'93 VX 2011 Annual results

[93civicvx]

Here's the tally for my '93 VX :

I bought it & started driving it the last week of Dec 2010 and have captured EVERY tank of gas since !

This timeframe covers from when it was only getting 35 mpg ( Running on a bad O2 ) which you WON'T see in my fuel log which would have dropped my "Lifetime" mpg a bit as it was for a month or two..., then 45 mpg ( O2 unplugged - a few month's ) & then my 50 mpg remainder avg...

That being said, 2012 should yield a higher avg mpg now that the kinks are worked out.

Lifetime Fuel Economy: 48.2 ( 12 months )
90-day Fuel Economy: 52.33 ( has dropped as of lately due to driving habits & much colder temps & winter blend fuel ?? )
My garage will show Strong 50's+ mpg for the 2nd half of 2011 & a downward taper in Nov/Dec... ).

Now, the behind the scenes results : VX vs 1991 5.0 Mustang !!
Driving the VX the instead of my 5.0 ( I set up a spreadsheet to capture/calculate/total etc etc data for :

GAS PURCHASE DATE
PRICE PER GAL
GALS PUMPED
Total $ COST
MILES DRIVEN
MPG ( old school math method - trip meter miles/gals pumped )
STATION LOCATION
PUMP # ( I used the same pump for the past 17 tanks and will continue to do so )

Then the spreadsheet calculates what it would have cost me to drive said amount of miles in the 5.0...

Survey says : I SAVED $1645.73 in gas and consumed about 500 LESS gals of fuel !!!

My "Mod's" :
K&N air filter
Tires inflated to 50 psi ( checked every Sunday )
MPGuino ( Worth it's weight in gold as it teaches you how to ecomod !! )
PCV oil "catch can"

The PCV "catch can" still yields about a square inch of crud every 30 days...

Anyway, hope this was somewhat entertaining !!

Douglas

[mwebb]

PCV "catch can"
no engine should ever need a PCV Catch can , if yours does , that is one indication that your engine has bad piston rings
or
the piston rings may just be frozen with carbon in the lands because the engine has been operated with
poor quality oil for many moons

so
stop using poor quality oil , now
identify the problem and repair it , which will
improve your fuel economy and make the use of a PCV Catch can
UN necessary / irrelevant

K&N air filters
do not filter the air and do not improve fuel economy , as per 2 tests by the EPA and at least 1 test in IATN

all in all K&N air filters are a terrible thing to use , so
switch to an OEM type filter
yesterday , for best results .

[leg0man]

If catch cans were pointless, cars wouldn't have a PCV system. Blow-by is expected, and catching it and disposing of it is better than running it through the motor, lowering the effective octane rating of your fuel and dirtying up your intake, throttle body, etc.

[drmiller100]

a pcv system puts a partial vacuum to the crankcase.

partial vacuum to the crankcase can increase efficiency of the engine.

your catchcan might actually be hurting mileage.

[mwebb]

Originally Posted by leg0man

If catch cans were pointless, cars wouldn't have a PCV system. Blow-by is expected, and catching it and disposing of it is better than running it through the motor, lowering the effective octane rating of your fuel and dirtying up your intake, throttle body, etc.

crankcase vapors are expected
crankcase vapors are inhaled to the intake then fed to combustion where they are burned , the volume of crankcase vapors relative to the amount of air fuel mixture
consumed by the engine is

less than insignificant

the function of the PCV / Crankcase vent valve is to capture those vapors and channel them to combustion so they do not escape to the atmosphere to pollute the atmosphere ,
PCV is good .

harmful deposits are more likely to be formed by using
low quality fuel and low quality engine oil .

which is one reason that
any engine oil that does not meet

ACEA A3 B3 -A3 B4 (best)
or
ACEA A1 B1- A5 B5 Dexos1 (close runner Up )
should never be used in any engine at any time

this is real synthetic engine oil , not to be confused with wanna bees like
ROYAL PURPLE and the other alleged synthectic oils which have no test specifications printed on the back of the bottle

read the back of your oil bottle to see
if it says only API SN ILSAC GF 5 ,with no ACEA test values ,
you should NOT use it and you should switch to the correct oil
ASAP
see BITOG forums for more info , study and learn .