Yeah! Those who survive would have lower traffic and cheaper gas!

I have been trying new tricks aimed at attaining a reliable 40mpg from my commuting tanks. I got 39.9 this time, drat. Never should have let the wife take the car shopping...

 

Yeah, I will tend to agree that the gauge is not accurate, since I put in about 7 1/2 gallons of gas when it was showing a half tank left.

Anyone else notice how fast that gauge falls after it hits the half way mark?

Oh, the MOST I've ever put in was 12.43 gallons.

 

Paul, that is because you put too much fuel in your tank.

I am at 250miles at the halfway mark. So, tomorrow I will find out my mpg. I only used FAS for about 20% of the 1st 70miles on this tank. I am going to stop FAS..........it is getting anoying and I am going to drive the speed limit as well. Also, I am using the A/C when need........again, too damn hot! Going to the extremes is getting old but I will drive conservative. I think I will even decrease my tire pressure from 50psi to 45psi on the next tank that way we can get a comparison of how and if the upper limit of the tire psi affects mpg.

 

I'd take my chances

 

Risks and dangers of FAS is not worth the MPG gained, IMO.

 

No sir, you are mistaken.

Tank holds 10.8 gal and the most I have filled is 10.3 gal

 

True that. It MAY make sense on longer city commutes, but on the last 3 fillups I've had (not always full tanks), I've seen exactly zero benefit - like less than 0.1mpg. I'm going to try to finish up this new tank, but then I'm done with FAS and looking for some other way to boost city mpg.

HF

 

40.5 mpg on the way home from work today

 

Well, I recently started following trucks on the highway, usually a reasonable distance, say a few car lengths, and my average mileage over the three tanks I have done this is around 42.3 MPG. A good increase over the 38.3 or so I was getting before.

 

I think I once heard 1 car length for every 10mph is a good rule - but if you're behind a semi, I believe it's safe to be closer. Obviously you can stop faster than they can. You just have to be super-vigilant so your reaction time is quick. The 1-2 second rule worked pretty well for me.

 

After much work at MapMyRun.com (which you can input addresses and which uses the same Google Maps as everything else) and some work making plots, I've got some elevation profiles for my commute.

This plot shows the elevation in feet as a function of commute distance in miles:


The plot starts at my home (1102.83 feet) and finishes at my office (639.76 feet). So on the way to work I have a net drop of 463.07 feet on my way to work, but a net climb of 463.07 feet on the way home. I always fill up around work because the prices are cheaper in that area, so I always get a boost on the mpg for the tank because the last trip is net downhill.

I've also made a plot of the running sum of the descent and ascent in feet as a function of commute distance in miles:


This shows the climbing and dropping that I do on my commute from my home to my office even though there's a net drop in elevation. Thus on the way to work I climb 1465.93 feet, but I drop 1929.00 feet (and vice versa on the way home).

So given all that is my 37.8 mpg overall average and 40+ mpg for the last half dozen tanks decent or what?

Also, the dashed lines show the distance when I enter and exit the highway. As it turns out one every commute I do about five miles "around town" and about 32 miles on the highway.

 

Paul, for you sir, the E light:




As for the mileage on that tank it was 419.9miles, however, I was seeing where the E light comes on and I did not fill up at the same gas station. With that said, I used 8.4 gallons(stopped at the first auto shut off). Which yields 49.9mpg. ..............up goes the average mpg on clean mpg!

I have to admit I am having a hard time not FAS, I think I have developed a bad habit. I guess I will just use it when I use it.

Gas ain't getting any cheaper!

 

Shawn, That is the same way mine looks.

Next time I fill up at Costco, I plan to take a measured 1 gal fuel can and see what I gal of fuel looks like. I'm sure I'm not over filling my tank, but will verify the pump accuracy. The advantage I have over you is my SG is backing up my Pump/Miles calc.

Would you consider pumping 1 gal in to a container that is marked 1 us gal to see how any of the pumps you use look, when you fill up next time?

I'm going to fill my car as normal get the receipt and than pump the 1 gal as a new transaction. As always share the results on here

BTW I found a new use for Costco. I 1 sec drafted a Costco 18 wheeler today and he has going at 58 a great speed for me.

 

I just made mine. Costco milk jug, the new heavy wall ones with the hard cap. lol

Filled it with waiter carefully with a 4 cup measuring cup 4 times and marked it with a sharpie.

Can't wait to see if Costco was giving me the heave hoe

 

I bet they are not very accurate and the reason I say that is I remember seeing a dateline or some news show on how the gas pumps are only accurate at like 5 and 10 gallons but not in between, above or below. The reason they are accurate at 5 and 10 gallons is because they are tested at those measurements by federal or state standards. This was several years ago. I could be way off but that is what I recall.

I do have a 2 gallon gas can for the lawn mower and a 1 gallon can for the weed eater so, when those are empty I will use them and measure it the actual versus the pump.


A few questions for your 1 gallon jug:

Did you measure 1 cup 4 times? If so, you introduce error for each measurement not to mention not all of the water was transfered.

What you should do(you might have) is get a 1 gallon pitcher that is marked 1 gallon. Now, you should fill your jug with water from the pitcher and repeat this atleast 5 times to get the average level on your jug. Remember when reading the level you will introduce human error by the angle you read from, so make sure you read the jug at same angle each time(sit jug on level surface and be at eye level with the water level in the jug).

 

I used no A/C this time and it was HOT, the heat is killin my mpgs!

However, I achieved 406.6 miles(the gas light did not come on) and I used 8.1 gallons of gas. This was at a different gas station than before.

Which yields 50.1mpg

Well, this next tank is sure to be a loser for I will use A/C and I am traveling to ATL and back(tomorrow) which should eat up one tank of gas, seeing that the round trip will be 422miles. Also, I am going to use Cruise Control and I am going to lower the tire pressure to 40 psi for a more comfortable ride.

 

the hot weather should HELP your mpg. as long as you don't open your windows or use the AC.

got 37 mpg on the way to work today. 41 coming home. it was cold this morning.

my mom always asks why im sweating like crazy when i walk into the house. with the windows up, no AC and a hot day, inside the fit is like a sauna LOL.

 

As promised I checked the Costco pump and it was a tad more than 1 gal in my container with 1.00 pumped.

403.3miles
8.919 HONEST US GAL verified
gas is now $3.98/gal

 

40 psi? You know it's bad to ride around on flat tires!

Good luck on the trip though, and nice work on the 50+ tank!

Nice work too, Paul. Keep those 400+ mi tanks coming in.

 

I guess I am lucky for gas yesterday was $3.72 a gallon(like that is lucky!)

So, I calculated at 45mpg I should get 486 miles out of 10.8 gallons(that is down to the last drop but if I take away 67 miles = 419miles before I run out of gas. I hope I can get 45mpg.

Then tomorrow I am going to Carowinds in Charlotte but that should only be a little over 200miles so I will have plenty of in town driving.