Anyone using magnets to increase milage?

[doviatt]

hondo434
You were on the right track but you didn't finish your experiment. AND you let other variables affect your test which meant it was uncontrolled. You can only change one parameter at a time. Example: Do you know what your tire pressure on all 4 tires is at this moment? What was it during the test? If you didn't control this one variable let alone all of the others it isn't scientific. Tire pressure alone can have a great affect on your MPG. It will not affect your oil cleanliness though.

[McTimson]

Originally Posted by hondo434

Palemelanesian, I understand you position, I know many tests have been done and there is a voodoo mentality about the efficacy of magnets. What I am thinking if we don't know the effect the magnet has on fuel then how can we come up with a test to see what we don't know anything about works, if that makes sense.

Well, you're saying that no matter what the effect on fuel is, the engine will burn less of it to travel a given distance. That's not too hard to test.

The best way to test them would be all in one day, make a few runs with the magnet on, then with the magnet off, then with the magnet on again. All you really have to do is find a road that you can go 55-65 on, put on cruise control, and measure the fuel consumption.

I live in Whitney Point (20 minutes north of Binghamton), I'd be more than willing to help you test it out if you need it. Or, if you'd like to loan me one for a day, I could test it out on my car.

[hondo434]

hummingbird,doviatt,Mctimson,I thank you for your input and I think together with you and with the expertise of this forum we can hopefully get to the bottom this anomally. I will work with local members to verify these results and maybe we can take it to the next level!

[hondo434]

Mctimson, I assume your vehicle is a 93 tercel. what are you doing to increase your milage. If you are changing driving habits or hypermiling then you might have to test your vehicle to see what your standard mpg would be before trying the magnet test, am I correct in saying that?

[PaleMelanesian]

You could always pick a section of road and run it A-B-A with cruise control. That removes the driver variable.

[jamesqf]

If you want to use magnets to increase fuel economy, you're making a mistake by putting them next to the fuel line. What you have to do is put them on the front bumper, then you drive really, really close to the back end of a semi :-)

[MetroMPG]

I'd like to direct people's attention to this page for a science-based consideration of magnets & fuel economy:

Fuel saving gadgets - a professional engineer's view

[hondo434]

PaleMelanesian, we have a nice stretch of fairly flat interstate, here in the southern tier, which stretches for many miles. I have a milage gauge built into the car. I can see my milage move up and down instantaneous as I accellerate. I verified accuracy with filling tank at start of trip and filling up tank at finish of trip to double check mpg. When I first installed the magnet before a trip I couldn't believe the difference so I immediatly filled the tank, manually figured the mpg and it was whithin a few tenths of a gallon difference.

[doviatt]

hondo434,

If you look at McTimson fuel log it shows quite stable. That is exactly what you want to start with and then hope your test shows improvement over this baseline. Same thing when you try it on your car (a second independent test is ideal) start a baseline keep it stable and then perform test to show/prove improvement or not. Any results will show up on both test results if performed correctly and it is effective. Cruse control is a good way to stabilize the baseline.

Edit:
Or you can save McTimson's gas and read metroMPG's link with an open mind.

[McTimson]

hondo434, yes, I do drive the 93 Tercel, and I use hypermiling tactics. However, for the purpose of testing, driving habits would remain the same whether or not the magnet is on. If the magnets do work, then I should get even better mileage even with hypermiling methods being used. As long as you drive the same (i.e., drive for 20 miles at a constant 55MPH), then there should be a difference in the amount of gas used, if they are truly effective. Cruise control is perfect for this because it can be more accurate - my car does not have cruise, but I can keep a steady speed, especially on flat roads.

Anyway, some sort of testing like this needs to be done in order to claim that it is effective. It's easy to have a 'placebo effect' when performing a modification on your car - you want it to get better mileage, so you naturally drive a little slower without realizing it. Or, it could be warmer out that day, so there's a free MPG increase - it's hard to quantify how effective one modification is unless you perform a test on it.