About 30 MPG in a 2000 Caravan for one trip.

[101Volts]

This is a trip on an uncalibrated ScanGaugeII, However it's from the gas station to a highway to a state route to home and when I was in the calibration screen I saw that the gauge estimated the van went through 14.5 gallons and I pumped 14.7. I decided to not calibrate it yet due to (Previous) Wonky readings which may or may not re occur.

SG2 Stats plus Date of Trip:

2013-November-25, 30.5 MPG AVG: 0.43 Gallons Used; 190 FWT Max; 3951 RPM Max; 0.3 Hours; 60 MPH Max; 40 MPH AVG; $1.28 Cost. From Brookville GETGO Pump 7 out north to I-80 then to Rt. 322 to Home. I saw the average MPG estimate go above 31 towards the end. Pulse and gliding was done on I-80 though not with EOCing, Mostly to 55 and then down to 40ish. Tire pressure was at about 55 for this trip.

Knowing this I do feel that I can achieve even higher MPGs in this van. If I add LRR tires, A Torque Convertor Lockup Switch and an alternator on/off switch I do think that's easily 3 MPGs, Though this depends on how they're all used.

Edit: With the first page of replies plus the first reply on the second page in mind, I decided to post about this: I did manage 28.55 or so MPGs in this van on one tank which was mostly one trip of about 346 miles in one day. You can see it in my fuel log, As long as that's there.

[t vago]

I no longer depend on the ScanGauge (or UltraGauge, or any other OBD-II based estimating computer). I have an MPGuino in the Karen-mobile, and will probably soon install another MPGuino in the truck.

What transmission do you have in your Caravan? Is it a 41TE? Or is it a 31TH?

[101Volts]

The three-speed, I think: It has Park; Reverse; Neutral; Drive; Third and Low in that order from left to right.

On another subject I just read on the Caravan Wiki that early 1996 models had Manual transmissions.

[t vago]

Oooh, that'd be real nice if you could get a 5-speed stuffed into your Caravan.

You might very well be able to get away with a TC lockup switch, then. IIRC, the engine computer controlled TC lockup, and a separate transmission computer was not required.

[101Volts]

So, Is it not so easy to lock up the torque convertor if that's the case?

Also I would be fine with a manual transmission, But whether or not my Father would be is a different question.

BTW, What's an MPGuino like and if EOCing does it boot up quickly? The ScanGauge kept going goofy when I tried to do it, Keying off and on. (I didn't see any other way to do it yet.)

[t vago]

Originally Posted by 101Volts

So, Is it not so easy to lock up the torque convertor if that's the case?

It's been my experience that Chrysler factory transmission computers really do not like anything else messing with the transmission controls. If they sense something out of the ordinary, they'll cut power to the transmission controls altogether, and you get stuck in 2nd gear whether you like it or not.

With your 3-speed transmission, though, that's a different story. You might still get a check-engine light, but that's about it. Your transmission's brains are hydraulic, and will not really care too much if you have a switch that controls your TC lockup.

Originally Posted by 101Volts

BTW, What's an MPGuino like and if EOCing does it boot up quickly? The ScanGauge kept going goofy when I tried to do it, Keying off and on. (I didn't see any other way to do it yet.)

The MPGuino "boots" up in about 1.5 seconds. Most of that is displaying the title screen, and can be greatly sped up. As for booting up, the MPGuino is connected to a battery source, so you do not need to worry about having it shut itself off as you would with a ScanGauge.

[Frank Lee]

A one-way 15 mile hop is not a basis for an fe claim.

[bestclimb]

One time shots are not reliable estimates of capability. Especially based off of calibrated devices that give a reasonable estimate of fuel usage only after careful observation and tracking of fuel usage.

If you can reliably get close to 30 out of a carivan I would be very interested as a 7 passenger vehicle with that mileage is pretty attractive.

Edit: that said I do not find 30mpg to be too unreasonable as the 2003 gets a rating of 25 highway per EPA

[101Volts]

Frankly I do see good advice here so thanks has been given.

And I see a point of not making a FE claim after having not gone even one gallon's worth of distance, Now the MPGs went down to an estimate of about 23 with another 11.7 miles in winter. I was looking more at the average number without taking distance into account.

I did manage about 28.55 though in one (Mostly highway) trip though, Refilled on 2013 October 18th, If that's accurate; I didn't use the same pump consecutively from the last one and I went according to the Odometer. It's in the fuel logs. It was mostly between 60 and 70 MPH, About 346 miles all on the same day.

Though I haven't checked the van's odometer with a GPS.

[Frank Lee]

As you can see I have a claim of 69 mpg for the Sport Coupe. Those are real, undoctored numbers... BUT... in reality the car averages about half that. The 69 mpg run was under extraordinary conditions of P&G and high tail winds. I put it there to illustrate the fallacy of posting up fe claims based on one short run, or short fills, or whatever that has inadequate inputs to compensate for statistical anomolies.