Have a gas hog, still got a gas hog!

[PalominoJ]

I have been following the techniques outlined on this website. I have a Ford F-150 short bed with (Of course) and eight-cylinder engine. The tank takes 20gallons and I had noticed that I was getting 13 to 14 miles to the gallon before I tried some of the techniques. After one tank and a bunch of FAS (es,’s?) I tabulated a whopping 16.4 miles to the gallon. Did the techniques help? Yes, but I was disappointed by the out come. I was hoping for some real gas savings. I am in this to save money not the world and it was quite a chore to achieve that much gas mileage. The techniques are just not worth it (in money, time and aggravation) on such a gas hog as mine. Anyone experience anything different? Would a tune-up help?

JP

[Chuck]

PalominoJ,

If we did like the metric system and measured "gallons per 100 miles", your savings would be well above what I save on my Insight. A lot of gallons were saved in the extra three miles mpg. Hope that is some consolation... Covering the bed reduce drag and overinflating the tires could help.

Welcome to CleanMPG!

[brick]

Consider that 16.5mpg/13.5mpg = 1.222... meaning that you've improved your fuel economy by 22%. That's a big deal! The only reason it doesn't look great is because the MPG difference is numerically smaller, but in reality it would be like someone else going from 30mpg to 36.7mpg. Or a hybrid going from 45mpg to 55mpg!

If that's after only one tank, consider trying it for a couple more and see where it goes. Nobody gets 100% of their gain on the first tank, and 22% on yours is really phenomenal. Congrats!

[hawkgt647]

Originally Posted by PalominoJ

I have been following the techniques outlined on this website. I have a Ford F-150 short bed with (Of course) and eight-cylinder engine. The tank takes 20gallons and I had noticed that I was getting 13 to 14 miles to the gallon before I tried some of the techniques. After one tank and a bunch of FAS (es,’s?) I tabulated a whopping 16.4 miles to the gallon.

That sounds like a real improvement, but can be just the beginning, if you stick with it.
What year F-150 are you driving & what is it's EPA rating? Stick or Automatic?

Originally Posted by PalominoJ

Would a tune-up help?

Is the truck due for a tune-up or performing poorly? I wouldn't dump money into a tune-up unless it was time or you have some symptoms.

Suggestion: Get a ScanGuage. It will give you direct feedback on how your driving habits affect gas mileage. Yeah, it'll cost you a few bucks, but the information is what you need to get serious about fuel economy.

[msantos]

Originally Posted by PalominoJ

I have been following the techniques outlined on this website. I have a Ford F-150 short bed with (Of course) and eight-cylinder engine. The tank takes 20gallons and I had noticed that I was getting 13 to 14 miles to the gallon before I tried some of the techniques. After one tank and a bunch of FAS (es,’s?) I tabulated a whopping 16.4 miles to the gallon. Did the techniques help? Yes, but I was disappointed by the out come. I was hoping for some real gas savings. I am in this to save money not the world and it was quite a chore to achieve that much gas mileage. The techniques are just not worth it (in money, time and aggravation) on such a gas hog as mine. Anyone experience anything different? Would a tune-up help?

JP

Those are awesome gains. As Delta mentioned, the improvement is very noticeable if you observe it in metric. For example:

13 mpg=18.09 l/100km
16.4 mpg= 14.34 l/100km

Now by just looking at the figures, if you were to drive 300km (186.4 Miles) out of a tank of gas you would have saved almost 3.75*3=11.25 liters. For instance, In Canada this would have equated to $1.2 * 11.25 l = $13.5 which is roughly $10 or 11$ US dollars.

From yet another perspective, there are alot of V6 automobiles that get worse real world economy than 14.34 l/100. So, in summary you made your V8 behave much like high displacement V6.

Cheers;


MSantos

[PalominoJ]

The Ford is an older vehicle (1997) and it is an automatic. Thanks for the different perspecitives, they encouraged me and I will try another tank.
JP

[PalominoJ]

Well, just finished another tank (20.1 Gallons). On this tank I chose to stay away from the highway were I find Pulse and Glide to be minimally beneficial due to the heavy traffic. I FAS around town and pulsed and glided on RT-53 (South west of Chicago) to work. I took the beast to 55 mph and coasted to 35-40mph. The results? The same 16.4 mpg. I have to re-examine if there were any lapses in my driving but I don't think so. I will try to get a scan gauge to help monitor and guide my gas consumption on the next trial.
JP

[brick]

Without knowing specifically what your driving looks like, it's hard to offer much advice. But the ScanGauge ought to be a big help. If you drive the same route regularly (like a commute to and from work) it might help to keep a written log so that you can see your daily highs and lows, which can be correlated to technique changes, conditions, etc. There's also a lot to be said for using the iFCD to keep tabs on your right foot. Using the absolute minimum possible throttle position to maintain speed is worth a few percent all by itself, possibly more depending on what your baseline is.

My only other suggestion is that, being relatively new to this (I assume), it might be worthwhile to back off of the advanced techniques (FAS, P&G, etc.) to focus on the fundamentals (e.g. controlling throttle pressure, gentle acceleraion, DWB, and DWL). When I was a little lower on the learning curve I found that attempting the hard stuff sometimes resulted in much more choppy driving and reduced FE vs. when I just stuck to the basics. Smooth, clean driving is FE driving. That negative effect goes away once you really get into a groove and learn to make the smooth transitions, but biting off too much at the beginning might well be holding you back. It's up to you, of course. Good luck, and thanks for keeping us posted!

[tbaleno]

Brick makes a good point. A common mistake is trying too hard. The same happend to me. You try to use every technique as often as you can. Not all of them work in certain situations. You have to learn when to use them as well as what they are. This comes with practice.

Do what Brick says and start with the basics. Then add a technique or two after you have mastered that. And build up your tool kit. And don't try to use the tools all the time. Adapt the tool to the situation.

[Mr. Kite]

Originally Posted by PalominoJ

I have been following the techniques outlined on this website. I have a Ford F-150 short bed with (Of course) and eight-cylinder engine. The tank takes 20gallons and I had noticed that I was getting 13 to 14 miles to the gallon before I tried some of the techniques. After one tank and a bunch of FAS (es,’s?) I tabulated a whopping 16.4 miles to the gallon. Did the techniques help? Yes, but I was disappointed by the out come. I was hoping for some real gas savings. I am in this to save money not the world and it was quite a chore to achieve that much gas mileage. The techniques are just not worth it (in money, time and aggravation) on such a gas hog as mine. Anyone experience anything different? Would a tune-up help?

JP

This improvement could amount to a lot of money over the course of a year. How many miles do you average each year? If you drove 15,000 miles in a year at 13.5 mpg, that would be 1,111 gallons ($3,333 @ $3/gal). If you drove the same 15,000 miles at 16.4 mpg, that would be 915 gallons ($2,745 @ $3/gal). This could be a savings of $588 over the course of a year. If you could get your average up to 18 mpg, that would be a yearly savings of $833. Anyway, I also think your improvement from 13.5 to 16.4mpg is pretty good.

I think the EPA numbers on your truck are 16/21. Does this sound right? With some vehicles, it is much harder to hit the EPA numbers than with others. Do you recall what kind of fuel economy you got the first few years you had the truck. I'm just wondering if maybe it is time for a tune-up.

Good luck.