Conserving petrol

Random

How does one conserve petrol?

You know ..when the tank is low, petrol light is on, and you're miles from a garage.

Drive in a higher gear and keep the revs down? Does it depend on the car ?

Jimbo

Being in a gear thats too high is also bad for fuel consumption. I'd say keep it between 1500-2000 revs. The most important thing is to try to keep your speed consistent i.e. not slowing down and speeding up for no reason. Also accelerate slowly and smoothly rather than just gunning it

Tipsy Mac

High gear with low revs but if your stuck in traffic you will be burning lots of fuel either way. If your planning on saving cash by filling it at as close to zero fuel as possible I wouldn't recommend it as sediment at the bottom of the fuel tank will end up making it's way into your fuel filter and pump, also if the car runs out of fuel it will damage the catalytic convertor and this will cost 500-1000 to replace.

Random

Not trying to save money here, just petrol when I get stuck with the light on from time to time.

tossy

Tough one!!

Turn off all non vital systems,except vital life support systems,calculate how much oxygen you are gonig to need to reach oyur destination and dump all excess oxygen and jetison oxygen thanks!!

Or in lay mans terms

Turn off air conditoning,window de misters and CD player keep the radio,dump the mother in law/wife due to excess weight and tell her you will be back as soon as you get to a garage and top up

BFassassin

Get out and push

thewing

What's the point in risking your engine? Just fill when it gets to last marker, not bottoming out. Better for your engine in long run and you'll spend the same...

Random

thewing wrote: »

What's the point in risking your engine? Just fill when it gets to last marker, not bottoming out. Better for your engine in long run and you'll spend the same...

This is true. I accept this. It's not always practical though and if I skip past this point I'm just trying to work out the best way

qz

Ever see that Topgear when Clarkson drove from London to Edinburgh and back on 1 tank of petrol in an Audi A8? He stripped the car of everything that wasn't supposed to be there to save weight and didn't use the aircon or radio. A great episode actually if you can find it.

wheres me jumpa

A conserving petrol story:

Driver lives high up on a hill, one long road which you can drive from bottom to top of hill, approx 3/4 mile long. In the morning this guy would drive car out onto this road, turn off the engine and coast all the way down, thus saving petrol. This went on for years until...

While hungover one morning, he got onto the downhill road, turned off the engine, coasted down, at the bottom of the hill instead of turning on the engine and going around the corner he forgot and tried steering around the corner, wheel locked, bang into ditch!

mikedragon32

qz wrote: »

Ever see that Topgear when Clarkson drove from London to Edinburgh and back on 1 tank of petrol in an Audi A8? He stripped the car of everything that wasn't supposed to be there to save weight and didn't use the aircon or radio. A great episode actually if you can find it.

It was a diesel, wasn't it?

Yes it was! http://www.flixxy.com/audi-a8-diesel.htm

Biro

wheres me jumpa wrote: »

A conserving petrol story:

Driver lives high up on a hill, one long road which you can drive from bottom to top of hill, approx 3/4 mile long. In the morning this guy would drive car out onto this road, turn off the engine and coast all the way down, thus saving petrol. This went on for years until...

While hungover one morning, he got onto the downhill road, turned off the engine, coasted down, at the bottom of the hill instead of turning on the engine and going around the corner he forgot and tried steering around the corner, wheel locked, bang into ditch!

That's the stuff for him, good job he didn't clean anyone else out. If you have to go to those lengths, you can't afford to drive, so sell the car!

Mr.Diagnostic

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

if the car runs out of fuel it will damage the catalytic convertor and this will cost 500-1000 to replace.

How does that work then?

wheres me jumpa

Biro wrote: »

That's the stuff for him, good job he didn't clean anyone else out. If you have to go to those lengths, you can't afford to drive, so sell the car!

I still laugh out loud when I hear/tell it!

Tipsy Mac

Mr.Diagnostic wrote: »

How does that work then?

I've heard it causes the ceramic plates in the cat to crack.

Mr.Diagnostic

Hi Tipsy,

I suppose I should have taken more time to post the first time. It didn’t read like I meant it to.

A car running out of or low on petrol will not damage the cat. The monolith would normally only crack due to thermal shock or overheating. Overheating is mostly caused by unburnt fuel entering the cat. If the amount of fuel is small (eg slightly rich or lean mixture) the degradation of the cat will take a considerable time. A major fueling fault can cause it to overheat quite quickly and in extreme cases is a fire hazard. Running out of fuel will not cause this.

HTH

qz

mikedragon32 wrote: »

It was a diesel, wasn't it?

Yes it was! http://www.flixxy.com/audi-a8-diesel.htm

Nice one! Watching it again now.

patrickc

qz wrote: »

Ever see that Topgear when Clarkson drove from London to Edinburgh and back on 1 tank of petrol in an Audi A8? He stripped the car of everything that wasn't supposed to be there to save weight and didn't use the aircon or radio. A great episode actually if you can find it.

I remeber that one, never thought he'd make it, he over proved audi'd mpg figures

JHMEG

Mr.Diagnostic wrote: »

The monolith would normally only crack due to thermal shock

Physical shock, eg hitting it off a speed bump.

Mr.Diagnostic

JHMEG wrote: »

Physical shock, eg hitting it off a speed bump.

Very good.....................can you think of any more. Running out of petrol maybe?

Glad I said "normally only crack due to" now, or I could be in real trouble. It's amazing how acurate you have to be on here just to make a simple point.

Andrewf20

jimbo78 wrote: »

I'd say keep it between 1500-2000 revs.

Yep, Autocar mentioned similar figures. Keeping all windows closed (car supposed to be a little more aerodynamic) will get you a few more metres down the road.

craichoe

http://www.hypermiling.com/

Extreme fuel conservation

GreeBo

Andrewf20 wrote: »

Yep, Autocar mentioned similar figures. Keeping all windows closed (car supposed to be a little more aerodynamic) will get you a few more metres down the road.

Probably in your owners manual also.
Was perusing through a VW polo manual and the recommended changing up before 2000 for best fuel consumption.

unkel

craichoe wrote: »

http://www.hypermiling.com/

Extreme fuel conservation

I do a lot of those things, but more for smoothness than for fuel conservation I must admit

Sam Kade

qz wrote: »

Ever see that Topgear when Clarkson drove from London to Edinburgh and back on 1 tank of petrol in an Audi A8? He stripped the car of everything that wasn't supposed to be there to save weight and didn't use the aircon or radio. A great episode actually if you can find it.

Clarkson is full of ****e what you didn't see was when he pulled into a filling station to get a few extra gallons to complete his journey.

unkel

Sam Kade wrote: »

Clarkson is full of ****e what you didn't see was when he pulled into a filling station to get a few extra gallons to complete his journey.

LOL, linky link please to determine who is full of ****e here

manalishi

Hello all,
Can anyone help me out regarding the right fuel consumption that my car should be doing.

I recently measured my 95 Nissan Micra at 9km per litre.

I've been told that this is very poor performance but typical of an old car. Is this statement true? It sounds a reasonable mileage to me.

Can anyone confirm this? and maybe one of the petrolheads out there might know what (if any) tricks I could do to get it more efficient. I've heard tips like lubricant etc

Thanks for your help

BoardsRanger

manalishi wrote: »

Hello all,
Can anyone help me out regarding the right fuel consumption that my car should be doing.

I recently measured my 95 Nissan Micra at 9km per litre.

I've been told that this is very poor performance but typical of an old car. Is this statement true? It sounds a reasonable mileage to me.

Can anyone confirm this? and maybe one of the petrolheads out there might know what (if any) tricks I could do to get it more efficient. I've heard tips like lubricant etc

Thanks for your help

think that works out to be 26MPG which isnt really great for a 1L car to be honest. perhaps your in need of a service?

manalishi

thanks baordranger,

i've been recommended Redex?

might give that a go.

Eoin

unkel wrote: »

LOL, linky link please to determine who is full of ****e here

It's an entertainment show, not a motoring journalism show. I would have no problems believing that creative license is used a lot on that show to fit in with their scripts.

nellocon

Just another fast question about fuel consumption.

At the moment i have a shyte car a daewoo matiz, with a 796cc engine.

Its painful to drive but anyway i was wondering which is better:

When driving up hills should i go in 3rd gear where the engine is somewhat screeching but moving a decent pace or should i go up in 4th gear where the is little revving but the car is barely moving...

I tend to go for 4th gear because the noise of the thing would drive you crazy