impressed with myself

[d0sitmatr]

to know me is to love/hate me
I am an admitted leadfoot, matter of fact, in the dictionary my name should be there....
however, today I proved myself.

as of this time, Ive managed to pull 200 miles from a 1/2 tank in my ranger, with a mix of 30 city/70 hwy driving. this is almost fully 1/4 tank better than avg, both for my driving and the rangers mpg, and my personal best. if I can grab close to another 200 miles on the gas left in my truck now, it will be a personal best, and quite possibly the best mileage anyone has gotten out of my model/engine. (3.0L V6)
I attribute a lot of it to a new gauge cluster that has a tach (so hard to watch your acceleration without one...) as well as doing a lot of driving in someones wind tunnel, and running 40psi. the best thing is I wasnt completely watching my driving the entire time, a few times I just got so frustrated with idiots on the road I gunned it just to get away from them. if I can manage an entire tank after the wheel nut mod I might be able to gain an additional 20+ miles from the tank.

also, Im quite sure Im experiencing that rare occurrence of putting a slightly smaller diameter tire on my vehicle and *gaining* mpg from that. I can literally feel my truck struggling less to get the tires moving and the truck up to speed, and with my old tires, going over a simple overpass would drop a gear, sometimes 2, now, it doesnt drop at all, just flows over no problem and my RPM's stay consistent.

very pleased with myself

[d0sitmatr]

so today I finished off the last of that tank, well, more like I was coming to a point of road where gas is far in between. I still had a little over 2 gallons left, and I had gone 327 miles
that is by far the best tank of gas Ive gotten from my truck to date.
this is also without any aeromods to my truck other than a 1" drop, dropping my bumper as low as I can get it (although Im not real sure how "aero" that is since it leaves a huge gap between it and the grill/headlamps...) and 40psi in the tires.

[mcrews]

congradulations!
wait until you get a scangaugeII....

btw how many gallons did you put in?

[jjackstone]

DOsitmatr,

That is similar to the mileage I get in my 2001 Ranger with a 3L engine, manual tranny, open bed. It has right at 111,000 miles right now. I've busted 400mptank before on long drives with minor hypermiling and no mods-yet.
Good job.
JJ

[d0sitmatr]

yea a scangauge is def on my list of things to get, before I start any aeromods, along with an e-fan conversion.
I think I put just over 14 gallons in on the last fill up. before that was almost a complete fullup as I was trying to see what I can get from a tank in all city driving.
its so freaking hard to hypermile with an auto...
I dont want to throw it in N every time I come to a stop because of the damage Ive read it can cause to the trans. and keeping the RPM's below 3k under accel means the truck crawls up to speed, which means I only do this if there is no traffic behind me... unless I can get behind a semi if at a light.

JJackstone, thanks
Ive really been trying to change my driving habits, and its paying off better than I expected. its so funny though, mention anything about hypermiling and aeromoding on a ranger forums and they go all ape**** about it. of course, now that gas has climbed above $3.00g many more of them are interested

nicely done on your truck, the manual trans makes a HUGE difference. much easier to control both accel and decel. I bet if you throw a couple of basic aermods (bellypan and lower airdam) you could push that number up close to the 500pt mark.

[redneck]

I dont want to throw it in N every time I come to a stop because of the damage Ive read it can cause to the trans. and keeping the RPM's below 3k under accel means the truck crawls up to speed, which means I only do this if there is no traffic behind me... unless I can get behind a semi if at a light.

Putting a vehicle in neutral with a automatic while the engine is running will not damage it. (at a light or hypermiling)

Putting a vehicle in neutral with a automatic while the engine is not running and rolling down the road (hypermiling), can damage it.

This is because the transmission fluid pump is in the front of the transmission behind the torque converter and drives it. In order for it to provide lubrication and fluid presure to apply clutches, the engine must be running.

When hypermiling down the road with the engine off, (in netural) the driveshaft spins the automatic transmission with no fliud pressure to lubricate the internals, thus causing damage.



By using a scanguage or ultraguage (cheaper) I have found that it makes a siginficant difference when accelerating slowly or briskly.

The sooner that you can get in the high gear and achieve lockup the better fuel mileage you will get.

In my particular case, the truck I have is a 2000 F250 with a 5.4 and a E4OD transmission.

Up to 37 mph the truck will only get 9 mpg.

At 38 mph transmission lockup occurs and the truck goes to 19-20 mpg.

By using the scanguage and monitoring my instant average mpg it shows that slowly accelerating uses more fuel than a rather brisk acceleration does in order to achieve lockup.

Ive really been trying to change my driving habits, and its paying off better than I expected.

Hope this helps...

>

[d0sitmatr]

that helps a lot !
it also confirms something I also believed, that getting up to speed was more beneficial for mileage (without flooring it, of course) especially now that Ive gotten a tach. if it takes me 45-60s to get up to 45mph, my RPMs are around 2500 that entire time, however, if I get up to 45mph in 15-20s (my rpms hitting above or near the 3k mark just before shifting), then my rpms drop to 1200-1300. a pretty significant difference if I do that 30+ times a tank.

re: trans/N
maybe it is just me being overly critical/concerned, but when I do put it in N and coast, the trans honestly feels different when I put it back in gear. and not in a good way, it feels more sluggish and sometimes takes longer to shift.

[endurance]

Have you checked to see how much changing to a smaller tire is impacting your miles recorded vs. miles traveled? A smaller tire has to turn more times to travel a mile on the ground, but your odometer doesn't know the difference. You might want to compare to a GPS or use the old one mile at 60mph should take 60 seconds to see that your mpg didn't improve just because you're recording more miles than you're actually traveling.

[d0sitmatr]

Originally Posted by endurance

Have you checked to see how much changing to a smaller tire is impacting your miles recorded vs. miles traveled? A smaller tire has to turn more times to travel a mile on the ground, but your odometer doesn't know the difference. You might want to compare to a GPS or use the old one mile at 60mph should take 60 seconds to see that your mpg didn't improve just because you're recording more miles than you're actually traveling.

I took that into consideration, Im 90% sure the slightly smaller tires have helped, you cna literally feel the truck struggling less to accel and to remain at speed.
plus, Im very much aware of how much an impact it has, ever since the first time I put new rims/tires on this truck 5 or so years ago

now, it might be a moot point as Ive finally decided Im going to trade/sell my truck for something more family friendly
most likely something like a rav4, nice and economical while giving me the benefit of still being able to haul small things. but I certainly will miss my truck...

[NHRABill]

It is tough trying to find a do it all vehicle. hopefully your next car/suv will better suit your families needs. I would love to have one small vehicle that satisfies my familys everyday needs but that is impossible so the big truck is needed on occasion and the second family car is also necessary. If you can manage with the one that is great, good luck in finding a new ride. I wnjoyed reading your ranger psots always cool to see someone getting results.