Improving Gas Mileage

[yoterbenz]

Like me most of us out there are always looking to improve the fuel efficiently of our cars. Most of us don't have a lot to money to spend on things that help out our cars especially if we don't know if they really work. The first thing we can do to improve our mileage is the easiest. Driving habits!! I know it's hard to keep our foot out of the gas pedal due to the fact that most of us have to floor it to just keep up with traffic. One thing that we can do is try and not have short trips in town. We all know that if the engine does not warm up to operating temperature that not only does it burn more fuel, but wear excellerates. Another thing we can do (for us manual trans owners) is to shift at the lowest rpm possible without lugging the engine. A slower turning engine burns less fuel. If you look at our gas counterparts you know a lot of V-8 cars have really high gears in the rear end. Take for instance an older Fox body Mustang. Some of their rear ends have gears as low as 2.75. This is to keep the rpms low at freeway speeds to help gas mileage. One easy to do thing for us Mercedes diesel owners is change all fluids to synthetic. Really high mileage oil burning motors might not be a good canidate for synthetic oil but the transmission, rear end, and power steering system can benefit from it. The next thing you can focus on is the fuel system. A clean and flushed fuel system helps the injector pump get the proper amount of fuel to the injectors with minimal effort. If you don't know the state of your injectors go ahead and pull them and get them inspected. New nozzles can't hurt and only benefit the way the engine runs. What the engine does not have to turn only helps turn the drive shaft which makes the vehicle move forward right?! If you live in a normally cool climate take off your a/c belt until it's needed in the summer. Now here comes my favorite.. The mechanical cooling fan... ALL front wheel drive vehicles have electric cooling fans. This is due to the engine being in a latitude mounting position. Switching to an electric cooling fan has good benefits. The one most of us care about is that it helps fuel efficiency. The engine no longer has to spin the fan that really is only needed when in traffic. Some might argue and say that is what the fan clutch is for. How many of you have actually tested and replaced a fan clutch. I'm willing to bet that most of them are original. Another benefit is that you get maximum cooling affect at idle. That electric fan spins at full rpm no matter how fast the car is going. Do mechanical fans do that?! I put a black magic fan on my Toyota pickup and I only wish I would've done it when I first got it from my old man. The fan only kicks on when in traffic and I have an aftermarket water temp gauge and the temp never gets over 200 degrees. It saves power and it looks really nice. Another benefit is that it takes less time to get to warm up temperature. If you get one that has an adjustable thermostat you control at what temp it kicks on at. I could go on and on but this is a good start. Oh before I wrap this up.. make sure your tires have the proper amount of tred and are inflated to the proper pressure. That is probably the easiest and most overlooked gas mileage tip.

Don't you just love copy and paste general information?

[babymog]

Gawd that's annoying, and useless, and spelled like a 3rd-grader would, ...

[LUVMBDiesels]

This is only his tenth post.. give him a break.

If it was his 500th then I would say "fire when ready" but we don't want to scare new members away...

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

This is only his tenth post.. give him a break.

If it was his 500th then I would say "fire when ready" but we don't want to scare new members away...

Yes I hate cut and paste.

A paragraph (from the Greek paragraphos, "to write beside" or "written beside") is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is indented; sometimes it is indented without beginning a new line. At various times the beginning of a paragraph has been indicated by the pilcrow: ¶.

It might be his or her 10 post, but is it that difficult to hit the return key to start a new thought?

[yoterbenz]

Hey I'm only trying to help. I read a lot of posts and there are a lot of people new to the whole Mercedes world like myself. I don't have a lot of experience yet with my 240D but I sure do know my mechanics. I've noticed ForcedInduction is the first one to say something that isn't helpful. Did your parents teach you if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all? Apparently not! Babymog... I'm betting you like the Mercedes Unimog right? Did you know the US Army uses a Unimog? Engineers have them. Any of you been in the US Army before? Everything we use is diesel powered. As far as the cut and paste... yeah who needs to do that? I wouldn't waste my time. I thought I was being of some help but the know it alls apparently know too much to share to the "lesser" mechanically inclined.

[yoterbenz]

I didn't think this was an english class. The last I checked this was a forum.

Originally Posted by yoterbenz

Did your parents teach you if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all? Apparently not!

Apparently that makes 2 then. Here is a simple idea: If you don't like it, don't look.

I didn't think this was an english class. The last I checked this was a forum.

That isn't an excuse to drop what you were taught in class. This isn't a ricer forum, the people here DO have some kind of standards.

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by yoterbenz

Hey I'm only trying to help. I read a lot of posts and there are a lot of people new to the whole Mercedes world like myself. I don't have a lot of experience yet with my 240D but I sure do know my mechanics. I've noticed ForcedInduction is the first one to say something that isn't helpful. Did your parents teach you if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all? Apparently not! Babymog... I'm betting you like the Mercedes Unimog right? Did you know the US Army uses a Unimog? Engineers have them. Any of you been in the US Army before? Everything we use is diesel powered. As far as the cut and paste... yeah who needs to do that? I wouldn't waste my time. I thought I was being of some help but the know it alls apparently know too much to share to the "lesser" mechanically inclined.

With paragraphs added for easier reading.

Hey I'm only trying to help. I read a lot of posts and there are a lot of people new to the whole Mercedes world like myself. I don't have a lot of experience yet with my 240D but I sure do know my mechanics.

I've noticed ForcedInduction is the first one to say something that isn't helpful. Did your parents teach you if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all? Apparently not!

Did you know the US Army uses a Unimog? Engineers have them. Any of you been in the US Army before? Everything we use is diesel powered.

As far as the cut and paste... yeah who needs to do that? I wouldn't waste my time. I thought I was being of some help but the know it alls apparently know too much to share to the "lesser" mechanically inclined.

[Bio300TDTdriver]

Originally Posted by yoterbenz

I didn't think this was an english class. The last I checked this was a forum.

It is not English class, you are correct. If a post doesn't read easily, a lot of people just won't reply, or you will get replies much like you received. Try using some punctuation, like a coma. Then try to break up your thoughts with paragraphs. It isn't that difficult.

If I can do it, you can too. I'm no English major.

[Jordan G]

Originally Posted by Bio300TDTdriver

It is not English class, you are correct. If a post doesn't read easily, a lot of people just won't reply, or you will get replies much like you received. Try using some punctuation, like a coma. Then try to break up your thoughts with paragraphs. It isn't that difficult.

If I can do it, you can too. I'm no English major.

I went into profound state of unconsciousness reading all this.....but I don't think Mr. Yoter needs to go into one.

[Hatterasguy]

Break the post up into paragraph's and run it through Word's spell and grammer checker. Also ditch the bright font.

Then it will read better and get better responses.

[irish_flu]

EUREKA you guys, I've discovered an excellent, almost magical method of improving my gas mileage.

This works in any car, with very little modification.


All you have to do is buy this device from me, which I call a "smallish wooden block", place it under your accelerator pedal, and BANG your MPG improves (often dramatically!).


WARNING: DO NOT PLACE BLOCK UNDER BRAKE PEDAL. DURING TESTING, THIS PRODUCED VERY, VERY BAD RESULTS.



What do you think, my friends, will I get rich from this? I think I'll charge $40 for the block (or $60 if it's covered in vinyl that looks like carbon fiber).

[Hatterasguy]

Wow thats the best idea I have heard yet! Off to late night shopping channels it goes!

[Bio300TDTdriver]

You are going to get rich.