum a heck of a lot lately and thought I'd take the plunge and get registered. I'm afraid I have the ecomodding bug! I have a 2013 Kia Sportage - as you might have guessed by my sig it's a Diesel (turbo). I have been out to my SUV/car a lot lately, looking at how I can better the CD on the front and undertray. This is something I am definately going to tackle in the up coming months. The thing is, most of my driving is in the city and with it's stop-start driving it's frustrating to think of the economy loss. But I do drive out to the country once a fortnight, so I will enjoy the benefits of my ecomodding then! :-)

But first, I wanted to try and tackle the inner city economy, so I bought a water injection kit. Previously I have had water injection kits on my car as power adders. So I am familiar with their function and installation. On testing the kia with an OBDII I found that the car is on positive boost almost as immediately as you touch the throttle (nice for driving - bad for economy).

The goal with the water injection is to spray water into the intake to act as a fuel additive so the car needs less fuel to accelerate at the same rate (there are quite a few writeups on here if you want more information or head to any one of the water injection sites or PM me for more information).

So I just received the water injection kit today. I went with Coolmist kit, for $260 it is a very simple kit but includes a solinoid which is key to engine safety. The best kit out there is Aquamist hands down, but cost is a factor for this particular project. I don't categorically know if water injection will go with the Kia or it will throw an ECU error or what? (I'm 90% sure I will show positive results).

So I will take pics of the install and record results (ABA tests should be pretty darn easy). The only issue is driving around town (where I want to save fuel most) is so damn random that it will be hard to properly test. If anyone has any ideas on how to guage how much, if any, difference the water injection makes. I am interested to know!

Here's a link to the generic 'water injection' for fuel saving:

Snow Performance : Diesel MPG-MAX

There is a little deiesel stuff on the aquamist forum, but if you read that forum you will get the idea:

waterinjection.info - Powered by vBulletin

THIS is the main link that will help you though:

CHEMICAL COOLING « Killerbee Performance Technologies

Once you know a bit, I'll be happy to field questions.


PS - Aquamist know what they are doing. They setup the WI system on the land speed record diesel:

Aquamist cooled DIESELMAX has broken the land speed record a few days ago…

Thanks!

[DieselMe]

So I installed the water injection, and it definitely keeps the exhaust and intake temperatures down. This is the perfect mod for towing if you want temps right down.

From all the reading I have done, you must mix 10-20% Methanol with your water injection to have an effect on power/economy. Methanol is hydroscopic so mixing is easy, I will be testing with 10% methanol as this will be the most economic (the cost of methanol will decrease the savings).

[DieselMe]

So I did my normal run of approx 200kms, with just water. Normally I see 5.5-5.6L/100Kms. This time I saw my lowest recorded ever for the Kia. 5.3L/100kms.

Not scientific, I know but lowest ever recorded is pretty darn amazing! (Im taking the win).



EDIT: I pumped my tyres up to 44psi (max sidewall). So this would have added to the economy as well.

[DieselMe]

I've been logging the temps for the engine over the past 8 weeks. Nothing over 95 degrees C, and that was pushing it hard over and over trying to max out the cooling system. Average temp is ~80 degrees C.

Last night, invigorated by the 5.3L/100kms, I decided that I'd try my hand at aero modding the Kia. I'm not new to aerodynamics, it's one of my favourite things to read. Though previously I have been reading for downforce AND low drag (CD).

So down to it, I thought I would reduce the Kia's frontal area. the top grille is huge and not needed from my testing. Here you can see an example of the stock Kia, notice the BIG front open area:



So as you can see a LOT of open area. Now I have reduce the whole top radiator area. It's not a perfectly modded aero design, but the car is a 2013 and everything has to be a compromise. I believe the build up of air pressure in the front 'blades' would cause an pressure constant and (at a certain speed - I would guess 70+ - would cause the air-stream to take the path of least resistance of the bonnet. I will have to do some wool testing.

Anyways, here is the picture:



I blocked #1 entirely.

There are two open frontal areas, #2, this is where the coolant/intercooler/aircon radiators are getting their air-cooling from. You can better see from these pics (temp blocked with foam, I will block them with core-flute once I know the temps are okay): -





I test drove it last night, and the coolant temperature and intake temp (read from OBDII) didn't go up at all. They stayed solidly in the 80-85 degrees C range. Quite happy, I will be monitoring over the summer.

Here is a gratiuitous pic, Im quite happy with the way it all looks in the end:



Comments welcome, positive swing would be nice given it's my first ecomodding experience ;-)

[mcrews]

Welcome! Nice job!
I have the v6 sportage 06.

I have admired the c&w desiel turbos form afar.
Kia did a nice job w the desiel in the 2013.

[DieselMe]

Originally Posted by mcrews

Welcome! Nice job!
I have the v6 sportage 06.

I have admired the c&w diesel turbos form afar.
Kia did a nice job w the diesel in the 2013.

Thanks! It was your actually thread, that I read first that gave me in inspiration for modding my front grille! haha!

I love this idea of the 'pizza hub caps' too:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...aps-14295.html

I'm wondering If I can modify my inner rims to put this behind the rims. These are the standard Kia rims, which aren't too bad for aero:



But I'm thinking a pizza tray behind them would stop the airflow from mixing. By adding this behind the rims, it should increase their aerodynamic efficiency without me having to spend a heck of a lot on new rims. Definitely have to do a before and after though. I wonder if any gain would be offset by the extra weight. hmmmm

[MobilOne]

Be careful putting stuff behind the wheels. But, then again, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "What could possibly go wrong"?

[TimV]

Nice one on the lowe fuel use. Mine 2l turbodiesel from 2008 (other brand but still a SUV).

I sugest to hand dail the fuelusage.
Those onboard meters are well know to be a bit optimistic!

[TimV]

A question about the water meth injection. What is your fuel economy without the water meth injection. And what is your fuel economy with the water meth injection? So what is the gain? How much water and how much meth do you run with what amount of diesel? Is it cost benefit? Or arent you saving money with it? Where do you get the meth from? Pure or is it from windshieldfluid? What water do you use? From bottles? From tapwater?

The last time i calculated how much it would cost me with versus how much i would save on diesel. I wouldnt save money. PaybavkPayback distance was estimated on 150 000km. Witch was way to much for me...