Improving my pickup's gas mileage

[jpeaceokc]

When I'm not riding the bus, I'm driving a 1989 Chevy Silverado pickup. My general around town mileage is 11 to 13 miles per gallon, and this has been true since I got the vehicle in 2000. I do a lot of hauling, so a pickup isn't optional.

Over the last little while, as gas prices have made their latest run-up, I've been experimenting with changes in my driving habits around town, which is most of my driving (as opposed to freeway driving). After making a few changes in my driving habits, instead of 11-13 mpg, I am getting 15-16, which is an average increase of about 30%.

Here's what I'm doing.

1. Slower acceleration.

2. I keep an eye on upcoming stoplights to notice if they are turning red. When I see a red light approaching, I take my foot off the gas and coast (as opposed to continuing to accelerate and then slamming on the brakes).

3. I choose routes to minimize red lights. I'm still working on this one (counting lights and perusing maps).

4. If I am going to be stopped for longer than 10 seconds, I turn off the vehicle. I suppose this varies a bit from engine to engine (the larger the engine, the more gas is consumed while idling), but these two links reference scientific studies suggesting that after 10 seconds of idling you would be ahead of the game if you had turned off your vehicle. The California site says that the estimated additional cost for wear and tear to the starting mechanisms is about $10/year, which is more than finessed by the fuel savings. (Note that my truck starts quickly and without pressing on the gas.)

Idle free zone campaign encourage motorists to turn off vehicle while waiting

Idling You Car

5. I am generally driving slower, even on the city streets. (During this "test" period, I have avoided freeway driving to concentrate on improving the around town mileage.)

16 miles per gallon is good only insofar as it is better than what I was getting with my previous driving habits. Changing a few driving habits is helping me save gas and money.

Bob Waldrop, OKC

[CuatrodeMayo]

I drive an 88...

...and it's time to replace the back tires....again.

[Patrick]

I drive an 88...

...and it's time to replace the back tires....again.

Ever heard of rotating and balancing tires? LOL!

[NE Oasis]

Here's another tip, since full service gas stations are hard to find-

Buy a gauge to check the pressure in your tires, then use it at least once a week.

Radio Shack sells a $6.00 digital talking biligual gauge.
I did significant research on pressure gauges two years ago when I had to replace a broken one and this Radio Shack unit was almost at the top of the list, despite being 1/4th the price of its nearest competitor.

[Misty]

I drive slow, I'm worse than an old lady and avoid the highway too. I spend very, very little on gas. I was spending $10 every two weeks and was MORTIFIED when I actually had to spend $20 this week.

[Martin]

wow... last few weeks i've been spending around $10 bucks a day on gas.

-M

[Misty]

You have to live, work and play in the same area! I've lived that way for a while, I hate being in a car and I usually stick to a 5-10 mile radius. You get to actually KNOW people around you and you don't waste HUNDREDS of dollars a month on gas. I remember when I made the decision, I was living in south ATX, working north, sitting in traffic in 100+ degree weather, knowing there was no way in hell I'd make it on time to meet my friends for happy hour....again....and I changed my way of living. I was wasting 2 hours a day in my car, tons on gas money and always missed the after work events my friends planned. Now I'm the first one there!

[metro]

I get about 35-38mpg so I don't worry about the gas prices as much. If you drive a diesel (I don't) then you should convert it to vegetable oil. You can get a conversion kit for a little over $1000 but you can run it on new or used vegetable oil. It runs cleaner than gasoline, and often you can get free used vegetable oil from fast food restaurants, etc. Not to mention, it's much cleaner burning, hardly any exhaust at all.

[BailJumper]

The Myth Busters TV show did an episode on gas saving techniques for trucks. They found replacing the tailgate with one of those webbed netting ones actually improved mileage. However, taking the tailgate completely off made it worse. Bed covers hurt mileage too. I can't remember if they found anything else to work (I don't have a truck) and I was mostly paying attention to the "what will really ruin a car engine" myths. Turns out that salt/sugar in the gas tank doesn't ruin the motor, but a cup of bleach in the oil will kill the car in seconds!

Metro - did you see the nightly news show about alternative fuels "Myth or Magic" - something like that.

They showed the vegetable oil conversion (along with others). It was on an older BMW I think.

They concluded that while it worked, "getting free used oil" was a huge pain in the ass. Most franchise restaurants will not allow you to take it and unless you're a retired person with nothing else to do but drive around begging for used oil, collecting it and straining it, you'd spend more in time than you ever would in higher fuel costs.

However, it would be cool to see people buy up those older abandoned gas stations and turn them into vegetable oil providers. They could collect, strain and resell the oil. Even offer full service or DIY classes on converting cars.

[MadMonk]

My vehicle gets an average of about 17MPG overall. It has a little digital "instant MPG" gauge that helps remind me to keep my foot out of it. It's amazing how a little extra touch on the gas can destroy your MPG rating. On the highway, I can get around 22-26MPG, but even when starting out S-L-O-W-L-Y, it still reads 6-8MPG until I get into high gear.

[metro]

Metro - did you see the nightly news show about alternative fuels "Myth or Magic" - something like that.

They showed the vegetable oil conversion (along with others). It was on an older BMW I think.

They concluded that while it worked, "getting free used oil" was a huge pain in the ass. Most franchise restaurants will not allow you to take it and unless you're a retired person with nothing else to do but drive around begging for used oil, collecting it and straining it, you'd spend more in time than you ever would in higher fuel costs.

However, it would be cool to see people buy up those older abandoned gas stations and turn them into vegetable oil providers. They could collect, strain and resell the oil. Even offer full service or DIY classes on converting cars.

Yeah I did see it, and I've seen other shows on it as well, Discovery Channel I think. Anyhow, it's not a big of as a pain as it was made out to be. Plenty of people have arrangements with restaurants because they haul it off for free, thus saving the restaurant to pay to have it hauled off. I'm sure the mom and pop places are easier to make arrangements with but none the less. Heck, even if you bought a 5 gallon bucket of vegetable oil at SAM's, you would still come out ahead and it would be much cheaper than purchasing diesel fuel. Not to mention cleaner and better for the environment. I do remember the nightly news thing saying the only after product is a little bit of harmless fumes, that resemble the smell of french fries (no pun intended). I'd love to buy an older Mercedes or BMW just for kicks and convert it and let my wife use it for a commuter car. She currently gets about 15mpg or so. Yeah, I'd love to see adaptive reuse projects of old gas stations into vegetable oil, hydrogen, and other alternative fuels. I suppose we will in time, just not soon enough.

[Patrick]

wow... last few weeks i've been spending around $10 bucks a day on gas.

-M

I'm with you, mmm.

Also, it cost me $35 to fill up my 1993 Nissan Sentra the other day. That is CRAZY.

[BailJumper]

$54 here. When we took my buddies Dodge truck to FireLake Thursday, it was over $100 to fill his tank and he only gets about 14MPG HIGHWAY!

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

When I'm not riding the bus, I'm driving a 1989 Chevy Silverado pickup. My general around town mileage is 11 to 13 miles per gallon, and this has been true since I got the vehicle in 2000. I do a lot of hauling, so a pickup isn't optional.

Over the last little while, as gas prices have made their latest run-up, I've been experimenting with changes in my driving habits around town, which is most of my driving (as opposed to freeway driving). After making a few changes in my driving habits, instead of 11-13 mpg, I am getting 15-16, which is an average increase of about 30%.

Here's what I'm doing.

1. Slower acceleration.

2. I keep an eye on upcoming stoplights to notice if they are turning red. When I see a red light approaching, I take my foot off the gas and coast (as opposed to continuing to accelerate and then slamming on the brakes).

3. I choose routes to minimize red lights. I'm still working on this one (counting lights and perusing maps).

4. If I am going to be stopped for longer than 10 seconds, I turn off the vehicle. I suppose this varies a bit from engine to engine (the larger the engine, the more gas is consumed while idling), but these two links reference scientific studies suggesting that after 10 seconds of idling you would be ahead of the game if you had turned off your vehicle. The California site says that the estimated additional cost for wear and tear to the starting mechanisms is about $10/year, which is more than finessed by the fuel savings. (Note that my truck starts quickly and without pressing on the gas.)

Idle free zone campaign encourage motorists to turn off vehicle while waiting

Idling You Car

5. I am generally driving slower, even on the city streets. (During this "test" period, I have avoided freeway driving to concentrate on improving the around town mileage.)

16 miles per gallon is good only insofar as it is better than what I was getting with my previous driving habits. Changing a few driving habits is helping me save gas and money.

Bob Waldrop, OKC

If all you do in that truck is in-town driving...Another thing you may want to consider is changing the gear ratio. Really easy to do if you have a 2wd (can be done in the driveway in a few hours). My '01 Silverado has 3:42 gears in the rear end, and gets not-so-hot in-town mileage but does great on the interstate. 4:10 gears tend to do well in town, and give you lots more torque low-down for towing and hauling to boot. But they'll run the RPM's up high on the freeway and kill your mileage.

Of course, if it's a 4x4, then you'd have TWO sets of gears to swap, so that would add $$ and difficulty to the conversion.

But yeah, you're right about the light foot. My last truck was an '02 4x4 extended cab Silverado, and if I kept the cruise set at or under 65, it would hit 22 mpg on the highway while running the A/C. If I went 75-80, it would drop to 15 or worse.

[CuatrodeMayo]

I drive an 88...

...and it's time to replace the back tires....again.

EDIT: Brain fart. It's an 87, not 88. I drive a Classic

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

EDIT: Brain fart. It's an 87, not 88. I drive a Classic

Brain fart? I don't believe those exist...Prove it

And don't listen to Patrick with that "rotate your tires" business...That would mean that you'd have to replace all FOUR tires more often instead of just two

[CuatrodeMayo]

Exactly. Which means I never have to shell out $500 at one time.

Go to hell Brain Fart Atheist

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Exactly. Which means I never have to shell out $500 at one time.

Go to hell Brain Fart Atheist

I believe a proof in either direction to be unpossible, that means I'm a Brain Fart Agnostic.