Increasing fuel economy

[darude]

There seems to be a lot of info on the web about easy, cheap ways to improve your fuel economy.

The two main ways seem to be:

1. Add a dirty great bit majnet to the fuel line.
2. Add a magic solution to your fuel tank every time you fill up.

Does anybody have any experience of this? Surely if it worked car manufactrues would fit the magnets to the fuel lines as standard and petrol companies add the formula into the petrol.

Also has anybody tried comparing super unleaded to normal from the perspective of fuel economy? I've just (accidentally) put in shell optimax (£50 bl**dy quids worth), not really sure if there is a difference in performance, I'll post the mpg difference I get next week!

Thanks,

Darren

 

[empip]

Go diesel or LPG ..... Stop chasing pipe dreams !!

Always some gizmo advertised ... Tis a bit like horse racing tipsters .. Just who will sell you the mother lode for peanuts ??

 

[sidecar_jon]

I put shell super-dooper stuff in my diesel car, and believe me i would notice any power increase, since it only has about 20 to begin with, it made no diferance at all. Ways to increase fuel economy, don't drive with a lead foot, don't go faster than 40mph (huge losses due to air drag)... use the brakes less (just costing you money in fuel and pads), Don't go for short trips... nothing you add to the fuel will increase the available calories to burn in it

 

[empip]

Take a look around chaps ... See many interested in any real economy?? Fuel.... Nah, most just pay more to eventually look fashionable in the traffic queue.. See the ladies during the day struggling with hubby's 4wd toy ?? Whacking curbs and anything else in their way.
Tyres ..

......if the 30-35 million scrap tyres arising each year, it is estimated (by the Government/Industry Working Group) that 25% are retreaded, 20% incinerated with energy recovery, 10% recycled (granulated or crumbed), 5% reused (farms, fenders etc.) and 40% landfilled (becoming more difficult), illegally dumped or stock piled.....

By the time one's child gains the age of 10 ... possibly 350 mill tyres have been scrapped, 40% or 140 million destined for landfill !
........

 

[2scoops0406]

Why on earth would a magnet on the fuel line increase fuel economy?

 

[Glassman]

Super Fuel sold by the likes of BP and Esso will help to maintain your engine by keeping the internals clean. You will not notice an increase in performance or fuel economy unless your car is specifically 'mapped' for it like the high powered Subaru's and Evo's which are mapped for high octane fuel only. The fact that these high powered cars are on the roads is the main reason why we have high octane fuel on the forecourts.
However, some cars can be re-mapped to run slightly better on high octane fuel in conjunction with other engine modifications but whats the point really? Once your car has been re-mapped you can only use high octane fuel and you will have to have it remapped again to go back to the standard 95ron fuel.
If you already use the high octane fuels then using the bottled fuel additives is just a complete waste of money as all they do is add cleaners to your existing fuel to help to clean the injectors which is what you already get with high octane fuel.
To get the best economy out of your car you need to look at the way you drive it.

 

[empip]

US of A Federal trade commision "Gas-Saving" Products: Fact or Fuelishness?
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/autos/gasave.htm

Guides have been prepared for the Department for Transport under the Transport Energy Best Practice programme...... A UK guide to Fuel Saving Devices http://www.est.org.uk/uploads/documents/fleet/fuel_saving_devices.pdf

And the web site ...
www.transportenergy.org.uk/bestpractice

 

[darude]

Hi All,

Thanks for your Replys, basically what i expected but don't want to change my car but would like to save some coin.

Apparently the magnet is supposed to work by stoping impurities getting into the engine from the fuel (my thought on this was, if it is true then that means that there are magnetic inpurities in the fuel, if this is magnatised and stoped by the magnet, how the impurities escape or one day does your car just stop running?)

Thanks again,

Darren

 

[AdamW]

You will not notice an increase in performance or fuel economy unless your car is specifically 'mapped' for it like the high powered Subaru's and Evo's which are mapped for high octane fuel only.

Seeing as US petrol is about 2-ron, and you can buy the Mitsi Evo over there, you have to wonder if you really need 98-ron for more than a few special cars. Admittedly they only get the 286bhp version whereas we get several versions with more power. But it still has a 4,500 mile service interval and is in a pretty decent state of tune compared to other family saloons

I think that 98-ron is largely a marketing tool, like printing the word "Supersize" on a pack of normal-sized johnnies, or making bras with rather "optimistic" cup-sizes on the label (seriously, it happens!). People will buy super-unleaded, pretending to themselves that their car is something special that somehow requires the fuel.

We all know how there used to be 5-star for cars like the E-type Jag. Did people with ordinary cars used to use it instead of 4-star I wonder?

 

[empip]

Hi All,

Thanks for your Replys, basically what i expected but don't want to change my car but would like to save some coin.

Apparently the magnet is supposed to work by stoping impurities getting into the engine from the fuel (my thought on this was, if it is true then that means that there are magnetic inpurities in the fuel, if this is magnatised and stoped by the magnet, how the impurities escape or one day does your car just stop running?)

Thanks again,

Darren

RTFM ..., and the sites noted... For the Yanks to call things crap they really must be.. otherwise off to court they would be taken !!

Your engine must be in perfect shape, clearances, timing belt tensions ... about 2000 miles of sensible 'bedding or running in' following this or thereabouts begins a (hopefully) slowl reduction in efficiency .. So the simple answer is .. there is no cheap way !!

 

[darude]

MY MPG Result.

Usually out of a tank of normal unleaded I get anywhere between 375 miles to 425 Miles. With the tank of fuel I have mostly been doing MWay driving and the traffic hasn't been to bad, from normal fuel I would of expected to get upto 400 miles before the warning light came on. From the super unleaded I got 403miles (managed to put 52 litres in the tank before the it wouldn't fill up any more).

to 52 / 4.546 = 11.4386 gallons
403/11.4386 = 35 mpg

I my opinon it made little difference to performance or effiecency, not worth the extra 5p/ltr price tag.

Typically when I work out my MPG it's around this mark.

I know this is not scientific and my car's not in the best condition but I know i'll make sure not to get Super Unleaded again.

 

[empip]

Don't wait for the low fuel light ..
At fuel pump fill until fuel 'gun' trips off, wait a few secs then try again .. do this three or so times .. you have now, hopefully, as much fuel in the tank as poss' zero the trip meter, drive on, add fuel whenever .. do the 'gun dance', write the trip milage onto the fuel receipt, reset trip, off to go, calc mpg at your leisure .. better still do it in your head when held up in traffic.. And if you cannot be bothered for a while ..then the data is preserved on the hoarded receipts..

 

[AdamW]

Don't wait for the low fuel light ..
At fuel pump fill until fuel 'gun' trips off, wait a few secs then try again .. do this three or so times .. you have now, hopefully, as much fuel in the tank as poss' zero the trip meter, drive on, add fuel whenever .. do the 'gun dance', write the trip milage onto the fuel receipt, reset trip, off to go, calc mpg at your leisure .. better still do it in your head when held up in traffic.. And if you cannot be bothered for a while ..then the data is preserved on the hoarded receipts..

Ah, someone else has a car with a main tank and a small tank too (Or do they all come like that?)

 

[Nige F]

Hi, Adam W . Do you need more economy from the popemobile then, just cut the Fathers stipends Magnets got one from a Autojumble for 50p. classic 70`s nonsense.like the Norton spark converter.got one of those too. Mother lode for peanuts.try Jimmy Carter one time pres. of US

 

[empip]

.........like the Norton spark converter.got one of those too.

You mean the little gizmo wherein the spark jumped a fair old gap before reaching the plugs ??
Strangely enough my Mobike, 2T stroker twin 1960'ish, had two already fitted when I bought second hand !! ...
One day I replaced the ht leads, as one does, knowing about the innards of the spark intensifiers.. I put them to one side, when I encountered an un-related 'points' problem, one cylinder would misfire .. then the plug oiled up and I was on a 125cc!! single....
Whilst awaiting new points from Villiers I refitted the 'Norton' gizmo's ... The mis-fire then just continued whilst engine was running, but the plug did not 'oil-up' ... I put that down to the Norton kit, right or wrong it cost me nowt... gave me occasional 250cc'ish engine !!
Fitted new points then removed 'intensifiers', there was talk of them causing problems at the contact points... Ok thereafter.
I found this :-

The system doesn't know or care *where* in the secondary the gap(s) are. Voltage across the plug gap is determined by the breakdown voltage of the highest-dielectric gap in the secondary. Ordinarily that's the spark plug, but if the plugs are wet and/or dirty, the moisture and/or dirt provides a voltage leakoff path from the center electrode to ground and the spark never occurs. By introducing a high-dielectric gap upstream of the plug gap, secondary voltage is increased such that such leakage paths become less parasitic in absolute terms, and the spark has a greater likelihood of happening. I used to demonstrate this on an old '64 Dart parts car with a whipped engine. The plugs fouled fast on that engine, and cylinders would stop working. I would pull plug wires partway off to create a 1/4" to 1/2" gap between their terminal and the spark plug terminal, and one by one as I did this, those cylinders would come back online. It got noisy under the hood, though (Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!)

Fuel economy ? Who cared then at 4s 6d a gallon and 50 mpg ??