Saturn Vue Fuel Economy?

[pyroom]

Hi guys,

I have a 2004 Saturn Vue 3.5L V6 AWD, and I'm wondering if anyone can help me get some better fuel economy. My dads 2011 f150 gets 20% better fuel economy and it weighs twice as much and has 100 more hp.

I have a custom 3" exhaust all the way back (J35 engines don't have headers), no cats and 2 straight-through mufflers. I also have bored intake with phenolic spacers and a custom 5" silicone short-ram CAI right behind the fog light hole. I'm going to be throwing an under-drive pulley on in about a month.

I was thinking about putting a removable piece of cardboard behind the fog light hole to block the cold air from coming in, and using warm radiator air.

My exhaust is only 5 months old and the tailpipe is BLACK like I'm running rich. I also get the occasional small backfire when I get on it. Would getting a piggyback/standalone ECU make a big difference? They're not cheap.

Would a removable plug like what fart-cans use for silencers help? Would exhaust back-pressure help or make it worse?

I have a scan-gauge that always reads around 20mpg, but at the end of the tank it always ends up being 350km/55l combined 50/50 highway/city regardless of how hard I drive it (rated for 400km a tank city). I also only get 500km straight highway, it's rated for 600km.

Thanks

[Pawtuckett]

How many miles on the car? When was the last tune-up (plugs, wires, etc...)?

I'd start with getting the engine to run properly first. Then, focus on the ecomods. I'm no mechanic, but it seems that something under the hood isn't right.

[pyroom]

The car has 180,000km on it, last tuneup was at 100,000km.

[macncheese]

Ive modded my truck heavily and i'm looking forward to modding the our new vue.

Have you looked into crankcase breather filter systems, porting the throttle body, modifying the intake etc?

I can say it has helped the mpg on my truck dispite the lift and tires. I could safely say that if it worked on my truck it should work on the vue

[pyroom]

Originally Posted by macncheese

Ive modded my truck heavily and i'm looking forward to modding the our new vue.

Have you looked into crankcase breather filter systems, porting the throttle body, modifying the intake etc?

I can say it has helped the mpg on my truck dispite the lift and tires. I could safely say that if it worked on my truck it should work on the vue

Lol I've done a bit more since I made this thread. I'm running a Greddy Ultimate piggyback ECU custom tuned to the Vue and an Eaton m90 supercharger, yes I've bored out of throttle body and intake runners (remove the tapered spacer if you're running a straight through exhaust it helps a lot), and I've also removed that useless AWD system on the Vue.

I relocated the battery and I have a 5" silicone short ram intake. The crankcase breather just has a little filter on it, I don't have emissions to worry about so I didn't hook it up. The weather is MUCH warmer now and I rarely even see 350km a tank anymore . I just don't understand how it only gets 300 - 340km per tank regardless of who or how it's driven.... I haven't taken my Vue on a highway trip for a long time since it's straight piped, but I have had tanks that are 3/4 highway driving and they still end up only being 340km.

I've parked my Vue for the summer now, and I'm considering swapping in a smaller manual 4 cylinder engine and putting the V6 into one of my civics or something.

[macncheese]

Write you've been busy these last couple months. We're picking our vue up today.

Could you post some pix?

[macncheese]

How has you're mileage been post mods? I can't imagine better with all the power but you could keep your for out of it you might be able to improve your mpg

after 3 tanks of gas i'm sitting comfortably at 24mpg. Not bad considering. I'm planning of cutting the rear muffler off at the rear axle and moving the battery and doing the short ram intake.