My Study: Simple Tips & Tricks to improve fuel economy on VS

[Jaymz]

Not sure if it really that applicable here, but will list it anyway.

Fairly obvious, but don't cart around lots of unnecessary items/tools/junk in your car when traveling. I keep a few tools in a box in the back, so probably around 15KG of extra's in mine.

My VS (Exec) averages around 600KMs per tank (never bothered to work it out until recently with trips to Whangarei from Hamilton. Only modifications from standard/original are:
* Serviced regularly - Engine oil, Trans, tyre pressure, etc
* Spark plugs replaced not long ago
* Extra hole drilled into base of air box with small pipe to behind headlight.

 

[Brett_jjj]

A lot of them things are unnecessary and will cost more than the fuel savings for example the auto trans service every 20,000km, with the trans service kit and oil it will cost what, $100 all up plus your time in labor, will it save quarter of a litre per hundred kilometre, at $1.40 a litre for fuel that's a 35 cent saving every 100 kilometres or $70 every 20,000km so you will be spending $100 to save $70 when your trans may only need a service every 50,000km.

I dont service my trans every 20,000 (usually 20,000 km =1 year) just to get better fuel economy. I service it that much because of the hard useage it sees a lot of the time. Id much prefer to spend $70 a year instead of replacing the whole trans every couple of years or so like a lot of people seem to have to do with the 4L60E..
Keeping the trans serviced regularly along with everything else will help lower fuel usage, as they just dont shift/run as good when they havent been serviced regularly. As I said above, servicing/fixing all the little things will all add up to make one big fuel saving, Its not gonna make much difference to the fuel usage just servicing the trans on its own and not worrying about anything else.
I also do the same with my engine (V6), I run mobil 1 5W-50 synthetic oil and change it every 5000 km because of the hard time it gets. The engines got 200,000 km on it now and the compression and oil pressure readings are just under what they would be when the engine was new, so it must be doing something good considering it gets revved to the redline daily and just generally cops a very hard time a lot of the time...

 

[PlenumBiscuit]

Not sure if it really that applicable here, but will list it anyway.

Fairly obvious, but don't cart around lots of unnecessary items/tools/junk in your car when traveling. I keep a few tools in a box in the back, so probably around 15KG of extra's in mine.

My VS (Exec) averages around 600KMs per tank (never bothered to work it out until recently with trips to Whangarei from Hamilton. Only modifications from standard/original are:
* Serviced regularly - Engine oil, Trans, tyre pressure, etc
* Spark plugs replaced not long ago
* Extra hole drilled into base of air box with small pipe to behind headlight.

hmmm thats a good one, worth adding to list i reckon, surely adding more intake would be beneficial, cos the current air intake hole is quite crammed in

i dd jonah101's tip of checking brake sliders and pistons

i found this at MACE...
THERMOSTAT

is it an upgrade or just a replacement, would it help fuel economy

also my fuel guage needle starting to stick sometime wont go up, just lubricate it i figure

also im so tempted to crimp on some new sensors (temperature) and get rid of old crusty ones, but im sure its better to solder it on, or rewire it from its origin

 

[Jaymz]

i found this at MACE...
THERMOSTAT

is it an upgrade or just a replacement, would it help fuel economy

also my fuel guage needle starting to stick sometime wont go up, just lubricate it i figure

also im so tempted to crimp on some new sensors (temperature) and get rid of old crusty ones, but im sure its better to solder it on, or rewire it from its origin

I run the same thermostat at the moment (forgot to mention it) it does make the car run cooler, but it has been discussed on here (to death in some threads) that if it is running heaps cooler then the ECU will make the fuel/air mixture richer as it believes the engine is not at correct operating temp and is "warming up"

 

[PlenumBiscuit]

hmmm mine hardly heats up as it is (hardly goes higher than 2 bars), upgrading to this thermostat could be a bad thing then

 

[Jaymz]

Maybe you already have it in the car?

My VS sits around 2-3 bars at highway cruising speeds. then heats up further when stopped in traffic (fans bring it back down nicely)

 

[PlenumBiscuit]

Maybe you already have it in the car?

My VS sits around 2-3 bars at highway cruising speeds. then heats up further when stopped in traffic (fans bring it back down nicely)

i had that happening after i put in my new water pump and new coolant. thought something big was wrong. but another look i noticed i had left the plug behing the back ogf the air filter box hanging off & the temperature rising sky high at traffic lights stopped after i plugged back in.

i wouldnt be comfortable with temp rising rapidly at lights permanently, maybe you got a glitch in there somewhere? dunno if my thermostat is the upgrade, only had car 2 weeks

 

[Jaymz]

My job for tonight is to replace the water pump (old one's bearing seal went on me) so will see what happens with temps after that.

I have always figured my system was normal with temps

 

[Pollushon]

Personally I think the 82c thermostat is an 'interesting' idea, but unnecessary if the car is running right and tuned correctly. I'd like to see some empirical data on it. The Commo/L27/36 combo has a higher than average pressure cooling system @ nearly 20PSI (most other vehicles are averaging 12-15PSI). With pressure comes heat. Running it cool is not necessarily a good thing, in fact running an engine too cool is as bad as too hot.

I haven't had any issues with heat giving mine a hard time and that would put up with more punishment than a N/A but I guess I'll find out more come summer.

 

[Brett_jjj]

Personally I think the 82c thermostat is an 'interesting' idea, but unnecessary if the car is running right and tuned correctly. I'd like to see some empirical data on it. The Commo/L27/36 combo has a higher than average pressure cooling system @ nearly 20PSI (most other vehicles are averaging 12-15PSI). With pressure comes heat. Running it cool is not necessarily a good thing, in fact running an engine too cool is as bad as too hot.

I haven't had any issues with heat giving mine a hard time and that would put up with more punishment than a N/A but I guess I'll find out more come summer.

I agree 100% . I run a standard temp thermostat and Ive never had any trouble with the cooling systems on my VS or VY. Running an engine too cold will cause excessive engine wear, bad economy and sludgy oil. I use a quality coolant (nulon long life) mixed 60/40 with distilled/demineralised water and I replace it every 12 months. Its also a good idea to run the heater on full hot for a few minutes once a week (during summertime) to keep fresh coolant circulating through the heater core. This helps stop the heaer core from building up crud in it, as this crud buildup causes the core to corrode and leak.. (This is why theres so many commys about with leaking heater cores). Its basicaly the same principal as running the A/C during winter time once a week to keep it in good working condition.