[EcoJeeper]

.... I drive one.


Hey all. I'm new to the community but looking forward to working with you guys on getting better gas mileage. I've been pretty impressed with the knowledge I've learned so far in reading various posts on the site. For one thing, I never knew how much difference little things could make in gas mileage numbers. Anyway, on to the vehicle.

I drive a 1994 Jeep Wrangler. It is the 4 cylinder 5 speed manual model with a soft top. I would like to get a hard top for it eventually both for looks and for a potential lessening of drag (I would just assume with the various little air gaps between the soft top and half doors that it would be worse for gas mileage than would a hard top with full doors). Anyway, it's got around 138,000 miles on it and still runs pretty good.

As you might guess by my driving a Jeep, I enjoy 4-wheeling tremendously. I've wanted a Jeep for about as long as I can remember and just recently got in a position to own one. I thought I was pretty much sunk as far as fuel economy was concerned until I found this site. Now I have a bit more hope for improving it (when I first bought the Jeep I was only getting around 13 mpg).

Thus far I've done some small stuff to the Jeep to see if it improves mileage. It needed an oil change when I bought it, and I have since changed it out with Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5w-30 oil. I also folded my mirrors in, aired up my tires to 1 psi below max, put new plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor in and only drive 55 on the highway. Still on my list of things to do are transmission fluid, transfer case fluid, differential fluid, air filter and fuel filter. I also have some ideas for some simple aero mods I can do to the Jeep (since I feel that is the vehicle's weakest point as far as fuel economy goes).

Anyway, expect some writeups from me in the future on how the various mods and maintainence have affected my gas mileage. Maybe my results will give others in similar boats hope for better mileage as well.