Fuel mileage.

[Jimmyrig]

Any ideas on how much fuel per hour a stock 2.8 burns idling? I'm running mileage tests as I improve my truck. So far I've done a no cat exhaust, full tune up, smog pump delete, set the valve lash, and tuned the carb. It's an 85 2.8, 5 speed with 3.73 gears and 32x11.5 tires on aluminum wheels. I stared out around 9 mpg, and am up to 14 as of today. Here's my issue, it warms up for fifteen minutes before I leave, and I idle at work for an hour every morning so I can listen to the radio (I have an amp so it idles or I get dead batteries ) if I assume I wasted a gallon idling for so long, my mileage bumps up to 17.5. I'd really like to go with the 17 over the 14, but I want to be accurate as well.

 

[Shran]

Well, any engine gets 0mpg idling... the only way to real way to figure out fuel consumption that way would be to fill up, let it idle for quite a while, and refill... or you could figure out exactly how much the float bowl holds empty, disable the fuel pump, pour exactly that much fuel into the carb vents, and see how many seconds it runs before it shuts off. Multiply and divide that time and fuel amount into gallons and hours.

Or maybe the obvious solution would be to not let it idle for hours and see what your gas mileage is? lol, I have never needed to let a vehicle warm up for more than a few minutes even at -20 or lower

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Even with my 1000 watt amp back in the day, I could leave the system on for an hour with the truck off and not totally kill the battery unless I was really cranking it. If it's killing the battery that fast, maybe think of a new battery, bigger alternator, dual battery setup or a solar trickle charger.


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