D40 Fuel Economy

[KraftyPg]

I've done the Nullabor trip a few times now but not in a Nav. We've hit some good winds and last year hit a massive rain storm with visibility down to about 20 meters just before Norseman but we've never had winds strong enough to effect fuel economy that dramatically.

Last years trip was in a Forester and I've also done it in a Pathy but fuel economy between Ceduna and Perth has always been really good.
We stay at Eucla every trip and although we have found fuel prices can be good there was the odd occasion where they were dearer as well. I've never stayed at Border Village although although I believe their accommodation price is on a par with Eucla.

These days we avoid Mundrebilla because of its Bio Fuels, Madura because it's bloody expensive (nearly 20 cents dearer last year) and Cocklebiddy because although their fuel wasn't as bad as Madura the staff were rude and annoying. Thankfully though there is more than enough stops along that stretch so you can avoid the annoying ones. The one thing I have found though is that what is cheap this year may not be cheap next year.

I'll be interested to see what I get from the Nav this year, one things for sure it wont compare well to the Forester of last year

 

[Old.Tony]

I finally have a figure for my D40, obtained in its 2nd thousand km of life - 11litres per 100km.

I'm going to (try and) keep a log of my fuel consumption in perpetuity, so that I can go back and see when things started to go pear-shaped.

And I might get a Scanguage. I might also go one better and get that Windows software that manages all OBD data and load it on my Pioneer navigation system, then buy one of those fandangled Bluetooth OBD II port devices to connect the two. That ought to be nice if I can manage it, and especially if I can get it to maintain logs for me.

I should mention that these figures are for NON-TOWING while we burned up the manual's specified 1600km run-in period.

We'll be doing about 3200km with our caravan this Christmas, visiting most of the south-east coast of Australia and returning to Newcastle via Parkes/Dubbo. I'll be keeping the figures for this trip!

 

[maddogrc]

did you get your free 1000km service?

 

[KraftyPg]

For $25 you can buy just the lead from scangauge (although making one would probably cost about $5) and connect it to any laptop.

A laptop (or even a $300 netbook) might be something else in the car but atleast the data you save will be on a disk you can take away from the car without having to download it to another source. And reading the data in the house on a computer has to be easier than reading it on a 4 inch screen in the car.

In most cars (and I'm sure the Nav is no different) the computer records most of the stuff you are ever likely to want to see and saves it so that the techs can download it and trace errors and see how the car is running after the fact so there is a good chance you don't even need a permanent connection between the two when you have the right software. I believe the software is also incremental in that it only downloads the most recent information so that it doesn't have to download a full history each time its connected.

 

[Old.Tony]

did you get your free 1000km service?

Absolutely. They did it while I waited, didn't take them long at all. As the service manager explained, it was more a "check that nothing shook itself loose and that all seems well" than a real service.

They did tell me then that I could now tow to my heart's content, but with the paper manual advising me to not do heavy hauling until 1,600km and only a salesman's word that I could haul from 1,000km I decided to take the extra time and clock up the extra k's before I hooked up the van.

But next weekend, you will find us heading out past Maitland. Nice gentle tow for the first trip to the vineyards!

For $25 you can buy just the lead from scangauge (although making one would probably cost about $5) and connect it to any laptop.

I'd love to be able to do this, but the thought of having diagnostics displayed in real time on my dash also has appeal. The Pioneer unit has bluetooth, and I can get an OBD II port Bluetooth adapter, so I should be able to get the two talking, then display whatever I want in real time on the 5.8" WXVGA screen. I might even be able to get it to warn me if my EGT is over a certain amount, or boost pressure is too high, yadda yadda. I wonder if I can get things like DPF accumulation figures, gearbox temps .. the list goes on and on!

Methinks I need a WinCE developer kit.

 

[Pete22]

I finally have a figure for my D40, obtained in its 2nd thousand km of life - 11litres per 100km.

I'm going to (try and) keep a log of my fuel consumption in perpetuity, so that I can go back and see when things started to go pear-shaped.

And I might get a Scanguage. I might also go one better and get that Windows software that manages all OBD data and load it on my Pioneer navigation system, then buy one of those fandangled Bluetooth OBD II port devices to connect the two. That ought to be nice if I can manage it, and especially if I can get it to maintain logs for me.

I should mention that these figures are for NON-TOWING while we burned up the manual's specified 1600km run-in period.

We'll be doing about 3200km with our caravan this Christmas, visiting most of the south-east coast of Australia and returning to Newcastle via Parkes/Dubbo. I'll be keeping the figures for this trip!

I'm guess that with the manual tx your fuel consumption will only get better. I know of some who are constantly get between 8 and 10. It's the autos that seem to have a bit of a nasty thirst for diesel.

 

[Old.Tony]

I'm guess that with the manual tx your fuel consumption will only get better. I know of some who are constantly get between 8 and 10. It's the autos that seem to have a bit of a nasty thirst for diesel.

Having been able to achieve 7.7 lp100k in an automatic Commodore, I'm not too concerned about the auto side of things - it's all in the way you drive it. And truth be told, I'd rather have the torque converter than the clutch between the power and the turning bits, since the clutch is a little light for the amount of torque these things can deliver.

Eventually we hope to have a 3 tonne fifth wheeler, which is what prompted the "looking at utes" in the first place - we were set on a Land Cruiser Sahara. There's no way I'd be looking forward to trying to move 5 tons with a dry clutch that can barely move 2 tons without frying itself.

 

[Pete22]

Having been able to achieve 7.7 lp100k in an automatic Commodore, I'm not too concerned about the auto side of things - it's all in the way you drive it. And truth be told, I'd rather have the torque converter than the clutch between the power and the turning bits, since the clutch is a little light for the amount of torque these things can deliver.

Eventually we hope to have a 3 tonne fifth wheeler, which is what prompted the "looking at utes" in the first place - we were set on a Land Cruiser Sahara. There's no way I'd be looking forward to trying to move 5 tons with a dry clutch that can barely move 2 tons without frying itself.

I'm afraid you are in for a shock if you think you will get anywhere near 7 or 9 or even 10 as the norm with a post 2008 build D40 or Pathfinder 2.5 diesel auto.....it just ain't gonna happen.... I drive like Miss Daisy and tried all combinations of watching what is happening real time with the engine (through Scangauge II) and the best I can do is around 11.7. That said if you reckon you can sort me out only too happy to have some driving lessons

 

[Jason]

Eventually we hope to have a 3 tonne fifth wheeler, which is what prompted the "looking at utes" in the first place - we were set on a Land Cruiser Sahara. There's no way I'd be looking forward to trying to move 5 tons with a dry clutch that can barely move 2 tons without frying itself.

You need to do this to yours Tony............

 

[maddogrc]

autos for some reason use more fuel?

i saw a few cars like the ranger and bt50 which had the 2.5 at say 8l/100, 3.0 at say 9.2l/100 and then auto 3.0 at like 10.7l/100

 

[Old.Tony]

That said if you reckon you can sort me out only too happy to have some driving lessons

I'm sure that my mechanic is partly the reason. I have my car serviced every 10,000km and generally don't thrash it. Whoever got my Commodore is now driving a solid, reliable car that just lacks in off-road (read "not ashphalt") and towing loads (the Holden's max is 2.1t).

You need to do this to yours Tony............

Haha and I'm never showing the wife that! Seriously, the Travelhome we're looking at is not a bad piece of equipment and the Navara is perfectly suited (with tub) to haul it. Means there's somewhere for the generator & fuel, since the Navara's axle load with the 25' version is only 400kg I've got some capacity there. Nice look though!

autos for some reason use more fuel?

Indeed, that is generally the case. A well-driven manual doesn't lose a lot of energy through the transmission - you let the clutch out as quickly and smoothly as possible and the engine's rotation is directly and exactly translated through the gearbox to the rear wheels.

In an automatic, the torque converter is a fluidic drive, which means it doesn't directly translate the engine's rotation - you lose some small percentage (as the vehicle is applying power). This translates into a small increase in fuel used for the same amount of movement on the road. There is also a slightly higher idle speed set to allow for the constant engagement of the gearbox - this uses a small extra amount of fuel as well.

A well-driven automatic will always use a little more fuel than a well-driven manual. That doesn't account for things like injector problems like wear or other issues that affect fuel usage like weight, under-inflated tyres, travelling over 90km/h, accelerating harder than necessary etc.

 

[Dion]

In an automatic, the torque converter is a fluidic drive, which means it doesn't directly translate the engine's rotation - you lose some small percentage (as the vehicle is applying power). This translates into a small increase in fuel used for the same amount of movement on the road. There is also a slightly higher idle speed set to allow for the constant engagement of the gearbox - this uses a small extra amount of fuel as well.

I'll also add to that autos nowadays always have lockup torque convertors so once you're cruising there are no losses through the fluidic drive, but in acceleration, hilly country and stop/start traffic the lockup can't operate full-time.

 

[KraftyPg]

I'm afraid you are in for a shock if you think you will get anywhere near 7 or 9 or even 10 as the norm with a post 2008 build D40 or Pathfinder 2.5 diesel auto.....it just ain't gonna happen.... I drive like Miss Daisy and tried all combinations of watching what is happening real time with the engine (through Scangauge II) and the best I can do is around 11.7. That said if you reckon you can sort me out only too happy to have some driving lessons

I certainly hope to be getting better than 10's when I take my D40 across to Perth next month. Although it's still early days and the vehicle is hardly run in I'm already getting mid 10's under normal conditions.

Very few of my ks have been suburban/city driving but even so we still have traffic lights, stop signs and give way signs in the country so while not exactly stop start it's not all top gear cruising either. I'd expect some differences to city running D40's but not as much as some of the figures quoted here. Guess that just goes to show no two cars are the same even if they have the same bits on them.

 

[Leprechaun]

This thread should be called "pissing and moaning about fuel economy"
If your worried about fuel economy why did you buy a truck shaped like a brick that weighs 3 tonne?
Some of you guy's need bitch slapped!!

 

[maddogrc]

I certainly hope to be getting better than 10's when I take my D40 across to Perth next month. Although it's still early days and the vehicle is hardly run in I'm already getting mid 10's under normal conditions.

Very few of my ks have been suburban/city driving but even so we still have traffic lights, stop signs and give way signs in the country so while not exactly stop start it's not all top gear cruising either. I'd expect some differences to city running D40's but not as much as some of the figures quoted here. Guess that just goes to show no two cars are the same even if they have the same bits on them.

heading to perth in the nav ay?

give us a honk if you see a silver/grey nav with a UTEPILOT sticker on the back window and a "can you drive any better if i shoved that phone up your arse?" sticker on the rear tray door, LOL

 

[KraftyPg]

heading to perth in the nav ay?

give us a honk if you see a silver/grey nav with a UTEPILOT sticker on the back window and a "can you drive any better if i shoved that phone up your arse?" sticker on the rear tray door, LOL

I'll be sure to drop the phone if I see any silver/grey Nav's coming towards me.

I'll be in a blue opal Nav which will hopefully have my logo on the canopy window if the decal arrives in time. Either way I''ll be the victorian registered car at the front of the rows of traffic driving at the speed limit with people screaming at me for not driving 10 ks over, actually maybe its just my inlaws that drive like that not everyone in WA.

 

[maddogrc]

I'll be sure to drop the phone if I see any silver/grey Nav's coming towards me.

I'll be in a blue opal Nav which will hopefully have my logo on the canopy window if the decal arrives in time. Either way I''ll be the victorian registered car at the front of the rows of traffic driving at the speed limit with people screaming at me for not driving 10 ks over, actually maybe its just my inlaws that drive like that not everyone in WA.

you can't miss my license plate, its the only one in perth thats got a MEEKATHARRA plate, lol (MK and number)

what a **** hole i used to live in...

 

[justdrinkbeer]

This thread should be called "pissing and moaning about fuel economy"
If your worried about fuel economy why did you buy a truck shaped like a brick that weighs 3 tonne?
Some of you guy's need bitch slapped!!

I'll drink to that, I bought mine to try to get better economy than my V6 rodeo, economy is ********* and i'm just gonna get used to it.
Driving round Sydney with a shitload of tools on board on muddies is never going to be economical

 

[KraftyPg]

This thread should be called "pissing and moaning about fuel economy"
If your worried about fuel economy why did you buy a truck shaped like a brick that weighs 3 tonne?
Some of you guy's need bitch slapped!!

If fuel was cheaper fuel economy wouldn't be an issue so maybe we should call this thread "The government/fuel companies suck because they wont drop fuel prices."

I like my blue road brick no matter what the fuel economy so can I have my bitch slap now?

 

[Jabba]

Absolutely. They did it while I waited, didn't take them long at all. As the service manager explained, it was more a "check that nothing shook itself loose and that all seems well" than a real service.

They did tell me then that I could now tow to my heart's content, but with the paper manual advising me to not do heavy hauling until 1,600km and only a salesman's word that I could haul from 1,000km I decided to take the extra time and clock up the extra k's before I hooked up the van.

But next weekend, you will find us heading out past Maitland. Nice gentle tow for the first trip to the vineyards!

When I bought my D40, I drove straight down to burliegh (put the first 10km on the clock) and hooked up my boat, 2.5 tonne with trailer,,, and towed it home at 120kph down the hwy.. My first impression off the D40's tow capability was woefull,, it couldn't hold 5 gear even when I slowed to 100kph....

When I arrived home I noticed the trailer brakes were locked on.. DERRR, I forgot to release them when I left the boat dealer... I cooked the trailer brakes good and propper....

The D40 tows like a dream now.... eespecialy when I release the trailer brakes