Give me some cheap, easy mpg increasing ideas

[Eagle]

Ok, lets run some more realistic numbers...

26 gallon tank
17mpg average
1 tank a week
$2.75/gal for gas
2mpg increase (since that seems to be common)

2 mpg = extra 52 miles per tank.

52 miles at 17 mpg is ~3 gallons of gas.
(no it isn't, it would be 19 if the logic held water)

3 x $2.75 = $8.25 per tank.

$8.25 x 52weeks = $429/yr saved with 2mpg increase

$300 CAI w/ 2mpg increase pays back in 8.5mos or 16k miles.

this is the second time i;ve see this same math error.


If you add 2 mpg, you get an extra 52 miles per tank... sure...

it 19 mpg... your fill up still costs the SAME whether you get 10 mpg or 20.

You just fill up less frequently... because you are ~10% more efficient.

You save 10%

12000 miles per year @ 19 mpg = 631 gallons of gas

12000 miles per year @ 17 mpg = 705 gallons of gas

hmm right at 10% savings...

so IF you drive around 12000 miles a year and pay around 2.75 you;d save about $200 per year.
Less miles or less expensive gas, you save less. More and you 'save' more.

But it is still 10%...

in this 'realistic' scenario, that $300 CAI takes about 18 months to break even.

westers tuners is a dufus.
'CAI's work by decreasing pumping losses.



EASy way to increase MpG in a denali.

take all the unused seats out.

Use narrowest tires and use the smallest diameter rims possible/factoty available,
*not 24s with 275s*.

set air pressures to factory specs.

drive like grandma bluehair, avoid stop n go traffic.

Don;t sit around idling, even for a couple of minutes.

But the absolute best and easiest is:
Sell it and buy a similarly optioned 2wd 5.3 for less. (saves money all around )

 

[snowjay]

this is the second time i;ve see this same math error.


If you add 2 mpg, you get an extra 52 miles per tank... sure...

it 19 mpg... your fill up still costs the SAME whether you get 10 mpg or 20.

You just fill up less frequently... because you are ~10% more efficient.

You save 10%

12000 miles per year @ 19 mpg = 631 gallons of gas

12000 miles per year @ 17 mpg = 705 gallons of gas

hmm right at 10% savings...

so IF you drive around 12000 miles a year and pay around 2.75 you;d save about $200 per year.
Less miles or less expensive gas, you save less. More and you 'save' more.

But it is still 10%...

in this 'realistic' scenario, that $300 CAI takes about 18 months to break even.

Crap, I hate math errors. See what happens when I don't check my work.

Just to point something out, your mileage is about half of what the mileage I used to calculate is. I was basically using what I drive. I fill up a nearly empty tank once a week. In real life I do 20k a year and at 17mpg that's 23 gallons (which is the tank size & mpg of my old truck). My example above used a full 26 gal tank (of the Tahoe) which is actually 23000 a year at 17mpg. So that will skew the numbers slightly.

Recalculating using 19mpg... my numbers come to $390.

And using your method with my numbers...

23000k @ 17mpg = 1352 gal
23000k @ 19mpg = 1210 gal

That's a differences of 142 gal x 2.75 equals $390.


So both ways come out to the same numbers, but people need to use their real life numbers to get their payback.


@ 20k a year (at 2.75/gal) it's $341 in savings.

 

[Z15]

There is only one thing wrong with your comps. You are not going to gain 2 mpg or even 1 mpg, its not possible changing the air intake alone. You cannot use less fuel if you use more air, impossible with a Mass Air Flow System. To get better mpg you have to burn less fuel. The fuel to air ratio will not change unless you alter the fuel tables in the ECM.

 

[snowjay]

There is only one thing wrong with your comps. You are not going to gain 2 mpg or even 1 mpg, its not possible changing the air intake alone. You cannot use less fuel if you use more air, impossible with a Mass Air Flow System. To get better mpg you have to burn less fuel. The fuel to air ratio will not change unless you alter the fuel tables in the ECM.

I was just using numbers others claim/provided. It's not my claim you will get that increase. My or Eagles comps were just examples for others to use for their own benefit... assuming you believe you will gain 1-2mpg.

 

[withac]

There is only one thing wrong with your comps. You are not going to gain 2 mpg or even 1 mpg, its not possible changing the air intake alone. You cannot use less fuel if you use more air, impossible with a Mass Air Flow System. To get better mpg you have to burn less fuel. The fuel to air ratio will not change unless you alter the fuel tables in the ECM.

What about the fact that the engine has to work less to get the given amount of air? I can wrap a bandana around my face and still get enough air but I have to work harder. If my engine doesn’t have to suck as hard to get the air it needs then it should run more efficiently. I don’t own stock in any CAI companies, I don’t own a performance shop, I have no vested in saying they work or don’t. FACT, I put an AirRaid CAI on my 2000 Durango R/T 5.9 with full time 4x4. I saw an immediate 2 mpg increase on the highway. I went farther per fill up. Yes, the Dodge is not a MAF system, but I got similar results with the AEM in my ‘**. There are numerous reasons why you burn more or less fuel. If I pull a trailer, the engine is working harder, there is more drag, it uses more fuel. If I’m coasting down hill it uses less. If I replace all the fluids with synthetic I might reduce some parasitic drag and shave a little off my mpg. So if an engine uses more fuel when it has to work harder and less when it works easier, why wouldn’t increasing the efficiency with which it inhales increase mpg? I’m traveling the same distance and filling up less, that means I’m saving money. Period.

 

[thunderii]

my gas guzzler is sitting pretty in my drive way until we've better gas prices. I'm driving 2.4liter Nissan Frontier that gets me almost 500miles on 19gal tank. What can i say?? I love Toyo..... no NISSAN Frontier!!! I'm just keeping the truck since this truck wont sell at the price that I want. Either way I probably lose money keeping this truck but, IDC I love this truck.

 

[lt1gmc]

What about the fact that the engine has to work less to get the given amount of air? I can wrap a bandana around my face and still get enough air but I have to work harder. If my engine doesn’t have to suck as hard to get the air it needs then it should run more efficiently. I don’t own stock in any CAI companies, I don’t own a performance shop, I have no vested in saying they work or don’t. FACT, I put an AirRaid CAI on my 2000 Durango R/T 5.9 with full time 4x4. I saw an immediate 2 mpg increase on the highway. I went farther per fill up. Yes, the Dodge is not a MAF system, but I got similar results with the AEM in my ‘**. There are numerous reasons why you burn more or less fuel. If I pull a trailer, the engine is working harder, there is more drag, it uses more fuel. If I’m coasting down hill it uses less. If I replace all the fluids with synthetic I might reduce some parasitic drag and shave a little off my mpg. So if an engine uses more fuel when it has to work harder and less when it works easier, why wouldn’t increasing the efficiency with which it inhales increase mpg? I’m traveling the same distance and filling up less, that means I’m saving money. Period.

The problem with your way of thinking is the fact that at cruise, the restriction to an engines getting air is not the air filter, it is the throttle that is almost closed. That engine is pulling almost 18-19 inches of vacuum against the throttle blades, not the air filter. That is why low restriction air filters cannot improve fuel economy over a clean factory filter.

 

[withac]

The problem with your way of thinking is the fact that at cruise, the restriction to an engines getting air is not the air filter, it is the throttle that is almost closed. That engine is pulling almost 18-19 inches of vacuum against the throttle blades, not the air filter. That is why low restriction air filters cannot improve fuel economy over a clean factory filter.

Tell that to the Durango computer, apparantly it was not aware of this, I'll bet it feels real stupid right about now.