Window trim hurting aerodynamics? And a solution for my rear doors.

[Sean T.]

Welll..... to be fair to the car...

it needs both front ball joints replaced
a front end alignment
an oil change
a 60,000 mile tune-up
and a good wash.

buuuuuuut even after that I don't image it to jump up to 30mpg like some other Taurus owners are getting without even trying....

And I try to drive as efficient as I can, but around here it's just not plausible to do pulse and glide or EOC... there is way too much traffic and street lights. Today I got onto the freeway and it was at a dead stop. even the on ramps were backed up. So I know traffic is a huge contributor but I do try to take the least congested route as often as I can.

[TEiN]

Originally Posted by Sean T.

Welll..... to be fair to the car...

it needs both front ball joints replaced
a front end alignment
an oil change
a 60,000 mile tune-up
and a good wash.

buuuuuuut even after that I don't image it to jump up to 30mpg like some other Taurus owners are getting without even trying....

And I try to drive as efficient as I can, but around here it's just not plausible to do pulse and glide or EOC... there is way too much traffic and street lights. Today I got onto the freeway and it was at a dead stop. even the on ramps were backed up. So I know traffic is a huge contributor but I do try to take the least congested route as often as I can.

Have you ever noticed that you never hear excuses from those who are succeeding? Excuses are nothing more than a way to try to absolve yourself of responsibility and to blame the failure on someone or something else. Until you take full responsibility for it, you'll never be able to get great mileage.

MetroMPG already gave you the best possible advice: get a ScanGauge. That way, you can see exactly what sort of driving works and what sort doesn't. You'll be able to see the tiny adjustments you can make that make a huge difference in mpg's. If you don't have instant feedback, then you're just guessing at what works, and you don't know. Ask any of the successful drivers on this board if the driver is the most important component and you'll get a unanimous "Yes!". Put a foolish driver behind the wheel of the most fuel efficient vehicle and you'll only get half the mileage that a great driver could get.

I apologize if that sounded a little stronger than what you're used to hearing. I teach kids how to race, and we don't accept excuses. We also turn otherwise ordinary kids into winners.

[aerohead]

Sean T,is that mixed-driving where your getting 20.7 mpg? Or all urban? I thought the Taurus was good for 30-mpg territory on the open road.

[cfg83]

Sean T. -

If I were on the West-Side here in LA, I think I would have the same MPG problem (today I am driving into that "MPG Blackhole"). Red has the same issue in his Honda Insight. I can't remember your driving context. Do you have lots of short trips?

If you can't afford a scangauge, then maybe a vacuum gauge would be a good start.

For good MPG, I think the running assumption is that the car is in good working order. That's a universal FE tip. If you ain't got the skillzz to do it yourself, maybe a community college car maintenance course would help.

CarloSW2

[Daox]

I drove my grandmother's 93 Tarus 3.0L a couple days last week. Its rated almost exactly the same as your car. I ended up with 26 mpg doing nothing but driving sensibly. All I did was obey the speed limit, shift to neutral if I was comming up on a red light, and try not to use the brakes much. These are incredibly simple things to do. Try them out and I gaurentee you'll see gains.

[Sean T.]

I know all that stuff needs to be fixed before I will get good FE, but I know I could get better than what I'm getting, even with all that stuff wrong. Unfortunately, the time that those things get fixed is up to my dad, because he is the one that works at a dealership and can get it all done for real cheap. The problem is the dealership is 30 minutes away and I have school everyday, so it's difficult to find a time when the dealer has an opening and I have time to drive down there.

As for my driving situation. It is pretty much a mix, but there are a lot of short trips I have to make. My street is "rural" and the surrounding areas are small towns, but at the end of my street is a huge shopping district so traffic isn't the greatest, and most things I need from the store are too far to walk to, but close enough that the car doesn't get fully heated up before I get there. I also go to a University that has a huge traffic problem... the roads on campus were not planned very well, and there is basically no way to avoid sitting in traffic, and it is impossible to find a parking spot immediately, so there is quite a bit of idling up and down aisles waiting for a spot to open up.

And believe me, I want to get a scangauge but it is just too much money. I have a lead on a job that pays 9.00/hr though, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I also have a plan with Oval_Overload about getting a MPGuino possibly.

[Sean T.]

And, I have been really hounding myself on shifting to neutral and even staying under 2k rpms at all times. (Car does 60mph at 2k, and it also allows for efficient, but reasonable acceleration)

I need to fill up again today, so we will see if taking the mirrors off made a noticeable difference.

[Sean T.]

Wow. taking the mirrors off jumped my MPG by 3!

Hopefully it will stay that high, and it wasn't just a fluke.

[cfg83]

Sean T. -

Originally Posted by Sean T.

Wow. taking the mirrors off jumped my MPG by 3!

Hopefully it will stay that high, and it wasn't just a fluke.

Great! If I were you, I would make notes trying to describe what happened on this tank. Then do the same for the next two tanks. The weather is also important. This will give you a context for deciding if other factors are playing into the tank.

CarloSW2

[Sean T.]

Well, I feel much better... This week all of the following happened:

63,000 Mile oil-change
both lower ball joints replaced
passenger hub replaced
drivers tie rod replaced
wheel alignment
both mirrors stayed removed
aftermarket drivers mirror installed for legality

Can't wait to fill up and get some numbers

Here are some pictures of the new mirror, I still need to cut the coroplast I have and paint the coroplast and mirror black.