Conserving Fuel – van owners

[greg334]

I am wondering for you van owners – what are you doing to conserve on fuel during these trying times?

Are there any modifications that you think would help mileage?

I for one have cut back on the use of my van for everything except for loads. I have been doing a lot of DHing but that is because of my wife not feeling good lately.

Short term has been a complete filter change for all filters and oil change. Last two weeks I have been getting a good 18 MPG and the trip at the beginning of the week I got 19.5 MPG. I have yet to break the 20 MPG barrier but I feel I will soon.

I plan a new exhaust (3 inch) to open it up; I think it has a plugged cat, so gutting it will be on the list unless I can find the emissions sticker that says Medium duty – then it may just disappear.

I want to copy an air intake system that I had on one of my Dodge trucks, got to allow the engine to breath. The way it was setup on the Dodge was simple, I had cut a hole in the firewall where the heater intake was and made a box to hold the filter and mounted within the hole. Air flow increased a lot, a little noisier but I didn’t notice much having a straight pipe on the truck.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

Well the best things you can do is to get a cold air intake (or even a K&N drop in filter) the exhaust should help out alot and help the turbo spool (i belive you have a turbo diesel van) As for gutting the cat i'm not sure if you will be able to get away with this especially for states with emisssions rules. I know cats are very expensive now a days and having a clogged one will cause major problems down the road. If you let me know what size engine you have i'll do alittle bit of research for you and see what seems best for you.

Btw, I'm into making cars perform better and faster. After my career of expediting I plan on becoming an engine builder (unless i really like expediting).

 

[dieselphreak2K]

If this is a turbo diesel van, opening the intake will definitley help. If it's a ford turbo, then PM me, I have some leftover parts from my old F-350 (400hp at wheels and 18 mpg) that could help you out.

 

[LDB]

They put cats on diesel vans now? I don't know a lot about this but have heard you shouldn't change the exhaust unless you also change the intake to a properly matching size. I know a lot of the sports car guys use K&N intakes and route them so the intake is in front of the radiator to get cooler air. Good luck on your mods.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 4958, 5447
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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[greg334]

Well I guess I messed this up, I am asking what others are doing to improve their mileage.

Well yes Leo Diesel's have had cats for a while, both my dodge cummins had them but my 87 burb and all my fords did not. Many of the new electronic controlled injection diesels don't. As for K & N, I used their filters for a while and watched my silicon readings increase in my oil and went back to the stock filter until I did the modification I memtioned and went to an high performance high flow filter.

dieselphreak2K - yep turbo, Thanks for the offer but I don't own a ford any more.

unorthodoxneon - The air intake has a cross secion of 9 sq inches, this is too restrictive but if you look at the space I have under the hood it isn't as easy as a gasser to find a solution. As for the cat, around 130K is the life expectancy on these trucks and I will hear otherswise but that is what GM and D-C has shown in their studies. My experince is that they are very expensive to replace when they get plugged but easier to just gut and put back on the truck. My dodge 3500's cat was gutted before I bought it. I had the emissions tested by the almighty part of a follow up study they were doing on medium duty trucks and every test fell within their tolerances. I asked them specifically what if there was not cat on the truck and the tester said that it would show up in the dyno tests. Oh? Well it didn't.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

in turbo's there really is no such rule as to big for an exhaust. Just a higher flowing muffler will help, but you will probably want to increase the whole pipe diameter from the turbo back. Now you will want to do some research on this as the exhaust note may become louder and i dont know if you will really want to hear the exhaust all the time driving. One thing that may help (if they have them for your van but from a quick check looks like they do) is to get a programmer that will help with some gas mileage and performance too if hauling something heavy. For the intake tube if its "wrinkled" and not a smooth straight tube that will hurt the air getting into the engine as it causes turbulence to help keep the intake noise down. Also to i have seen in some cases (mostly dcx) where inside the tubes they will put a resonator in the intake which is just a reducer in the pipe to help keep the intake sound down but also highly restricts air flow.

I'm kind of supprised that a K&N will increase a silicone level.

I will talk to my school teacher on wednesday and see what he has to say about anything. He works at the GM HQ and knows his stuff.

 

[Moot]

I use my cruise whenever possible.(weather and road conditions). I set it at 67mph, even in 70 and 75 mph states. I don't idle. I dump a can of Sea Foam in the crankcase every 50,000 and run 200 or 300 miles and change the oil. Tune-up every 85,000. Slow steady starts.

I averaged 16.2 mpg for the life of my 1st van. Doing about 16.4 on 2nd van.

 

[LDB]

Well, there's my learn something new for today. I thought catalytic converters were only for gasoline engines. That's why I go to professionals for my maintenance and service work. They know about the armadillo.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 4958, 5447
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

What is the mileage on your van? I'm sure it has high mileage, but there is a national law that says a company must offer a warrentee on emissions products for i belive 10year 120K miles (if mem serves me right)

 

[RichM]

Find a bunch of UDA's,should beno problem in Detroit and have them push you with their stolen Ram charger.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

I talked to my teacher he said there is really not much you can do to get more gas mileage. Beside a K&N and exhaust and such there isnt much more you can do. He only really recommened a superchip type tuner to get more HP and Torque for hauling but other then that thats about your only 2 ways. The reason the K&N is giving more silicone in your oil is because the oil on the filter.

 

[greg334]

>I talked to my teacher he said there is really not much you
>can do to get more gas mileage. Beside a K&N and exhaust and
>such there isnt much more you can do. He only really
>recommened a superchip type tuner to get more HP and Torque
>for hauling but other then that thats about your only 2
>ways. The reason the K&N is giving more silicone in your oil
>is because the oil on the filter.

Randy
Thanks for the info.

Well the silicon problem is from the lack of flitration that is going on with K & N, the changes form 40 PPM to 170 PPM in one oil change and back down when the filter if removed is problematic. I went through this several times and dont want to say the filter is not good, it is but there are things that must be considered when making a change like this.

 

[unorthodoxneon]

One thing i have been checking out the past couple days is foam filters instead of the cotten gauze type (k&N) filters. They are said to reduce alot more dirt then a K&N does. Might be worth checking that out. I know Amsoil has a foam filter. These foam filters are really known in the ORV vehicles suchs as Quads and dirt bikes.

 

[terryandrene]

I have a foam filter on my lawn mower and I only get two yards per gallon

 

[unorthodoxneon]

Well lets see if you get 2 yards to a gallon we need to know how big your lawn is compaired to other peoples yards. If you have an acre then thats pretty good grass mileage. But if its only a couple hundred feet then i think your not getting that great of grass mileage. :+