My Attempt to reach 40mpg.

[SVOboy]

Sounds like your on your way already,

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by mhmitszach

85.3 Miles filled back up at same gas station on same pump on same speed setting at 2.686 gallons = 31.76 mpg.

I never accelerated above 2000 rpm until I got into highest gear and I never passed 65 mph. Mostly highway driving. Maybe 10-15 miles of under 35-40 mph.

In addition to partial grill block.

I'm going to finish grill block tomorrow and see what this next fill up gets.

Nice job. You need to be careful with the short fills. They are usually inaccurate. When you're traveling that short a distance a small amount of fueling error( pump or shutoff) will result in large changes in FE.

[mhmitszach]

Added a new trip to fuel log. Mpg went down a bit, but it's still in a good range. I had a lot of varied driving this tank, probably more city than a normal fill up. I'm going to run through this tank, and then probably go up to 37 psi in my tires and see what that does for about two fill ups. Then by then, I should be due for an oil change, and will try synthetic.

[bhazard]

YES you should be using overdrive. If you've been doing a lot of highway driving without it being in overdrive you're probably losing a good few mpg's. The only time you shouldn't be running in overdrive is if you're driving at a speed where the transmission keeps shifting between 3rd and 4th, probably 30-35 mph, varies for each car. Also going into neutral will not hurt anything.

You're not very knowledgeable with autos are you? Dot worry, you'll learn a few things here and elsewhere.

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by bhazard

YES you should be using overdrive. If you've been doing a lot of highway driving without it being in overdrive you're probably losing a good few mpg's. The only time you shouldn't be running in overdrive is if you're driving at a speed where the transmission keeps shifting between 3rd and 4th, probably 30-35 mph, varies for each car. Also going into neutral will not hurt anything.

You're not very knowledgeable with autos are you? Dot worry, you'll learn a few things here and elsewhere.

I realized what it meant. Overdrive is just the highest gear. There is no way to turn it on or off. Which sucks, because at about 43 mph it shifts to the highest gear.

I might try shifting into neutral again.

[jandree22]

Originally Posted by mhmitszach

Being 16, and my winter money fund virtually gone. It's rather hard for me to put 30-40 dollars in gas in my car at once. I guess I need to form the habit of just filling up when I get back at night on nights I drive more than 10 miles. I might do it tomorrow.

It's entirely possible that I'm missing something here, but how is affording small fill ups any different than affording large fill ups? You're either paying $10 every 2 days or $40 every 8 days, no?

If by these small fill ups you're actually topping off your tank in small increments, first of all you always have a full tank so that adds weight to your car... you never get the benefit of having a light weight 1/8 tank Plus as I think someone mentioned, you'll get a lot more accuracy by calculating against 300 miles on the odometer vs. 30 miles.

With an 5MT ZX2 40 MPG is probably acheivable, but it might be really tough with an AT. Good luck to you though, interested in seeing some numbers from your car.

[mhmitszach]

Originally Posted by jandree22

It's entirely possible that I'm missing something here, but how is affording small fill ups any different than affording large fill ups? You're either paying $10 every 2 days or $40 every 8 days, no?

If by these small fill ups you're actually topping off your tank in small increments, first of all you always have a full tank so that adds weight to your car... you never get the benefit of having a light weight 1/8 tank Plus as I think someone mentioned, you'll get a lot more accuracy by calculating against 300 miles on the odometer vs. 30 miles.

With an 5MT ZX2 40 MPG is probably acheivable, but it might be really tough with an AT. Good luck to you though, interested in seeing some numbers from your car.

Yeah. I realized the flaw in that logic. I've been filling it up now. After driving an explorer when it cost 60-70 to fill up, it was hard to get over that. But when its only 32 dollars to fill back up from E, it doesn't make me cringe.

Yeah, I think the auto is going to hold me back. I drive with an extremely light foot, and I feel like I'm driving it as efficient as I can. Although, with no scan guage it's hard to say.

[jandree22]

haha, okay... just wanted to make sure I wasn't going crazy

Yeah, a light foot is your best friend in an AT. Also, coast as far as possible up to red lights... not only does it allow you to possibly keep your momentum for the green, but your car may also go into DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cut Off) as you decelerate. The car's momentum turns the engine and shuts off injectors, utilizing no gas, as long as your foot's off the gas and your RPMs are slightly above idle speed. But the two question marks regarding whether or not your 98 ZX2 utilizes DFCO due to the earlier model of 98 and the automatic transmission.

I figured out the DFCO point in my 5MT by getting up to 1500 or so RPM and coasting back down in gear. When the injectors come back to life, the tach blips back up a hair, like 10-20 rpm and also you can feel a very subtle 'hickup' as the engine comes back to life. You may or may not be able to try the same experiment in a parking lot, but in my 07 5MT which I'm positive has DFCO, it was really really hard to pick up on the cut off point where it comes back to life at 1080-1100 RPM, so this trick may not work in all cars. I'm a beginner with the concept of DFCO, so you may need to research this further for your car unless someone else can chime in.

So bottom line, I'll shut up now... light right foot and coast as far as possible... let the other jerks on the road speed around you and idle at the red light

Also on a different subject, something needs to be said as far as you being 16 and on this site. I commend you highly for having the discipline to drive like this... took me 8 years of driving to 'see the light' and become a more responsible driver, so kudos to you!

[bhazard]

Originally Posted by mhmitszach

I realized what it meant. Overdrive is just the highest gear. There is no way to turn it on or off. Which sucks, because at about 43 mph it shifts to the highest gear.

I might try shifting into neutral again.

There should be a way to disable overdrive. Either in the shifter pattern or a lockout button/switch that is on or near the shifter. If the shifter pattern is P R N (D) D L, then "D" is regular drive, without overdrive. If it goes (D) 3 2 1, then "3" is what you want.


Jandree22, my 20 year old car has fuel cut on decel, so I would hope his car of half that age would have that feature too.

[mhmitszach]

31.93 MPG!

Had to fillup today at 202.3 miles because I wouldn't have enough for the weekend and gas prices are higher a few miles away so I figured it'd be going up home soon.

Had a couple of really good neutral coast and a few engine off coast stops. Also drove a bit lighter than I had been.

Putting my tires up to 40 psi today so this next tank will have that factored in.

Edit. Our compressor sucks and wouldnt go up over 40 psi, so I couldn't even put my tires to 35.

Tire guage's suck. I'm too cheap to buy a 12 dollar digital one, but the stick ones are so screwy. It would read 32, 35, 35, 32 etc.