Increase fuel economy of your Vibe by ~15%!!

[Atomb]

A bit of background...I don't keep a tight eye on my fuel economy, but i do keep track of when the light turns on. So it's not uber-scientific.In the past, driving "normally" and enjoying the bit of 'boost' you can feel in the vibe at 4000rpm...my light would turn on in the 510 to 525km range. On average. This is not on highways, but 2 lane country roads with some stop and go once i get into the 'urban' areas.On the highway, in the past, i've managed to get the light to turn on at somewhere near 630km in the past...After Katrina and Rita and the stupid gas price increases that occurred around Toronto due to 'rumours' i thought i'd try to be a little more fuel concious.So for the last 2 tanks i followed these simple rules:1. When accelerating, don't let the engine rev higher than 3000rpm (occasional 3100 or 3200 may have occurred).2. While cruising, don't let rpms get higher than 2500rpm. This involved a lot of 80km/h driving (speed limit on my commute) in 5th gear.3. Ensure tire pressure was maintained at 33psi as much as possible (i think i checked 2 or 3 times in slightly over 2 weeks.)Well, the last two tanks saw my light turn on at 603km and 608km and on this tank, where i normally hit the 3/4 mark at 150km, i'm at 165km and the needle is at about 7/8 of a tank.Keep in mind i've had to 'swallow my pride' a few times as guys in little circa mid 90's civics have blown off the stop light to leave me accelerating gently, but i've added anywhere from 80 to 90km on my tank! or about 15 to 16%!!That adds a few days extra before my next fill up and i'm getting to and from work in the generally the same time as i have in the past. On top of that i find myself cruising along and listening to good music and enjoying the farmland scenery a lot more....less stressed.Also keep in mind that my commute is on roads that are for the most part flat as a board. So it's easy for me to stick it in 5th at 2000rpm and coast along at 80km/h without any stress to the engine.This is NOT ground-breaking knowledge or ideas. Obviously not revving your engine will not use up as much gas. I was just surprised at how much of a difference it actually made and thought i'd share.Give it a try, if it suites your driving route and habits.

[Mr. Poopypants]

I tried that a while back and actually got worse gas mileage.

[redlava]

You are supposed to keep it under 3,000 RPM not over. Somebody told me the other day that if you add a little acetone to the fuel you are supposed to get better fuel economy, upwards of 10%. I can't remember the exact ratio of gas to acetone, but it wasn't much. Something tells me that doing something like that might not be good for the engine and fuel system. I just found that kinda funny.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by redlava »Somebody told me the other day that if you add a little acetone to the fuel you are supposed to get better fuel economy, upwards of 10%. I can't remember the exact ratio of gas to acetone, but it wasn't much. Something tells me that doing something like that might not be good for the engine and fuel system. I just found that kinda funny. we have an (removed)-o-line thread at http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=16375

[jake75]

I am sure that acetone is not free - so even if it added a bit to your mpg (and I am very skeptical) it might cost as much as the gas saved. If acetone really did improve mileage don't you think soem oil company would include it in the blend. You might get a better boost if you stayed away from stations that sell an alcohol-gasoline blend. Alcohol has less energy than gasoline so this blend will reduce mileage.

[scherry2]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 » If acetone really did improve mileage don't you think some oil company would include it in the blend? No they wouldn't. the oil companys are in business to sell oil based products (gas & deisel fuel) and as much of it as possible. the oil companys would prefer you drive that giant SUV or truck that gets 16 MPG rather than your vibe which gets 30 MPG because they will make themselves and the stockholders $$$ and lots of it.do you think Bush and Cheney are upset because the price of gas is so high?sorry to get off topic.

[Mavrik]

I agree with you Atomb as I have done simular experiments with simular results. When I had my cold air intake in... wow... fuel mileage sucked literally. I could never keep it under 3000rpm lol. Now my trip up here from ontario to alaska... on those long drives where I only applied my brakes to pull in and get fuel, I'd cruise along at about 110km per hour which kept it under 3000rpm... I was getting 650+ per tank. Now in town, I like to drive in 4th gear... sure the power isn't all there but the fuel still is.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 »No they wouldn't. the oil companys are in business to sell oil based products (gas & deisel fuel) and as much of it as possible. the oil companys would prefer you drive that giant SUV or truck that gets 16 MPG rather than your vibe which gets 30 MPG because they will make themselves and the stockholders $$$ and lots of it.do you think Bush and Cheney are upset because the price of gas is so high?sorry to get off topic. If, say, SHELL could advertise that scientific tests prove that their gas gets 6.8% better gas mileage than competition, I don't doubt for a minute that they would add acetone or whatever it is that would do that. Unfortunately, I doubt that there is anything that will do that.

[ColonelPanic]

doh! I used to do pretty good on gas when I would baby this car. But at the moment, it seems no matter what I do, I can't bring the mileage up any. I've tried and tried and tried, but nothing seems to work. Even when it came down to me driving to the point where it was putting my life at risk from all the crazies out there, I still couldn't get any significant increase in fuel economy. I guess a consistent 30 MPG on the highway is too much to ask of my car in these times, let alolne the 33 mpg advertised on the sticker when it was new. . I swear it's something with the gas around here... They're all selling me bad stuff!So, for the moment, I have given up on trying. I'm sitting at 3/4 of a tank and that tank only has 70 miles on it. If the car was happy, I would see at the very least 100 miles before it hit 3/4. At least it's not the 16 MPG I was getting over the summer, damn that sucked! Last time I checked, 25 mpg was more than 16 mpg, so CP needs to quit complainin'. (removed)

[scherry2]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »If, say, SHELL could advertise that scientific tests prove that their gas gets 6.8% better gas mileage than competition Amaco did that a few years ago with a new fuel that was supposed cleaner burning and it never caught on.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by scherry2 » Amaco did that a few years ago with a new fuel that was supposed cleaner burning and it never caught on.Of course, since people are too busy driving all the way across town to gas up their SUV at $0.05 less a gallon than they could get at the station next to their house, they don't care about any of that clean burning or efficient mumbo jumbo.

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I can't bring the mileage up any. I've tried and tried and tried, but nothing seems to work. I guess a consistent 30 MPG on the highway is too much to ask of my car in these times, let alolne the 33 mpg advertised on the sticker when it was new. .I thought I recall a post you made extolling the event of getting 40 miles per gallon on a tank!? Almost no one gets 40. I have an 05 5 speed. I dont get anywhere near the advertised economy for city driving but I do get closer to the hwy #s. I figure hwy driving minimizes the variables like driving techniques and style compared to a city run.Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »So, for the moment, I have given up on trying. I'm sitting at 3/4 of a tank and that tank only has 70 miles on it. If the car was happy, I would see at the very least 100 miles before it hit 3/4.Just anecdotal for what it is worth: Like I said mine is a base 5 speed 05. I try to fill only to the automatic cutoff; city/town driving will get me approximately 85 miles until the 3/4 increment on the gauge; at the half way mark it is about 170 miles. While these #s arent great I see great improvement doing a hwy run. Because of this I am not concerned that something sinister is wrong with the inner workings of my Vibe. I guess I dont drive 'smart' in the city.

[Stang2Vibe]

It's actually your cleaner burning mumbo jumbo gas that is contributing to your fuel economy problems. Summer gas formulations are designed to reduce emissions, which comes at the sacrifice of a few MPG. And so much for the cleaner burning gas never catching on, most states (if not all by now) are already using it. We've been using it here in PA for a few years now.I know you've had several issues with your Vibe CP, so I have to wonder what is going on mechanically with it. But I'll list some things you can go over in your head and see if we can't get your MPG up a little. I know that I tried driving like grandma in my Vibe, even putting the 6-speed in neutral when coasting downhill, and it really squeezed more MPG out of my last tank. With my 03 GT, I am still typically getting 26-27 MPG every tank. If I drive faster on the highways rushing to school, it has dropped to the 24 MPG range.Try checking these things if you haven't already:-air filter-tire pressure-tire type (some tread patterns are better on gas, some are worse)-brakes (make sure a caliper isn't hanging up--that happened on one of my old cars and it really sucked down gas and it took me a while to find out why)-oil and oil type (cheaper oils typically allow more friction which reduces economy--I've been using Pennzoil for years now and I like it; old oil that needs changed will reduce economy also)-reset the car's computer (the Vibe has an adaptive computer that "learns" your driving habits and is supposed to automatically tune your engine to suit those habits--disconnect the battery for about an hour to reset the computer then drive like a grandma again over the next tank of gas or two)-defroster--are you driving much with the defroster on? It runs the A/C compressor just as if you were driving around with the A/C on when ambient temperatures are warm.If I think of anything else, I'll post. The Jeep I just bought has been getting about 18 MPG as best as I can calculate so far. Despite having nearly 200K miles on it and being 11 years old, I'm confident I can get 20 MPG out of it in mixed driving after I perform all the routine maintenance. If I can get 20 MPG out of that old Jeep, we should be able to get about 30 MPG out of your Vibe.

[goodvibe]

If you want to try Acetone, use 3 oz per 10 gal. I have my doubts but those that claim improvement have gotten the best results from this amount. It is supposed to work by oxygenating the fuel and allow a better atomization for a more complete burn. At that rate it would save money over gas alone if it works at even a 1 mpg improvement. If you kept a GT under 2500 rpm on the highway, you would be a hazard.

[nortsr]

How much does acetone cost?????

[briandb]

Quote »2. While cruising, don't let rpms get higher than 2500rpm. This involved a lot of 80km/h (50 mph) driving (speed limit on my commute) in 5th gear.No doubt our Vibe would get better mileage cruising at 50 mph. However, since I live in central Kansas, it's hard to imagine any significant trip that doesn't include speeds of 70-80 mph...with the A/C on. About 26 mpg is about the best we expect under those conditions. It is worthwhile to note that my 2000 Grand Prix also gets 25-26 mpg at 80 mph w/ AC.

[DavidPIL]

Hi...I think that's good advice especially when driving around in the city as long as you dn't have a lot of cars around you or behind you. You could also, if you have a manual, skip gears. I tend to go 1st to 2nd to 4th to 5th or 6th, depending on speed. I don't know how much this has helped but it will keep the RPMs down.One question that I have is about the ECU and it's very noticable affect on gas mileage. I came back from South Carolina a few weeks ago. Got about 33-35 mpg on the trip back. Once I got home, I dind't drive much... only 1 tank full and got about 25-26. Yes, all city and it's well within the expected numbers. The thing is, I went to Ohio this past weekend. Filled up.. and for the first 1/4 tank (120 miles), on the highway, with if anything, a tail wind... was getting 26-27 mpg (I estimate this by noting when I hit the 1/4th mark then dividing that by 4.5, the approximate amount of gas used at that mark). After that first 1/4th I immediately noticed an improvement. 100 miles in the next quarter. Estimated 3 gallons between marks here. My question, maybe more of an observation is... does the ecu take that long to adjust from City to Highway driving? Never noticed this kind of lag in highway mpg improvement before. Is it possible that occasionally driving the Vibe is worse on gas mileage than driving more regularly? (I didn't drive that much for the past 2 weeks). And if this is the case, is it possible that the people who get poor gas mileage all the time, don't drive that much in the first place?A lot of observations on this from this past weekend and just wondering if maybe there is something to this.Also and finally... I did the Acetone test a few months ago. 4 tank fulls... First tank a slight drop in MPG, the 2nd through 4th were about normal, the improvement actually happened the next 2 or 3 tank fulls after stopping the Acetone. Went from 29 to 32 using acetone to 33-34 after ending the test. (31-32 is my average highway MPG).Sorry for the long post!Dave