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I did! Love that show. Relavence: they re-visited some FE myths about driving a pickup truck. Last time they rented a pair of trucks, filled them up, and ran them dry. One with the tailgate up, one with the tailgate down. Tailgate up ran an extra 30 or 50 miles, than tailgate down, IIRC.

Anyway, this time they re-did the test with Jaimie's Dodge Dakota and used an electronic flow meter rather than running forever. The test: tailgate up, tailgate down, hard bed cover, and tailgate removed with one of those plastic webs in place. (I can't remember...was there a fifth test where the tailgate was removed with nothing in place?) Their finding was a 5% increase in FE with the plastic webbing vs. basically everything else, and driving with the tailgate down was actually the worst way to go.

Honestly, that isn't even the part of the test that caught my interest. The most striking part of that whole test was that his little pickup only got 11MPG at 55mph on the flat test road! That's horrible! :eek:

The most striking part of that whole test was that his little pickup only got 11MPG at 55mph on the flat test road! That's horrible! :eek:


Got to be a bad O2 sensor. That is just way too low! Was it the 8-cylinder Dakota?

Ugh, that's true...5g/h at 55mph is 11mpg...I just finished watching the episode on Tivo 5 minutes before reading your post and hadn't done the math.

Makes me wonder if their fuel flow meter really was calibrated accurately, as he claimed it was, that's just too low.

I don't think that invalidates their results, in any case, just means their meter was probably off or the car really needs a tune up!

Hi All:

From the Scan Gauge FAQ (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2068): Can the ScanGauge II show if there is a difference in MPG between using my truck with the tailgate up or down?

Yes. See Tailgate Up/Down and Gas Mileage (Tailgate Up/Down and Gas Mileage - May 2004).

The results were surprising.

TAILGATE UP = 17.6 MPG
TAILGATE DOWN = 17.7 MPG

___As for my own Ranger w/ tailgate down … The last two tanks were decent enough.

Ranger P/U (http://www.cleanmpg.com/index.php?page=garage&displayunits=MPG(US)&viewcar=45)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

No help for my Ranger...

Hi Psy:

The year: 1998
The automobile: Ford Ranger
Propulsion: NiMH EV

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/Ranger_EV.jpg

___You do the conversion, I think your FE will kick all our @$$’es :D

2006 Tour Del Sol - Ranger EV conversion with Solar panels as a slight booster …

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/516/EV_and_Solar_Powered_Ranger.JPG

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I saw it last night as well and I also noted the 11 MPG. The FE gauge they used looked like a marine type fuel monitor. I owned one for a short time before the SuperMID and sold it on ebay after I figured out it would be useless. That is because they are designed for a carburated engine that has no fuel return. Most fuel injection systems have a fuel return system, so in the case of the pickup truck on mythbusters, the gauge was possibly over registering due to the fuel return. I have a hard time believing that they calibrated it properly.

I had a Durango, which is based heavily on the Dakota. Mine didn't have a fuel return line.