DRIVING tips to save gas.

No talking about bolting on a spacer or a magnet to get 35 bajillion MPG. Im talking DRIVING tips. Things you can do to alter your driving style to make things a little better. Every little bit helps.

Just for giggles, my truck a 1990 MJ with 3.07s and stock tires gets almost 21mpg mixed driving. Thats with shifting around 1750 and not beating on it.

well for starters....



DONT.


that'll help right off the bat. :thumbup:

red91inWA said:

well for starters....
DONT.

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Thats me, i've got the next 9 days off work, and I plan on going no-where.
well, maybe for smokes and beer once.

get a Honda, that's what i did


for your Jeep, just never use more than half throttle, accelerate slowly, and go the speed limit on the freeway.

BrettM said:

for your Jeep, just never use more than half throttle, accelerate slowly, and go the speed limit on the freeway.

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Only problem....it takes FULL throttle to get to freeway speeds...IF I only used half throttle I would never get above 35MPH. Guess thats why it sits on a trailer most of the time.

DrMoab said:

Only problem....it takes FULL throttle to get to freeway speeds...IF I only used half throttle I would never get above 35MPH. Guess thats why it sits on a trailer most of the time.

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point was, accelerate slowly, use as little throttle as possible. for those real short on-ramps you may need to floor it to safely merge, but if you don't have to, then don't.

Don't run up to red lights - no need to hurry to a stop anyhow. Coast down.

Drive a consistent speed on the freeways - no darting up and back. Let everyone else waste gas.

Try to cruise - as much as possible - in the tach range of 2300-3000rpm (for the 4.0.) This is the "peak torque" range of the engine, where you have peak VE, and peak fuel efficiency. I "found" an additional 3-4 miles per gallon on the freeway when I quit using 5th gear until I hit 85-90 or so (88/BA-10/231/D35/D30/3.07)

Try to not travel (as much as possible) during peak drive time. If you don't catch the lights, you'll spend a lot more time waiting on them, getting ZERO mpg.

On that note, learn the timing of the lights you have to deal with. If you can catch them while they're green, you'll come out ahead.

Don't stand on it to catch a light - you'll waste more gas than if you'd just idled behind the thing (and you won't endanger anyone else. I'll use extra fuel rather than risk killing someone else. No matter what the attorneys and insurance companies thing, you can't put a dollar value on a human life. Granted, some are worth nothing to begin with...)

5-90

ive been trying the low-throttle approach, but everytime i see a ricer pull up next to me, i have to let the squirrels loose- tomorrow, im riding my bike (bicycle) to work, and ive started incorporating that into my way of transportation- its really too bad its come to this, but i dont want to pay 3.19/gallon- its re-f***ing-diculous that gas jumped .40 today alone!!! rant over...for now

I accelerate smoothly, use moderate throttle and I short shift.
I try to drive smoothly (Accelerate smoothly and anticipate traffic and stops).
If in slow traffic, like rush hour, I select a gear which allows me to putter along at a constant rate at the lowest RPM without lugging it.
Since I'm not really in a hurry to get to work, I don't (hurry that is).


AND I parked that gas guzzling biatch and got out the Zuk :laugh3:

I do the same as above, where applicable, and the old Cruise Control gets a pretty regular work out on roads of 35mph and higher. I'll even do a little drafting if I can :laugh3:

Prolly a bad time to make an offer on the neighbors Harley he hasn't rode in 3+ years.


:doh: Should have hit him up last month!

Here's my way to deal the problem. The Jeep just sits at home till it's time to play now.


Tylor

My XJ stays in the driveway, but in my cars, I have increased fuel economy about 15% by slowing down to the speed limit (or less). I get about 40MPG out of a car with an EPA highway rating of 31.

Various highway user cost models put together back in the 80's indicated that peak fuel economoy for compact cars comes around 40MPH, and falls off as a function of speed both below and above that. The peak for bigger cars and trucks was somewhat lower, but the trend the same. I suspect that the peak MPH has increased some since then, but the lesson is the same - once you are over the peak (probably 30-35MPH for a brick like the XJ), every MPH faster you drive means fewer MPG.

Then again even at 5 dollars a gallon, the extra 5MPG I get over my 80mile a day commute only translates to about seven dollars a week and costs me about 50 mintues of time (10mph slower). That just isn't worth it to most people...

Travis

Keeping your engine under 2000-2500 RPMs will greatly help overall MPG.