Fuel consumption.

[Dave]

Filled up last night, just wanted to see how much fuel she would take.

Anyway since I have been keeping the boost at about 5psi on the highway and off boost around town when not needed I put in 80.39L and travelled 837km's.

So works out to be 9.6L/100km's, pretty happy with that.

Oh and the last 3 fills I put in a bottle of injector cleaner as I hadn't done it in ages, cost me $36 but I am happy to pay that to keep the engine operating at max efficiency.

Dave.

 

[AndrewD]

Not wanting to take over this thread but may be someone on here could help me improve my fuel economy.
I have a 2002 dual cab navara dx 3l t/d. Done approx 192,000 km. I average between 550-600km per tank at best. I don't flog it and i usually drive between 100 and 110km/hr on the highway. It doesn't blow smoke and appears to perform well. Most time when I fill up with fuel (BP most of the time as i find it the best for this vehicle) I use an additive (fuelset) which does a good job keeping the fuel system clean. It is regularly serviced every 5,000km.
I normally don't carry any extra weight appart from the additional items below but even when I do have weight or tow the fuel economy doesn't change much, if at all.
Additional items are a nissan commercial bullbar and winch plus a canopy and 4 roof bars (2 on canopy, 2 on roof), a 2 inch lift and a snorkel.
I run the standard dx rims (16 x 6) with cooper stt tyres (I understand that these tyres will effect fuel economy more so than a/t or h/t tyres).
I have done the egr/butterfly mod, including a catch can.
I will eventually put on an exhaust system and hopefully this will improve the fuel economy.

All I can put it down to is the vehicle itself and the ecu.
Any thoughts?

 

[Dave]

The earlier ZD30's never got the economy like the later ones, at the start of this thread Shonky was trying to figure out the same thing.

The roof bars wouldn't help to much, mine is intercooled with a 2.5" system from the turbo back, these 2 mods help with the economy.

Mind you they set me back about $2500 but worth it I reckon.

Mate use the thread to ask questions, thats what its here for.

Dave.

 

[KraftyPg]

Some ones is bound to say reset the ecu, it wont hurt anything but also don't expect it to fix everything it's not a cure all it can make an improvement to some vehicles but the improvements are wide and varied and even non existent for some vehicles.

Anything you add which adds more weight will change the economy, just adding a canopy and a bullbar is going to add some weight to the vehicle. I'm not an advocate of x weight added = y% worse economy so there is no magical figure you should get just because you added some weight.

Every vehicle is different and therefore every vehicle will have it's own sweet spot 100-110 may not be your vehicles sweet spot. I drive mine at 90-95 on the highway and don't care what people around me think but then I'm never in a hurry to get anywhere and the extra 5kph against the fuel I save is a benefit I consider worthwhile. Fuel economy nearly always comes down to the driver and not the car, mods you make can have an effect on the economy but the driver is still the biggest factor after all one person's heavy right foot might be nothing compared to someone elses yet they both might claim they aren't led foots.

 

[Dave]

Hurry up Krafty, is your Grandma driving. Lol.

Dave.

 

[KraftyPg]

No she got out claiming even after two hip replacements she could get where she wanted to go faster than driving with me.

 

[Dave]

Lol, you must drive slow.

Dave.

 

[KraftyPg]

When I'm in my ute I've got nothing to rush for, clients pay me by the hour and some even pay for traveling, if I'm not working (which is most of the time these days) I rarely have to be anywhere at a set time and if I do I know how to plan ahead and leave early. Anytime I get behind the wheel of a truck I usually drive at 100 (or a speed limited 100) but the rest of the time I'm happy to be the person abuse for driving too slow.

 

[Old.Tony]

I'm not going to suggest an ECU reset, I'm actually going to suggest the same as you, Krafty. Slow down.

There's not a lot of difference shape-wise between a Navara of any vintage and a brick. Most bricks don't travel quickly anyway unless they're in an earthquake zone or somewhere in the Gaza strip.

Aerodynamics play a substantial role in the Navara. When you are driving along, your car is trying to push its way through the air and as the speed rises, this task becomes harder and harder to do.

The "sweet spot" mentioned by Krafty is precisely the point where the engine's torque curve rises sharply. For turbo-charged engines, it's generally where the turbine gets enough energy from the exhaust to spin the compressor up enough to provide decent boost.

Anything beyond that point is giving you a minor improvement for a minor loss in economy. You find the point in the rev range where your torque climbs up and that's where you should keep your RPM. On the road, if you sit in top gear at that RPM, you'll be driving at the most economical.

It's not always possible, of course, especially if you're only doing 10 minute hops in a city, but out on the highway, trying to force the air around the car at speeds higher than this is really throwing money away.

You could examine rolling resistance - a considerable area of drag. Try pushing the car on a level surface. It should not be "nearly impossible" - if it is, maybe your tyre pressures are too low, or your car needs a wheel alignment (too much toe-in or toe-out will also cause a rolling resistance with perfect tyre pressures).

 

[AndrewD]

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Dave]

Filled up last night.

938.8km's travelled and about 90. something liters put in so thats 9.4L/100km's.

Pretty happy with that.

Dave.

 

[WoodyD40]

I went to Sydney last weekend (up on friday, and back on monday) and was towing my camper trailer.

I estimate the car was about 2.5t, and the trailer a bit under 1t

I stuck the cruise control on, and sat right on 110km/hr in 6th gear, and got 16.7 l/100 going up, and a tad more coming back (due to worsening wind)
BUT
If i drive sensibly around town, without trailer (even stop/start traffing) i've seen the figure go less than 10 l/100, but i'm pretty happy just to see the scangaugeII show anything under 12.5 l/100 - as that give me a theoretical range of over 1000 km now that i have the long range tank fitted.

I'd theoretically get close to 800km range if i'm towing the camper trailer - and could possibly get much more if i drive slower than 110 hwy speeds (say stick to 95km)

 

[justAL]

2003 STR
ZD30

Pretty much stock, running 265/70/R16 tyres.

My consumption hovers between 9.2l/100km to 10.3l/100km

 

[Bvandermaat]

1998 DX
QD32

I get around 500km out of a tank. hmm
Anyone know any good diesel tuners on the coast lol.

 

[Dave]

Where are you ?

 

[Bvandermaat]

Yeah forgot to add that. I live on the Gold Coast.

 

[UncySpam]

2010 D40 ST-X
Over 3300km done, average is now 10.46l per 100km.
Last tank was 11, which was heavy footed and lots of Aircon. Doing ~1500k next week so will be interesting to see what it does over a longer trip.

 

[Sharpie]

New blood

Hi Guys, I'm new to this but keen to see if this is th norm.
I have a 2010 D40 auto new in May last year, got 43000 ks on it now and its a great drive but is 550 to 600 ks as good as it gets.

Sharpie.

 

[Sharpie]

but not good on a key board

Sorry thats 550 to 600 ks per tank on a run.
Sharpie.

 

[kjhg.klkl]

relieve the pressure from you cars fuel system by pulling the gas cap and letting the car sit for 15 minutes.