I drive about 15 miles to get to the nearest large town for shopping and whatnot, with steady speed for about 10 miles of that and 5 miles with stop lights and traffic. I have been driving like a little old lady most of the time, and after a bunch of trips to town over the last 4 days to get shop related items, I have driven a bit over 200 miles. I decided to fill up just to check my milage, and I was surprised to find I got 17.15 mpg.

Now that this "drive like a *****" milage test is over, I will be driving "normally" from now on instead of annoying everyone behind me

Is my "driving like a wuss" milage unusual, or normal?

Later,

Keith

 

Did you fill the tank up till you can see the fuel in the neck? Thats really the only way to tell what you mileage is. If you just fill the tank till the pump shuts off you usually can put about 2 to 5 more gallons in the tank.

 

Same gas station, same pump, same nozzle depth, same technique. I latch the trigger and let it fill until it trips, after it trips I minimum squeeze the handle until it trips a second time, I minimum squeeze again and if I get an immediate trip... I then call it full.

Keith <---- obsessed with tracking fuel economy... considers trip computers the bane of humanity.

 

Try filling again until you see fuel in the neck, with your current method you're never going to get the same amount of fuel in the truck.

Also, I'd suggest doing it over a few tanks, checking mileage with uneven fills on 1/2 of a tank isn't going to get a very accurate answer. Though, your mileage seems about right for pussyfooting it. I usually get about 15mpg no matter what in my SC/SB.

 

i could see you getting that, doesnt seem too outa wack. i used to get that kinda mpg, but now its about 12.. towing alot, lotta idle time, drivin through the mud and woods hunting, and drivin like a retard

 

I know exactly where fuel level is.... 4" down in the neck at the tip of the nozzle. Doing a minimum squeeze on the trigger so that fuel is just trickling out (as described above) there is zero splash-back effect and the pump shuts off when fuel level is at the nozzle tip. It is at least as accurate as visually looking down the filler neck.

I will not do it over a few tanks, I will do it every fill up for the life of the truck. I still have old spreadsheets for vehicles I owned a decade ago. I expect my milage to drop because I won't be ***** footing it from now on.

Keith

 

Depending on how much fuel is already in the tank, and depending on how fast the fuel comes out of the nozzle, it will still foam up INSIDE the tank, and the breather sits way down. So once the pump first clicks off, there's usually a LOT of room left... like 5 gallons or more. So no, once it clicks off, it doesn't mean it's in the same spot. You may be getting close as you're filling slowly, but I assure you it's not in the same spot every time unless you can actually see fuel sitting in the neck. I promise you, I go through this on the truck and even more so in my TDI. If you're already going through this much trouble, why not just use the tried and trued method of seeing the fuel in the neck? Some of the guys here will actually shake the truck a bit to burp air bubbles out. I suggest looking into the harpoon mod as well.

 

I have been right where you are and had to prove to myself that your method isn't as exact as it sounds. While it seems consistant to do what you're doing, the fact is, when I fill till I can see it, it varies between 4.5 and 6.5 gallons from when it "clicked off". That's quite a variation. If you can't see the fuel, you have no idea where it is and therefore you're data can be skewed. Sorry, bro, but if you want the most exact numbers, filling it to the same visible point is MANDATORY.

 

I just recently figured out that the stock size tire for my particular build was the 275/70/18's but the truck is currently ridding on 265/70/17's. Doing some online calculations this means for every 20 miles registered on my odometer I have actually only traveled 19 miles. So, my "a bit over 200 miles" was actually "a bit over 190 miles" and that means around 16.3 mpg instead of the 17.15 I thought I got.

I need to either get new tires and wheels in my stock size, or a programer that can do speedo / odo calibration. I think the programer would actually be the cheaper of the two options, so I now have spending justification if the wife asks

Later,

Keith

 

AutoEnginuity... it can recalibrate the speedo, among a million other useful things for our trucks.

My truck came stock with 265/70/17's. The stock size tires on these trucks varied greatly. The trucks with the 20" harley wheels had almost a 35" tire.