best mods for increased MPG?
2/4/11, 12:55 PM
#61
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: January 25, 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,803
Received 1,528 Likes
on
1,046 Posts
2/4/11, 01:02 PM
#62
Ford definitely has traded engine reliability for very small improvements in MPG in the past. I don't know if they are still doing it, but all the motivations are still there.
In the original US Focus, Ford wanted to specify 5W30 in the owners manual but deliver the cars (and do the Govt mileage testing) with 5W20. The Feds said no dice; the cars have to be tested with the recommended oil. So Ford changed the recommended oil in the manual to 5W20.
I don't have a link anymore but I saw what appeared to be leaked internal Ford memos elaborating on how many engines Ford would likely have to replace under warranty due to the change. It was not a huge number so they decided to eat them to get the lower mileage rating. The memos also noted that there would be much more failures AFTER the warranty had expired but still low enough to accept the customer loyalty hits. The overwhelming majority of owners would have no impact, but people who drove them hard or in extreme conditions were at increased risk. That's why I used the term reliability rather than longevity as you did.
Its a tough industry; I'm sure many remember the Pinto gas tanks. After reports of fires in rear end collisions, Ford did an analysis and decided it was cheaper to pay the estimated number of wrongful death suits rather than recall/replace the bad tanks. That is until the press got copies of the memos.
Like I said, I have no idea if Ford is still recommending an oil that increases the risk of engine failures. For now I intend to use 5W20 because the car isn't likely to see extreme conditions. But if there is ever evidence that 5W30 has no downside except mileage, I will switch.
In the original US Focus, Ford wanted to specify 5W30 in the owners manual but deliver the cars (and do the Govt mileage testing) with 5W20. The Feds said no dice; the cars have to be tested with the recommended oil. So Ford changed the recommended oil in the manual to 5W20.
I don't have a link anymore but I saw what appeared to be leaked internal Ford memos elaborating on how many engines Ford would likely have to replace under warranty due to the change. It was not a huge number so they decided to eat them to get the lower mileage rating. The memos also noted that there would be much more failures AFTER the warranty had expired but still low enough to accept the customer loyalty hits. The overwhelming majority of owners would have no impact, but people who drove them hard or in extreme conditions were at increased risk. That's why I used the term reliability rather than longevity as you did.
Its a tough industry; I'm sure many remember the Pinto gas tanks. After reports of fires in rear end collisions, Ford did an analysis and decided it was cheaper to pay the estimated number of wrongful death suits rather than recall/replace the bad tanks. That is until the press got copies of the memos.
Like I said, I have no idea if Ford is still recommending an oil that increases the risk of engine failures. For now I intend to use 5W20 because the car isn't likely to see extreme conditions. But if there is ever evidence that 5W30 has no downside except mileage, I will switch.
2/4/11, 05:20 PM
#63
GT Member
Join Date: January 2, 2011
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by HoosierDaddy
Ford definitely has traded engine reliability for very small improvements in MPG in the past. I don't know if they are still doing it, but all the motivations are still there.
In the original US Focus, Ford wanted to specify 5W30 in the owners manual but deliver the cars (and do the Govt mileage testing) with 5W20. The Feds said no dice; the cars have to be tested with the recommended oil. So Ford changed the recommended oil in the manual to 5W20.
I don't have a link anymore but I saw what appeared to be leaked internal Ford memos elaborating on how many engines Ford would likely have to replace under warranty due to the change. It was not a huge number so they decided to eat them to get the lower mileage rating. The memos also noted that there would be much more failures AFTER the warranty had expired but still low enough to accept the customer loyalty hits. The overwhelming majority of owners would have no impact, but people who drove them hard or in extreme conditions were at increased risk. That's why I used the term reliability rather than longevity as you did.
Its a tough industry; I'm sure many remember the Pinto gas tanks. After reports of fires in rear end collisions, Ford did an analysis and decided it was cheaper to pay the estimated number of wrongful death suits rather than recall/replace the bad tanks. That is until the press got copies of the memos.
Like I said, I have no idea if Ford is still recommending an oil that increases the risk of engine failures. For now I intend to use 5W20 because the car isn't likely to see extreme conditions. But if there is ever evidence that 5W30 has no downside except mileage, I will switch.
In the original US Focus, Ford wanted to specify 5W30 in the owners manual but deliver the cars (and do the Govt mileage testing) with 5W20. The Feds said no dice; the cars have to be tested with the recommended oil. So Ford changed the recommended oil in the manual to 5W20.
I don't have a link anymore but I saw what appeared to be leaked internal Ford memos elaborating on how many engines Ford would likely have to replace under warranty due to the change. It was not a huge number so they decided to eat them to get the lower mileage rating. The memos also noted that there would be much more failures AFTER the warranty had expired but still low enough to accept the customer loyalty hits. The overwhelming majority of owners would have no impact, but people who drove them hard or in extreme conditions were at increased risk. That's why I used the term reliability rather than longevity as you did.
Its a tough industry; I'm sure many remember the Pinto gas tanks. After reports of fires in rear end collisions, Ford did an analysis and decided it was cheaper to pay the estimated number of wrongful death suits rather than recall/replace the bad tanks. That is until the press got copies of the memos.
Like I said, I have no idea if Ford is still recommending an oil that increases the risk of engine failures. For now I intend to use 5W20 because the car isn't likely to see extreme conditions. But if there is ever evidence that 5W30 has no downside except mileage, I will switch.
2/4/11, 05:28 PM
#64
Mach 1 Member
Join Date: October 28, 2008
Location: Brookville, PA
Posts: 623
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Lots of things help... a bit one for highway driving is actually lowering the car, as it cuts drag quite a bit. Certainly tires with less rolling resistance helps, anything that can get air or frictional drag down will help too. Synthetic oil in the axle, harder compound tires, skinnier tires, there are a million things that can help.... but most don't help radically.
2/4/11, 10:24 PM
#66
GT Member
Join Date: January 2, 2011
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I remember a UK top gear episode where they took a BMW M5 and a Prius and they made them both go around the track. Where the BMW was lightly feathering the throttle, no sudden starts and stops, etc., the Prius had to gun it in order to keep up. The BMW ended up averaging 30+mpg and the Prius something like 6mpg. Lesson: HOW you drive is much more important than what you drive. If you try to stay away from hard acceleration and find a constant speed where you won't need to brake often, you'll be getting 30+mpg easy. But then again, we didn't buy these cars to "stay away from acceleration," now, did we?? :-)
2/4/11, 11:27 PM
#68
anything that help hp by increasing airflow will hurt fuel economy.
underdirve pullies
keep the charge motion plates
tune it for 18:1 part throttle A/F - not idle-part throttle cruising. it will burn very hot, but low loading wont kill it.
change to 2.73 gears. tune it to maximize part throttle ignition timing.
cruise at 62-65 mph.
get the car in 5th gear asap. skip shift from 2nd to 4th.
very narrow tires will add 3-5 mpg. 205/75-16 for example. use max pressure -41psi
underdirve pullies
keep the charge motion plates
tune it for 18:1 part throttle A/F - not idle-part throttle cruising. it will burn very hot, but low loading wont kill it.
change to 2.73 gears. tune it to maximize part throttle ignition timing.
cruise at 62-65 mph.
get the car in 5th gear asap. skip shift from 2nd to 4th.
very narrow tires will add 3-5 mpg. 205/75-16 for example. use max pressure -41psi
Last edited by assasinator; 2/4/11 at 11:30 PM.
2/5/11, 12:19 AM
#69
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: January 25, 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,803
Received 1,528 Likes
on
1,046 Posts
nah, you are the comic relief 
just kidding, actually we should appreciate you sharing your concern about the oil . . . though the bit about landing on the moon was a little over the top
I'm going to stay with my 5W-20 Mobil 1 or other good synthetic, might even mix in some 0W-20 in the winter and maybe some 5W-30 in the hottest part of the summer
I'd like to see a Prius matched up against the Mustang V6 in that mileage challenge that they did on the track recently where the stang got 48+, I bet the Prius would be about the same as the stang or maybe less since it has to carry around all those batteries that aren't doing anything at steady highway speed.
Yeah driving the mustang like a Prius kinda defeats the purpose . . . but I figure if I'm good most of the time that saves the gas to have fun with now and then.
I was wondering about lowering the car, glad you mentioned that.
OK, time to come clean -- my true ulterior (sp?) motive in starting this thread is to justify my mods budget on the basis of improved fuel economy . . . don't want to do anything too crazy like skinny tires that ruin the character of the car though.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned keeping the speed down around 60 on the highway instead of 70-80 . . . but that ain't gonna happen anyway
So here's the short list:
1) UDP's
2) tuner with tunes including 87 economy (and some fun tunes too)
3) keep the 5W-20 Mobil 1, maybe a "better" synthetic
4) look at synthetic oil for the transmission and axle (tranny is very stiff in cold weather so I was thinking about that anyway, not sure if there is any such thing)
5) keep the tire pressures up (but not too high)
6) lowering springs (and probably shocks to go with them)
7) aluminum drive shaft -- need to look at the cost of that
8) axle-back exhaust (can't resist)
did I miss anything major?
just kidding, actually we should appreciate you sharing your concern about the oil . . . though the bit about landing on the moon was a little over the top
I'm going to stay with my 5W-20 Mobil 1 or other good synthetic, might even mix in some 0W-20 in the winter and maybe some 5W-30 in the hottest part of the summer
Yeah driving the mustang like a Prius kinda defeats the purpose . . . but I figure if I'm good most of the time that saves the gas to have fun with now and then.
OK, time to come clean -- my true ulterior (sp?) motive in starting this thread is to justify my mods budget on the basis of improved fuel economy . . . don't want to do anything too crazy like skinny tires that ruin the character of the car though.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned keeping the speed down around 60 on the highway instead of 70-80 . . . but that ain't gonna happen anyway
So here's the short list:
1) UDP's
2) tuner with tunes including 87 economy (and some fun tunes too)
3) keep the 5W-20 Mobil 1, maybe a "better" synthetic
4) look at synthetic oil for the transmission and axle (tranny is very stiff in cold weather so I was thinking about that anyway, not sure if there is any such thing)
5) keep the tire pressures up (but not too high)
6) lowering springs (and probably shocks to go with them)
7) aluminum drive shaft -- need to look at the cost of that
8) axle-back exhaust (can't resist)
did I miss anything major?
2/5/11, 06:49 AM
#70
GT Member
Join Date: January 2, 2011
Location: Miami, FL
Posts: 161
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Bert
nah, you are the comic relief
just kidding, actually we should appreciate you sharing your concern about the oil . . . though the bit about landing on the moon was a little over the top
I'm going to stay with my 5W-20 Mobil 1 or other good synthetic, might even mix in some 0W-20 in the winter and maybe some 5W-30 in the hottest part of the summer
I'd like to see a Prius matched up against the Mustang V6 in that mileage challenge that they did on the track recently where the stang got 48+, I bet the Prius would be about the same as the stang or maybe less since it has to carry around all those batteries that aren't doing anything at steady highway speed.
Yeah driving the mustang like a Prius kinda defeats the purpose . . . but I figure if I'm good most of the time that saves the gas to have fun with now and then.
I was wondering about lowering the car, glad you mentioned that.
OK, time to come clean -- my true ulterior (sp?) motive in starting this thread is to justify my mods budget on the basis of improved fuel economy . . . don't want to do anything too crazy like skinny tires that ruin the character of the car though.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned keeping the speed down around 60 on the highway instead of 70-80 . . . but that ain't gonna happen anyway
So here's the short list:
1) UDP's
2) tuner with tunes including 87 economy (and some fun tunes too)
3) keep the 5W-20 Mobil 1, maybe a "better" synthetic
4) look at synthetic oil for the transmission and axle (tranny is very stiff in cold weather so I was thinking about that anyway, not sure if there is any such thing)
5) keep the tire pressures up (but not too high)
6) lowering springs (and probably shocks to go with them)
7) aluminum drive shaft -- need to look at the cost of that
8) axle-back exhaust (can't resist)
did I miss anything major?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post