ARTICLE: How to get the maximum Fuel Efficiency

[driverace]

Originally Posted by Garipagol

...A few common sense tricks. Filling up at half empty will help petrol mileage. As you drive the petrol sloshes around in the tank and evaporates. To prevent the build-up of excessive pressure in the tank there is a safety valve in the cap which reduces the pressure by releasing the vapor. Typically in between a filling cycle you may lose close to .5 ltr. Filling up when half empty helps in lowering the evaporation since there is less empty space in the tank for evaporation to take place. Also, it helps to monitor consumption when you stick to filling a half tank.
....

Well, I am more interested in this part of the information that you have shared.
If you dont mind, can you please suggest me further reading on the topic dealing with same?

WRT:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...mprove-fe.html

Care.

Ace.

BTW,

When approaching a stop (traffic signal/policeman, cows obstacles)
.. be careful of rejected F1 drivers who may suddenly cut into your path...

[goldsun]

Just came across with this news item on a about Fuel Injection system, which is expected to improve the fuel efficiency by 50%. I would leave this to the experts to discuss or comment more on this.

New Injection System Boosts Fuel Efficiency - It could become available within four years - Softpedia

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by Garipagol
...Typically in between a filling cycle you may lose close to .5 ltr. Filling up when half empty helps in lowering the evaporation since there is less empty space in the tank for evaporation to take place. ....

I guess topping up again at half tank doesn't help much for me. I regularly fill petrol from one pump, and I drive specifically for refuelling at early morning (Total 8 km for going to Filling Station and coming back). I would be driving extra 8km to the Filling Station if I refill at half tank compared to the case if I refill at empty, which means almost half a litre wastage anyway. Add to this, the error in Reading at the Filling station because of the length of the flexible tube that extends from the Petrol Meter to your car - the error gets multiplied with extra visits to the Filling station.(This error may not be much, but still counts.)

One more reason is that if you refill at half tank, half of the petrol in your tank would be 'old' petrol. Next time you refill again at half tank, one-fourth of the petrol in your tank would still be the 'older' petrol that you filled the second-previous time. (Assuming the 'old' petrol and the 'new' petrol mixes uniformly. This is just my wild guess, correct me if I am wrong.)

[.Albatross.]

Now when the fuel prices are rising everyday on one pretext or the other(budget hike, commonweath game tax, bs4 quality ), we should also innovate ways to save more.
One common thing which i found out is that on a traffic light stop some cars would keep on inching forward thus prompting others to follow suit. A lot of fuel can be saved by avoiding this use of half clutch.
Another fuel guzzling situation is the existence of unmanned barricades which the policemen put and forget.http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif Can we step down and remove them if we do not find anybody inspecting the slowed down vehicles?
Hope the forum has better ideas.

[Gansan]

@jinojohnt

The hose always contains petrol, so any petrol measured to you is excluding this quantity! It really does not matter, except when the station sump runs totally dry. When it gets filled and a customer drives in for fuel, he may take a hit as the tube will have to be filled first before the fuel gushes in to his car!

As for stale petrol remaining in the tank, it does not matter as long as you keep adding at least 1/3 rd fresh fuel every month.

[sumeethaldankar]

Ok checked my FE for my '97 800 again.I fill up half tank to full ie i fuel up when the guage reaches the half way mark.This time i was very conscious of the way i drive, kept city driving to minimum and used the highway more.Made sure i did not exceed 70kmph in the fourth gear with the tacho shift light marked at 2900 rpm but still managed only 204 kms from 13.48 ltrs of fuel which comes out at 15.13 kmpl.That's pretty much the same i got in my prev run wherein i wasn't trying to achieve better FE.

I guess my driving styles (gear changes etc) got something to do or the carb needs better tuning.But then i had got the carb o/h in Dec last year and the car was returning 13 kmpl before which increased to 15.That's just a 2kmpl increase.I guess there are 800 owners on the forum who get 17-18 in the city even with mods running on their cars.Now i really wish i could get hold of the people who tune their cars for them.My city driving is around 4-5 kms per day which constitutes around 20 % of the 204 kms i did.So i guess maybe if i had avoided that i could have got a better figure.But is 15 kmpl a decent figure for my 800 after all she's 13 years old?

[iamback]

Adding Fuel additives will increase car's FE ? Will they lower the life of my Car Engine ? Will the lower the Performance ? Suggestions needed.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by iamback

Adding Fuel additives will increase car's FE ? Will they lower the life of my Car Engine ? Will the lower the Performance ? Suggestions needed.

I'm personally not a fan of fuel additives. The right driving style + pure (unadulterated) fuel should help you achieve a respectable FE number.

[Garipagol]

Originally Posted by iamback

Adding Fuel additives will increase car's FE ? Will they lower the life of my Car Engine ? Will the lower the Performance ? Suggestions needed.

I agree with GTO 100%. Personally I have had bad experience with additives. They are normally not recommended by the mfgrs. For my current vehilcle the workshop recommended normal diesel which I use.

Regards

[kadanaJ]

Originally Posted by Garipagol

I agree with GTO 100%. Personally I have had bad experience with additives. They are normally not recommended by the mfgrs. For my current vehilcle the workshop recommended normal diesel which I use.

Regards

So does this mean we should completely avoid using TurboJet and 'Speed' that a lot of petrol pumps stock.
I remember the Toyota service guy telling my dad to use only 'sada' diesel in the Innova.
Why are fuel additives harmful?

[parhureddy]

Some pretty interesting tips.
But you forgot to mention the amount of time the vehicle is parked in direct sunlight.
You talk about additives for increasing FE, but most user manuals specifically suggest usage of normal fuel.

[Guna]

Originally Posted by kadanaJ

So does this mean we should completely avoid using TurboJet and 'Speed' that a lot of petrol pumps stock.
I remember the Toyota service guy telling my dad to use only 'sada' diesel in the Innova.
Why are fuel additives harmful?

I think there is a separate thread on additives and high octane fuel.
Anyway, there are two aspects to using something like SPEED. First is, they have higher octane number and if your car is designed to take advantage of that it will be useful to go for such fuel. Second aspect is , they invariably have additives. To me it looks like, if you need to use the higher octane fuel, you also have to live with the additives.

[narendra.vw]

I would like to add few more tips on FE. (If repeated please ignore.)
1) wheel bearings should be friction free. This can be done by using good grease.
2) see that, brake ling or pads does not jam even when relished .
3) all transmission from the engine should be well lubricated ( gear box, diff, star joints etc.)
4) air filter should be as clean as possible.
5) tire life should be at least 50%. I recommend high profile tire.
7) wider tire affects FE.
8) wheel alignment should be checked every 5000km (negative camber also effects FE.)
9) carrying luggage on top of the car also affect FE.( wind resistance.) try to avoid.
10) avoid sudden braking or sudden acceleration. Read road sign properly, you can be at the right speed at the right time. E.g. road hump, S bend , over taking etc.

[Garipagol]

Originally Posted by Guna

I think there is a separate thread on additives and high octane fuel.
Anyway, there are two aspects to using something like SPEED. First is, they have higher octane number and if your car is designed to take advantage of that it will be useful to go for such fuel. Second aspect is , they invariably have additives. To me it looks like, if you need to use the higher octane fuel, you also have to live with the additives.

This is not always true. I do not think we can increase the octane number by adding additives. The higher octane number results from the distillation process and at what stage the output is tapped.

Below is reference to some basic infomation on how the fuel injectors work.

Howstuffworks "Car Engine Performance Channel"

This website is good for almost anything. A good bookmark and a wonderful site for children with questions !

The critical element in the process is the fuel map which the ECU builds and continuously referes to as you drive. The additives cause this map to be changed. Getting better FE may not always be better for your engine. The manufacturers build their engines to operate optimally with a certain type of fuel. The word "optimal" here does not mean better milage, it means the fuel mixture under which the engine perfrmance is best. If interested look at also the "lambda" (oxygen sensor) in autos. Basic info is here :

HowStuffWorks "How does the oxygen sensor in a car work?"

Be careful about what you put in your fuel tank !!

Regards

[Gansan]

There is no high octane fuel except Speed 97. All the others like HP Power/IOC Xtrapremium/Speed 93/ Shell super unleaded are all regular gasoline with extra additives to cleanse the engine. There is no change in the RON.