New record on MPG for me.

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04/08/2008, 05:45 PM
CoastieCosta567

New record on MPG for me.

Well so i had the wrong spark plugs installed a while back, there where 1/2 and inch longer then normal and so cuz of that, my Vx was running even more crappy and i didn't notice it. So i after killing my 6th cylender coil, and spending 240 bucks on a tow and 350 bucks for new spark plugs, dyno, tranny and engine inpection and a new freaken coil. My VX runs even better now. Today i toped My gas with 400 miles per full tank. Making it at 18 MPG, Weeeeeeeeeeeee I'm Happy :). I went from 2 month ago having it at 250 miles per tank to 340 to now 400, yay.
04/08/2008, 06:21 PM
tomdietrying

What kinda plugs did you buy?
Peace.
Tom
012009
04/08/2008, 06:45 PM
cyronman

400? :eek:

Are you sure you cleared your odometer?!?!
04/08/2008, 06:55 PM
JHarris1385

Thats awesome. You must have filled up with about a half gallon left in the tank.....
04/08/2008, 07:52 PM
CoastieCosta567

i have the habit to always restart my trip meter everytime i fill up or just simply put gas. :) i'm so happy yay.
04/08/2008, 09:23 PM
So-CalVX

Wtf!

I'm stuck in less-than-280-miles-per-tank-vill!
how the french can I get 18 MPG y'all?
04/08/2008, 10:30 PM
CoastieCosta567

well ever sense i have had bad luck with things always braking down on me on my VX or just simply time to replace alot of parts, i have tend to get in to the habit of constently watching and hearing everything my VX does or sounds. so i keep with the maint... all the time, i check everything i can possebly think of like 2-3 times a week and replace anything small and cheap all the time to keep the emissions and fuel consumptions as low as possible. well Thats my secret, i guess thats what have been improving my MPG, if not then i don't know, but i just suggest just to take care of your VX like if it's a real baby and keep it up to date all the time. chance the oil, and fluids, check the pcv valve, intake, temp's on oils, also it depands alot in your driving, not accelerating to fast unless you have to, and stuff like that. thats my guess, there is more, i just can't think of what else i do, oh allways fill up you tank to full, thats another thing i do.
04/09/2008, 07:32 AM
crager34

Quote:

Originally Posted by So-CalVX

I'm stuck in less-than-280-miles-per-tank-vill!
how the french can I get 18 MPG y'all?

I went from around 280 per tank to over 300 with changing out my EGR valve. Some have just cleaned, but I swapped for new. However, now that I have a lift and bigger tires, I am back to sucking gas as fast as the Colorado river flows. :(
04/09/2008, 07:59 AM
snowtrooper1966

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyronman

400? :eek:

Are you sure you cleared your odometer?!?!

You, sir, crack me up!

James
04/09/2008, 08:48 AM
Pepino

i have replaced everything i can and i still get around 250! cant get more than that
04/09/2008, 09:03 AM
crager34

One of my company vehicles that I used, new, on the window sticker touted a whopping 25 mpg. I consistanly got 15 mpg. I called Ford and they said...

"25 mpg is just an estimate."

:madg:

:_brickwal

:disturbed
04/09/2008, 10:30 AM
cyronman

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowtrooper1966

You, sir, crack me up!

James

i DID mean trip-ometer, but it looks like y'all knew that.
04/09/2008, 10:52 AM
nfpgasmask

Sooner or later I am going to buy a new EGR myself. I want to see if it helps oil consumption as well...

Bart
04/09/2008, 11:21 AM
VehiGAZ

Tom, SoCal, Pepino, Cyronman, et alia, you (and I) live in the wrong state to get good gas mileage. We have to pump reformulated gas into our tanks, which returns lower mileage. Coastie gets the good stuff in central Florida - pure, conventional, non-reformulated, non-oxygenated gasoline! Lucky duck!

I fill up on conventional gas in VT and upstate NY whenever possible, and I have seen as high as around 18.3 mpg on the good gas (driving like an old lady after getting 2 speeding tickets within 10 miles of each other on Rt 7 in VT!). Now, I personally have never put 22 gallons into the tank (I'm sputtering before that), but 400 miles per tank is entirely feasible at 18.5 mpg (that's a 21.6 gal fill-up), especially in Florida, where the biggest hills Coastie has to climb are highway overpasses.

I think this topic of conventional vs reformulated gas has become my official soapbox rant.
04/09/2008, 01:30 PM
Ascinder

What plugs coastie? How did you know the old ones were too long?
04/09/2008, 02:01 PM
Zorak

Quote:

Originally Posted by VehiGAZ

Coastie gets the good stuff in central Florida - pure, conventional, non-reformulated, non-oxygenated gasoline! Lucky duck!

Hmm, that would explain why I have always gotten at least 18 mpg on my VX (which I did not think was all that great) since I've had it. I feel so special :) now, almost makes me happy to pay $3.36 a gallon here in good ol central FL.

Of course, 2-3 months from now, if we get one or more hurricanes through here and then we won't be able to get gas at all for days/weeks:mad:....but that's another issue.
04/09/2008, 02:37 PM
JHarris1385

So I live in Southern, IN right in the county with the BROWN 7.8 RVP but work in KY in the N RFG w/ Ethanol GREEN AND WHITE stripes. So which one is better and if I step out of my county into the WHITE am I better off at any station?

I thought Coastie was in Cali.....
04/09/2008, 03:30 PM
Chopper

Quote:

Originally Posted by So-CalVX

I'm stuck in less-than-280-miles-per-tank-vill!
how the french can I get 18 MPG y'all?

Move to a place that's flat. I average about 19 mpg (figured against the pump numbers and the odo) sometimes 20 :)
04/09/2008, 03:50 PM
CoastieCosta567

i'm in Cali right now, and i pay the average gas pump at $3.90, this freaken state is expansive, espacially in San Francisco and there is so many hills and mountains here, so i guess i would do even better at florida with my MPG, Hopefully soon i will move back to florida. But yeah the spark plugs where a whole 1/2 inch longer then the normal recommanded plugs.
04/09/2008, 03:58 PM
Chopper

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHarris1385

So I live in Southern, IN right in the county with the BROWN 7.8 RVP but work in KY in the N RFG w/ Ethanol GREEN AND WHITE stripes. So which one is better and if I step out of my county into the WHITE am I better off at any station?

I thought Coastie was in Cali.....

Man...I love Florida......I can drive to Sunoco and get 93...94...104...and 110! It's good living in a racing town. Everyone else sells 93. My knock sensors are virgins;)
04/10/2008, 06:50 AM
VehiGAZ

JHarris, I think you should buy your gas in Indiana. The RVP 7.8 stuff in Indiana is a heavier-molecular-weight gas that doesn't evaporate as quickly as conventional gas does (reduces smog from gas vapors). The ethanol-oxygenated stuff in Kentucky will give you lower mileage. Buy a tank of each and see what your results are. I'd be curious to know if there's any difference between the RVP 7.8 stuff and the fully-conventional gas you can get one county out.

Wikipedia has a decent write-up on gasoline and it's many variations. Here's some California-specific info

Coastie, I thought you were in FL! If you're in SF driving on 5.7% ethanol Cali-gas, I cannot believe that you are getting 18+ mpg. I don't know what's going on with your calculations, and I don't doubt that you are getting better mileage with correct plugs, but 18 mpg doesn't add up.
04/10/2008, 07:09 AM
JHarris1385

Great info. I do travel north every once in a while. Maybe that time I had a 300 mile tank was becuase I purchased conventional gas. I typically buy in Indiana in the 7.8 RVP zones. Now does every station in that county fill with that? I have found that one gas station in particular gets me about 1.3 mpg extra. I am currently testing acetone in the tank as well.
04/10/2008, 01:41 PM
So-CalVX

so....

if i were to replace all those little anoyances (EGR, PCV, plugs, wires...) and move back to WV (which serves conventional) I'd be gettin hella better mileage huh.....

j.... how many tanks have u dun and have u noticed a difference in mileage or damage to hoses?
04/10/2008, 03:21 PM
Chopper

Quote:

Originally Posted by So-CalVX

if i were to replace all those little anoyances (EGR, PCV, plugs, wires...) and move back to WV (which serves conventional) I'd be gettin hella better mileage huh.....

j.... how many tanks have u dun and have u noticed a difference in mileage or damage to hoses?

Not the hoses...it's those little bitty o-rings in the injectors I'm thinking about...for starters
04/10/2008, 03:46 PM
CoastieCosta567

I know my calculations are good cuz, what i simply do is just fill up the tank to full, restart my trip-meter right when i get back on my VX. Then when i run out completly and i mean almost to the bottom, then i fill up all the way again and see how much i filled up to and then i see what my trip meter said and divid that with how many gallons i waisted and then the answer would pop up. here is an example:

1. I fill up Completly full, and re-start trip-meter.
2. Drive till empty, and go back to Gas station and fill up to full again.
3. So the trip meter said 340 miles and when i filled up again the gas station gallon meter said 19.7g, lets say, now divid those two numbers and it will say
17.3 mpg if u round it up.
4. We all know our VX's hold 22.5g's, so now Subtract 22.5g - to 19.7g, making it 2.8g extra gallons on your tank, before you added gas to find out how much u used in your gas tank.
5. Now you have to times 17.3 x plus the rest of your tank, so that would be 17.3 x 2.8g and that would be 48.4 miles extra you had left on your tank.
6. Now add 340miles plus 48.4miles you had left and that would be 388.44miles on your gas tank full, but wait, there is still 1 more step.
7. Now if you have bigger tires, we all know that the trip meter is reading wrong and your are really covering more ground than what it says, so then you have to do the math on how much you are really covering and add those numbers up and you will get your true Miles Per Tank and your True miles per Gallon.
p.s So in conlusion you are really getting more then 388.44 Miles Per Tank and more then 17.3 Miles per Gallon. This is just a similer example.

you guyes understand?

So just cuz i Can't remember how to do the math on bigger tires, do any of you guys know how to do that with 33 inch tires to find out how mach more you are really covering?

So i guess i would be doing even better with my MPG if i was back in Florida and if i have my little oil and tranny fluid leak fixed.

Oh by the way, i'm getting tranny fluid leaking out of where my Mode position sensor is at. You guys have any idea on how i can fix that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by VehiGAZ

JHarris, I think you should buy your gas in Indiana. The RVP 7.8 stuff in Indiana is a heavier-molecular-weight gas that doesn't evaporate as quickly as conventional gas does (reduces smog from gas vapors). The ethanol-oxygenated stuff in Kentucky will give you lower mileage. Buy a tank of each and see what your results are. I'd be curious to know if there's any difference between the RVP 7.8 stuff and the fully-conventional gas you can get one county out.

Wikipedia has a decent write-up on gasoline and it's many variations. Here's some California-specific info

Coastie, I thought you were in FL! If you're in SF driving on 5.7% ethanol Cali-gas, I cannot believe that you are getting 18+ mpg. I don't know what's going on with your calculations, and I don't doubt that you are getting better mileage with correct plugs, but 18 mpg doesn't add up.
04/10/2008, 05:53 PM
JHarris1385

Chopper - review my thread, it has been updated.
04/14/2008, 09:03 AM
VehiGAZ

Okay Coastie, thanks for the full-disclosure update! You are certainly calculating your mileage correctly. But your extrapolation of how many more miles you could have run if you ran to empty that gets you over the 400 mark is what was so unbelievable to us. I don't think it's legit to thrown that in, because the 22.5 gallon tank rating does not translate into 22.5 gal of usable fuel... I can put in 21 gallons if I am sputtering and stalling pulling up to the pump. I am pretty sure any of us will run out of gas before we can burn 22.5 gallons.

Here is a tire-size-discrepancy calculator. If you calculate the difference in circumference on your bigger tires and multiply your odo's mileage reading by that ratio, you should end up with a more accurate mileage calculation.
04/14/2008, 09:54 AM
JHarris1385

I think there is a little more math to it than that.....

Edit: I would use...http://www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp take the % figure and times it by your miles. The % is found in the speedometer box after the inputs are selected. If this holds true I just banked 18.138 mpg.

Re-edit: Or here http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html.....I got 10.7% on the first site and 18.9% difference on the second site due to my larger tires. Which new quote equals 19.52mpg.

But remember I am in the middle of the acetone trials. I just filled up today with 4oz of the juice.
04/15/2008, 06:30 AM
taylorRichie

I averaged 17.4 MPG on my way home from Colorado.

I must be doing pretty good... That drive is far from flat... far from it... plus it's windy in all directions, sometimes it's a head wind sometimes it's a cross wind... etc.

I'm still running on the same tank from Rawlins To Ogden (that's 283 miles) And I think my trip o meter is at ~300 (at the dealer or I'd check exact) And I had a quarter tank (on the indicator) left.

We'll see where I end up...
04/15/2008, 08:10 AM
Solitude

I once drove to payson, az from phoenix.. most of the time I was doing over 80mph.. the fuel mileage was under 14..but I got there alot quicker.. LOL.. :rolleyes: