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Best ways to raise gas mileage


Kudofo

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
4
Vehicle Year
1989
Transmission
Manual
Im trying to come up with a list.

1. Change Oxygen Sensor
2. Plugs
3. Plug wires.
4. Cone Filter
5. Removing Cat
6. Fuel filter
7....

I want to compile a whole list. After I get done with my T5 swap I want to get my city mileage up to at least 25mpg and my highway over 30! Im running 3.54 rear gears.
 
7. Electric fan conversion.
8. OEM hot air tube if possible.
9. Synthetic Oil.
10. Make sure the thing is aligned
11. 192F thermostat
12. Polish exhaust ports if you are nuts.
13. Block heater if possible.
14. Remove the air muffler if you got it.
15. EGR removal may help, not positive on that one.
16. Bed topper designed with drag reduction also helps, despite the added weight.
17. Headers, if possible, if you don't already have them.
18. OEM tires or smaller. Hard,street tires.
19. Convert as many lights to LED as legally possible.
20. If you are rockin a system, there are things there to reduce current draw. Although no stereo is ultimately the way to go for MPG.

*Alcoa wheels may help if they are the same size as OEM. (if not pass)
**3.54 Gears may only work for highway. 3.54 gears in my truck in the city and I'm losing fuel mileage. I need 4.10 gears. Your rig maybe different being a 2WD.
*** Drive smart. Speed is a huge killer of fuel mileage. Big difference between 45 MPG and 55 MPG. The formula to figure horsepower required for a given speed is cubed. So keep that in mind.
 
Im trying to come up with a list.

1. Change Oxygen Sensor
2. Plugs
3. Plug wires.
4. Cone Filter
5. Removing Cat
6. Fuel filter
7....

I want to compile a whole list. After I get done with my T5 swap I want to get my city mileage up to at least 25mpg and my highway over 30! Im running 3.54 rear gears.

1. not a horrible idea, make sure you get a 3 wire sensor for yours
2. good call, a good platinum plug would probably be best, autolite or motorcraft
3. yep, good too
4. don't bother, you already have the same filter element as a 4.0L and it's sucking in as cold of air as you can get near the engine unless you get super fancy...
5. don't bother, won't get you anything, I was running a stock 2.3 cat behind my turbo engine and didn't loose any power.
6. if it's old, not a bad idea but probably isn't going to change your fuel mileage

other than that, get skinny low resistance tires, maybe 205 75 15's or something with a 3.45:1 ratio (3.45 came in 7.5's, 3.55 in 8.8's, no 3.54 on RBV's) I would go for something in the 26-27" height range, hard compound not soft. When driving cruise at the torque peak (2500) and always below 3000rpm (that's when the engine goes into open loop). With an EGR operating properly it should be inducing an inert gas, reducing the fuel required for running, haven't played with it too much myself though.

I've only driven an S10 with a T5 in it, wasn't impressed, I can speed shift my M5OD much better, I hear the World Class T5's are the only ones to even consider...
 
Im trying to come up with a list.

1. Change Oxygen Sensor
2. Plugs
3. Plug wires.
4. Cone Filter
5. Removing Cat
6. Fuel filter
7....

I want to compile a whole list. After I get done with my T5 swap I want to get my city mileage up to at least 25mpg and my highway over 30! Im running 3.54 rear gears.

Most of the stuff you listed will probably get your mpgs back to stock level, when your truck was in good working condition, all of those are just maintenance parts. and removing your cat is illeagal, and doesn't give you a noticeable gain in mpg at all.
 
Those for the most part are good ideas. The only time removing the cat is effective in a positive way is if its clogged, and same goes for egr, it doesn't net any gains with eye deleted.

Most effective thoughts I've found is general maintenance, easy driving, and that's really all it takes.

My other 97 that I had I removed the cat, it ran worse, and got lower mpgs and always had a check engine light. Intake was slightly helpful, but all it takes is removing the intake baffle(silencer), no need to drop 300$ on kn cold air, I was young and dumb. My new 97 gets better mileage, its faster, has cat, egr, and just general upkeep, alignment, plugs, wires, fluids.
 
Which intake do you use, a MAP based system, L-Jet (air flow), or a Hot wire?

What about changing the EMS? I've been looking at mine and fuel mileage and I don't think the ODB-1 computer is all that impressive nor do I see the point of over fueling the engine because of cats.
 
Tire pressure...amazing how much this can affect fuel economy...

easy on the skinny pedal...avoid traffic whenever possible by either changing routes or changing times of travel...

dump the jump seats if you have them and carry as little extra weight in the spring/summer/fall as possible...

keep your windows rolled up or put air foils on your windows so you can crack them in warm weather without drawing in too much wind resistance...

Make the girlfriend/boyfriend walk...

Use a higher grade of gas...costs more but it actually can go farther than low grade gas...as long as your engine doesn't ping or otherwise act up (mine runs much better on 91 octane than 87 octane)...
 
Those for the most part are good ideas. The only time removing the cat is effective in a positive way is if its clogged, and same goes for egr, it doesn't net any gains with eye deleted.

Most effective thoughts I've found is general maintenance, easy driving, and that's really all it takes.

My other 97 that I had I removed the cat, it ran worse, and got lower mpgs and always had a check engine light. Intake was slightly helpful, but all it takes is removing the intake baffle(silencer), no need to drop 300$ on kn cold air, I was young and dumb. My new 97 gets better mileage, its faster, has cat, egr, and just general upkeep, alignment, plugs, wires, fluids.

97 is OBDII removing the cat will always hurt MPG on OBDII. OBDI is going to be a different story.

Tire pressure...amazing how much this can affect fuel economy...

True

easy on the skinny pedal...avoid traffic whenever possible by either changing routes or changing times of travel...

Right turns! UPS routes are mainly right turns.

dump the jump seats if you have them and carry as little extra weight in the spring/summer/fall as possible...

I'm guilty there.

keep your windows rolled up or put air foils on your windows so you can crack them in warm weather without drawing in too much wind resistance...

I've done blower motor testing on larger trucks and found the MPG is better with the motor off and windows down. Which is why my blower motor resister only works on high and it's never getting fixed.

Make the girlfriend walk...

Why I'm not married.

Use a higher grade of gas...costs more but it actually can go farther than low grade gas...as long as your engine doesn't ping or otherwise act up (mine runs much better on 91 octane than 87 octane)...

Next on list of things to try.
 
Which intake do you use, a MAP based system, L-Jet (air flow), or a Hot wire?

What about changing the EMS? I've been looking at mine and fuel mileage and I don't think the ODB-1 computer is all that impressive nor do I see the point of over fueling the engine because of cats.

since parts of my truck are '89, and my '90 was basically a late '89 engine wise I have an idea of what's under his hood. If I'm right, the air box has a formed rubber hose going from the top front/inside of the air box then goes to the throttle body, that tube most likely has a spring in it which could cause a flow restriction, but there is no air muffler if it is this setup, if it's a later '89 it will have a formed harder rubber hose with ribs and stuff in it and the air box will stick straight toward the center with a big chunk sticking out the front side (hard to explain, the top of the box looks like a tetris L piece sorta), this style has a trombone muffler thing held in with one screw but you have to take the whole top apart to get it out. It's just a speed density system, so not too complex.
 
Removing ur egr and cats r the 2 stupidest things to do if ur trying to get better mpgs, without and egr ur combustion chambers increase temps which leads to detonation, my 2.5 with egr get almost 30 on hwy, without egr I only get abt 20mpg on hwy, ur cats determine how much fuel needs to be added to the engine with out cats ur engine gona think its to rich all the time and over time ur engine is gona take away more and more fuel less fuel and more air creates misfire or spark knock which can destroy ur rings becuz it get to hot in ur engine and then u dont have an egr to help cool down the combustion temps which then puts a hole thru the center of ur pistons

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk
 
No dude your O2 sensors determine if its running rich or not you cat changes the toxicity of you emissions from super bad to not so super bad or to good
 
Egr decreases the efficiency of your combustion cycle, by letting in unburnable gasses. You do not need egr to get good mileage, and it doesn't cause detonation by removing it. Detonation is caused by high combustion temps, but cruising speed cyl temps are relatively low. That's when egr is used. Under heavy load and acceleration the cyl temps go up and egr is shut down to maximize power.

I reject your logic, and insert my own (which is based in the science of automobile engines as trained by the intelligent minds at the university of northwestern Ohio.)
 

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