Victory! 15mpg!

[Eicca]

Took the ol' beasty for her first big drive since I did all the tune-ups and stuff. We went up to Island Park, Idaho on Thursday, averaging 75mph for 99% of the trip (the climb into that caldera was interesting, she held steady at 60mph and 3000rpm until we got slowed down behind some old guy in a Lincoln Fumigator, then we had to crawl it the rest of the way). We drove without the A/C until we topped off and got our mileage numbers in Idaho Falls. 15mpg! I have no doubt that if we'd driven a little more conservatively (like not flooring it up inclines to keep up with the other vehicles) we could have easily gotten 16mpg and maybe a little more

Gas mileage in Yellowstone on Friday kinda sucked. City driving-ish, I guess. We did have three bears come within 10 feet of the car though!

Oh and if anyone here with a beige LX450 with FJCruiser rims was in Mammoth, Yellowstone on Friday, I saw your rig (and liked it)

We had a good time, the Cruiser ran GREAT, I still need two new lug studs, and combat canoeing is a fun sport! Try it.

Cheers! Do your preventive maintenance! It feels good!

 

[Chef J]

Congrats on the #'s, I will be embarking on a 3000+ road trip in a few weeks and have my fingers crossed, hoping I can get close to that. Any suggestions other than, plugs, wires, tire pressure etc.? I am doing a new exhaust and a pair of OEM O2's before I leave as well.

 

[Eicca]

Congrats on the #'s, I will be embarking on a 3000+ road trip in a few weeks and have my fingers crossed, hoping I can get close to that. Any suggestions other than, plugs, wires, tire pressure etc.? I am doing a new exhaust and a pair of OEM O2's before I leave as well.

You've pretty much got it. Exhaust should help a bunch too. Here's everything I've done so far:

O2 sensors
Timing advancement
Oil change (I'm running 10w-30)
Plugs/Wires
Tire pressure (rated up to 50psi, running at 45)
Disabled EGR system

Valve adjustment is still needed so if that makes a difference after all this I'm going to be a REALLY happy camper. Have fun on your trip!

 

[jecklc80]

Bears

Gas mileage in Yellowstone on Friday kinda sucked. City driving-ish, I guess. We did have three bears come within 10 feet of the car though!

Nice! I was in Yellowstone last week too. We saw 6 bears including a sow grizzly with two cubs.

 

[Chef J]

Eicca
did you see a significant increase in gas mileage by disabling the EGR? I read a good amount on it but had to stop when I developed a twitch in my right eye after reading several dozen posts

 

[Eicca]

Eicca
did you see a significant increase in gas mileage by disabling the EGR? I read a good amount on it but had to stop when I developed a twitch in my right eye after reading several dozen posts

Ummmm... No. To tell the truth... An increase in gas mileage after disabling it would indicate that there was a pretty big problem in the EGR system, most likely a vacuum leak.

Disabling the EGR and plugging all the other lines as mentioned in those threads does give a little more power though, and every bit helps with these engines. I've also heard that your emissions test results (if applicable to you) are slightly better as well.

Either way, just do it. It takes all of five minutes and there are practically no downsides.

 

[Eicca]

Nice! I was in Yellowstone last week too. We saw 6 bears including a sow grizzly with two cubs.

A grizzly and two cubs! That's exactly what we saw too. Except we only saw a total of 4 bears

 

[80t0ylc]

That's damn good performance and mpg for a 3FE. My 1FZ boasts similar numbers, so enjoy your road mileage. That seems to be typical performance for our heavy beasts when we lose momentum on a hill. A SC would help, but there's some excess baggage that goes with a SC. IMHO, we drive off road, highly capable rigs, not sports cars or racing machines.

 

[Eicca]

That's damn good performance and mpg for a 3FE. My 1FZ boasts similar numbers, so enjoy your road mileage. That seems to be typical performance for our heavy beasts when we lose momentum on a hill. A SC would help, but there's some excess baggage that goes with a SC. IMHO, we drive off road, highly capable rigs, not sports cars or racing machines.

And that's why we brag so much when we do get "good" numbers

 

[Tenzig Norgay]

I just hit 15 mpg last week as well, with about 75% of it on the highway. Its great to see the tripometer go above 300, with no orange low gas light on. I have yet to run a full tank at highway speed, but going to colorado in a few weeks so I'll get some good readings then. I have older plugs and even older cap/rotor/plug wires, but I doubt they are hindering me much. Still going to change them before the road trip though.

 

[Eicca]

Good idea. Misfiring at highway speeds isn't going to help your economy

 

[damagnan]

Nice!

Goin on a road trip (Sac to San Diego) soon--last all-fwy drive I made in my pretty-much-all-stock '91 80 was 18mpg at 65-70mph (only avg'd over 100mi or so).

If I remember, I'll post results for this trip (not tryin to hijack yer thread). It should be different though, because I'll have 3 other people + some gear in the rig.

 

[Eicca]

Nice!

Goin on a road trip (Sac to San Diego) soon--last all-fwy drive I made in my pretty-much-all-stock '91 80 was 18mpg at 65-70mph (only avg'd over 100mi or so).

If I remember, I'll post results for this trip (not tryin to hijack yer thread). It should be different though, because I'll have 3 other people + some gear in the rig.

You should do fine, I didn't mention that we had 150lbs of camping gear with us!

 

[damagnan]

BACK!

Made it w/o any problems, and THANK GOD FOR AIR CONDITIONING!!
4 Adults w/3 days luggage each:
At 65-70mph was around 15.5mpg +/-
70-75 was closer to 14

AC was on the whole time.

Okay, no more thread-jacking

 

[Eicca]

BACK!

Made it w/o any problems, and THANK GOD FOR AIR CONDITIONING!!
4 Adults w/3 days luggage each:
At 65-70mph was around 15.5mpg +/-
70-75 was closer to 14

AC was on the whole time.

Okay, no more thread-jacking

Those are some good numbers!

 

[ms018kmf]

Lake Mead to Flagstaff, 75 mph w/full load of rafting gear, 15 mpg solid. Keeping the revs under 2k does wonders for mpg, also x2 on keeping up with vehicle maintenance.

 

[arndog123]

Went camping last weekend and got 15.5 mpg in my wife's LX. I used cruise control as much as I could.

 

[BirfMark]

Best mileage I ever got in my 93 was tootling around Yellowstone at 45mph. I think we cracked 19mpg.

 

[smokethedog]

I think you guys need to check you math!




just kidding, congrats on the great mileage. I just did a roundtrip to the atlanta airport and reported 14mpg. I left TN with a full tank and the fuel light was starting to fade in and out depending on which side of a hill I was on when I filled up. I filled up at the end of the trip and the scanguage said I used a gallon more than the pump I calibrated it with...

With the scanguage, I have noticed that under normal driving or the driving I did when I calibrated it with, it is fairly accurate. If I am towing, it will be off.

 

[Tyler93]

I was in Island Park yesterday (Wednesday). We hauled a canoe up and floated from Big Springs to Macks Inn. With a canoe on top and 5 total occupants we get 15. Best mileage we have ever obtained was a yellowstone trip last year with 5 occupants and hitch haul 19.7 mpg. 1993 with 240,000.