1st post

[Striker2237]

Hey everyone I'm new here and I've come to see if I can improve the mpg of my car via driving tricks that I'm sure you all know, looking forward to hearing from you guys!

[NeilBlanchard]

Welcome to EM!

Tell us about your vehicle and start a fuel log.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site.

I'll echo Neil, what vehicle are you driving?

[mcrews]

1. free - pump up air in tires to 40+. it's worth a couple of mpgs
2. Get a scangauge (see first ling in my sig)

Welcome!!!

[Striker2237]

My vehicle is a 2003 dodge ram 1500 quad cab that weighs around 6200 lb last time I checked it, negatives is that it has mud guards, running boards, truck bed hard cover, 200lb of ballast in the bed plus 6 extra gallons of fuel, a horribly large front profile, a massive 5.9 (soon to be 6.7) liter engine. Positives are fuel monitoring system that shows all relevant stats, front air splitter and air dam, very low needed engine speed (don't have to exceed 2k rpm). It averages about 11.2 mpg in combined driving, I'm looking to get it to at least 14. 15 would be great.

[Striker2237]

Any ideas how to do this? I cant ditch the ballast in the bed btw till winter is over

[NeilBlanchard]

What's your appetite for doing aero mods? There are a number of pickup threads with lots of good things to do.

Are you logging your fuel mileage? This is another important - and free - step to take.

[awcook]

Almost everybody that I know has a truck, and most of those are 5.7L or 6.2L Ford F series or Dodge Rams, no Chevys or GMs. The tips and tricks I've learned to do and not to do are pretty simple.

1) Drive slower. Every single truck driver I know drives between 75 and 90 MPH highway and 9+ over speed limit city. This lowers MPG significantly. Try to drive 65 Freeway and 45 (or whenever final gear engages in the automatic)

2) Reduce City Driving if possible. Driving 90 MPH on the highway is more efficient than stop and go city traffic. I think it's 13 MPG for 90 MPH and 10 MPG for city.

3) Key off at stop lights. With a V8 you cannot go without keying off at stop lights. You waste so much gas at a light when you are idling with a V8 (I even do this with my Civic).

4) Tow less. If you can at all avoid towing, do it.

5) Use the MPG gauge. This is useful in all cars, but watching it like a hawk will increase FE amazingly.

6) Turn of the AC! Every truck driver that I know uses AC like crazy. When I keep my AC off, my tank average goes from 29 to 33. My father's Accord's Trip average goes from 32 to 40+ with the AC off.

My mom's Odyssey gets 13 MPG mixed driving (worse than EPA city) and she does the opposite of everything on this list. She prefers city driving, accelerating hard, speeding, idling the car even in park(!), likes to haul stuff in the trunk, and does not use a fuel gauge. It is amazing how badly she can ruin a perfectly good tank of gas.

[Striker2237]

I already drive as slow as I can and don't exceed 2k rpm (to the annoyance of those behind me at lights) and try to keep it in OD at normal speed and don't go more than 65 on highways. AC is only used it I'm on the highway and its too fast to have a window open. I watch my mpg gauge real time output but its very hard for me to get it above 14, and thats when my foot is off the gas all the way. I don't tow. What I am really interested in is the whole keying off thing you talked about, would it make that much of a difference with a 560rpm idle?

[awcook]

It makes a huge difference. 7 seconds idle = 1 start up. If the light just turned red, chances are that the light will be red for more than 7 seconds, so you can turn the car off. 1 gallon per hour, times 1/60 (assuming you wait at a light for 1 minute) and you go through 6 stoplights on your way to work, and 6 more on your way home. That is 12, and at the end of the week you will be up to 60. So 1 hour wasted just sitting at red lights. That is one gallon, 14 miles that your truck will not go.

Assuming that you use 11 gallons (way less than when you fill up, this is what I fill up to though) at 14 MPG, but one of those gallons is wasted at stop lights idling, you will be at 140 miles. If you had turned your truck off at each stop light, then you would be up to about 154 miles.

When you key off, just shift to Neutral (won't hurt the tranny) then key off then back to run. The "hey stupid, your car is wasting battery" lights will come on, but if you have a functioning alternator it won't hurt you.

When the car is cold DO NOT DO THIS! It will cool the engine down when you key off, and then your car will stay in fuel enrichment mode until it gets up to operating temperature. Also don't run your AC/Heater when the car is off, it cools the engine off really fast.