Conserving petrol

fletch

nellocon wrote: »

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

I'd go for 3rd gear...less stress on the engine.

Stark

Random wrote: »

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

Keep a can of petrol in the boot...

robbie99

nellocon wrote: »

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

Find out at what revs your engine produces its max torque. You engine is at its most effiecient at this rev. If you can't maintain your speed going up a hill at this rev then drop a gear so the engine can work harder, but it will consume more fuel.

blackbox

manalishi wrote: »

thanks baordranger,

i've been recommended Redex?

might give that a go.

Redex might help to clean your fuel system, but is unlikely to significantly affect your mpg.

Best to get your car fully serviced to ensure everything is as it should be before you try any experiments.

Poor fuel consumption might be due to your driving habits/style rather than anything to do with the car.

derry

My car Suziki Swift 98 model non fuel injected and true 35,000 miles k on the clock

I have practiced all the tricks I can find

I went from original 25MPG around town to 55MPG a gain of ~40%around town when I first got the car

I went from original 45 MPG highway to 65 MPG highway a gain of ~30%

Simply practicing better driving habits changes fuel consumption a lot

Lots of other tricks help
Slow aceleration
Stay in highest gear and get into highest gears ASAP
Wear socks when driving
I try not to exceed 2000 RPM
Switch off engine at long lights and bad traffic


I will also coast when coming to red lights as in go into neutral and coast
( yeah yeah it is not good blah blah but 20,000 miles later and most coasting is from 30MPH to 0 mph haven't given any issues but if it was icy I wouldn't try coasting or if its very steep hill I wont be coasting )

Best rule I found is stay in highest gear possible and seems to be better than changing down event though they say that doesn't work it works for me


Cars with direct injection can stay in gear and coast as the injectors shut off fuel to engine when coasting in gear

Cars with direct injection can meter out fuel better for loads requiremnts so probably no gain to stay in higher gears for so long



cars with cruise control I have had in the past like a BMW 2 liter ..............(not in Ireland ) and even using cruise control in the city in 30MPH zones in the city or highways with 120KPH limits (mostly to keep from getting speeding fines) resulted in nearly 30% drop in fuel use compared to when I didn't use it company car company petrol card so no big deal for me .

Saved me a lot in on the spot fines also

So steady gas pedal usage definitly helps and developing the foot without a cruise control to do that takes months



Recently I started to mix in the E85 fuel to improve costs even further thread on that subject here and it helps the engine stay in higher gears longer with better touque

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055369646



Yesterday on E35 fuel mix day basically 40% e85 and 60% E5 fuel mix cost me ~4.25 euro to go 60 miles on highway Sandyford M50 to Naas and back and thats about 70MPG at steady speeds of ~50MPH

Derry

CPG

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

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

Nonsense ! you hear this down the pub ?

Esel

nellocon wrote: »

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

Using too high a gear on a hill ("little revving but the car is barely moving") is very bad for the engine. It's called 'lugging the engine', and causes severe wear to the bearings, which can result in a total engine stripdown/rebuild being required.

Most non-technical drivers have no idea how high their engine will happily rev. You say 'somewhat screeching', I say 'making power at a healthy engine speed'.

Never ever lug your engine. Always use a lower gear. Basically, if the car does not respond to the throttle (accelerator), change to a lower gear.

Esel

manalishi wrote: »

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

manalishi wrote: »

I've been recommended Redex? might give that a go.

Has the car been serviced regularly? If not, get it done! You could see an appreciable improvement by simply replacing the air filter (if it needs replacing) and the spark plugs (ditto).

congo_90

Op,
why you tryin to conserve fuel so late through the tank? try do it all the time for better results

Fuel Savings tips:

Make sure all 4 tires are properly inflated.
Remove any unnecessary crap from car (rubbish, clothes, bags etc)
Do not accelorate heavily ESPECIALLY while the engine is warming up.
TRY not to to use the heater during engine warm up. It takes the engine longer to warm up that way and thus adds more wear affecting fuel economy.
Service the car incl. tracking
try to brake well in advance of a red light, stop sign etc. Gently stopping a car is better than going from 3,000 or so revs to idle.

IF and only IF you know you're going to be at a junction for a long period of time and know their sequence. Switch off your engine provided its fuel injected (1993+), warm engine and for approx more than 45seconds stopped.

must you have your climate control on even 1 click while windows down?

If you have a short journey ie; 10mins walk. Don't bother driving you'll save fuel and make your car last longer by reducing wear and tear!!

Thats my 2 cents generally works

R.O.R

derry wrote: »

Simply practicing better driving habits changes fuel consumption a lot

Lots of other tricks help
Slow aceleration
Stay in highest gear and get into highest gears ASAP
Wear socks when driving
I try not to exceed 2000 RPM
Switch off engine at long lights and bad traffic


Derry

Ok, I get all the others - but I can't for the life of me work out why wearing socks when driving will improve your fuel consumption. Personally I would have thought the extra weight would decrease the MPG.

Must try leaving the socks at home and see if consumption dramatically decreases :P

Eoin

I reckon that means don't wear shoes, so you have a better feel of the car? Don't know how easy it would be to stand on the brakes if needed though.

RichyX

congo_90 wrote: »

TRY not to to use the heater during engine warm up. It takes the engine longer to warm up that way and thus adds more wear affecting fuel economy.

That doesn't sound right to me.
Surely the heater has no bearing on how quickly the engine warms up.
All the heater does is use some of the power from the engine, the engine is producing the same power whether it's on or not, doesn't it?

Esel

RichyX wrote: »

That doesn't sound right to me.
Surely the heater has no bearing on how quickly the engine warms up.
All the heater does is use some of the power from the engine, the engine is producing the same power whether it's on or not, doesn't it?

Coolant is diverted to the heater matrix. This reduces the overall temperature of the coolant, causing the engine to be slower to heat up to correct operating temperature.

congo_90

esel wrote: »

Coolant is diverted to the heater matrix. This reduces the overall temperature of the coolant, causing the engine to be slower to heat up to correct operating temperature.

Beat me to it lol.

derry

The results of using E85 fuel which costs 1 euro per liter on my non flex fuel car

Also some links on cheaper E85 fuel mixxes for cars flex fuel and non flex fuel types

remarks of recent progress below

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57351597#post57351597
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57351605#post57351605

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57351604#post57351604

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055369646

Figure I am close to 100% E85 ratio and so far no major issues
Figure I am close to 100% E85 ratio and so far no issues

Worst case I am E75 ratio

MPG is down a tad on town driving but costs are lowwer with cheaper E85 fuels

As most fuels are not exactly correct generaly E5 is actualy E6 or E7 and E85 is probably E86 to E89 ratios I am fairly certain that the fuel ion the tank is at least E80

In a few weeks I will empty the tank with a long run and only put in E85 to confirm that E85 straight works pefectly

Only very minor issues is sometimes a minor small bit of uneven surging on accelerating hard in 1st or second gear (one time in twenty times more liklely after sitting a long time at the lights or in heavy traffic )

This problem could be sorted easily with a mechanic for ~200 euros of work

For me the simpler solution is to stay on E60% fuel ratios as that returns the best saving some ~10% compared to E5 fuels


keep you posted

Derry

Esel

Derry, you have spammed three separate threads with the same post. You are now joining the elite few on my Ignore List, because I couldn't be arsed scrolling past, never mind reading, the prolix drivel that you spout.

unkel

esel wrote: »

Derry, you have spammed three separate threads with the same post.

In fact his last 5 posts on boards (across multiple forums) are pretty much that same post

@derry - do not cross post like that again, or your posts will be deleted and you will be banned