Sha-bam! A new fuel record for myself. It's a learning curve!

[FinallyGotOne 1]

It is not spectacular, but I hope to see it down even more come spring. I tryed something new on top of my normal driving, that i want to share.I went to kitchener Ontario from London and back home again. 239.2 km10.495 L4.38570832 L / 100 Km That's a new record for me.The roads are dry but it -3 c out. I have my winters on and they are a bit low on air. I traveled an average speed of 105km per hour. (I did not draft behind any trucks and i did not make note of the wind direction) I had a fresh oil change at the beginning of my trip. THIS IS WHAT I DID DIFERENTLY: I removed the cover from my air intake/filter in my engine compartment.I read an article that said cold air is denser and requires more fuel to burn. This is seen in fuel economy when contrasted through the seasons. Warm air takes away performance but uses less fuel during combustion. The article said to remove the filter cover so the engine can breath the warm air in the engine compartment. I saw over a liter increase in my fuel economy in comparison to my averages. Diving technique was the real money maker though and the oil change could not have hurt.This is exciting. I'm going to keep milking untill I get my ultimate low. Maybe I can post in the " who clears 600km per tank" topic soon enough. I could not have done it without all of your tips. Like I said getting fuel economy out of the smart is a learned skill. It takes effort and contemplation. Happy driving and Merry Christmas

Edited December 23, 2010 by FinallyGotOne

[PrairieBoy 1]

Removing the cover over your air filter MAY result in you car having an improvement in your fuel milage. However ,that cover also keeps the filter tightly in place, in it's housing.Removing that cover can also allow dirt to get into the engine between the filter and it's housing,as the filter is now fitting too loosely in the housing.It's not worth ruining your engine,in order to save a few liters of fuel.

[Alex 21]

The cover doesn't retain the air filter, so you're OK on that point, but there is a LOT more dirt in the air that will clog the filter quickly. Road dust really swirls up into the engine compartment, and mostly misses the air intake. When the car gets dirty ,you can really see the dirt line, just ABOVE the air intake! That has always bugged me, just 6 inches higher and our filters would last twice as long. But the air inside the engine compartment is much worse.In addition, I think you misunderstood the cold air/denser/more fuel idea. Air doesn't burn. Air contains the oxygen the fuel needs to burn. Denser (colder) air can burn more fuel, hence more power available if the car is smart enough to detect it and increase maximum fuel delivery. Our cars have an intercooler to cool the air down after the turbo. Cool air is better.Gas engines have a complication in which because the fuel must be vaporized prior to combustion excessively cold air can lead to poor vaporization, poor combustion and a loss of efficiency. Cold air intake kits are popular, but in winter can lead to a LOSS of power and efficiency. Diesels, as far as I know, don't run into this problem until some SERIOUSLY cold temperatures.Winter diesel is a different formulation to prevent gelling, and has less energy than summer diesel. That is most of the difference between summer and winter mileage. Cold engines (engine, not air), snow tires and traffic account for the rest.Congrats on your record tank, keep working on the driving habits and just wait for summer diesel.

[Speedie 4]

Good for your improvement - by the time summer rolls around you will be getting in the low 3's and maybe high 2's - doable with just a bit of finesse.Cheers,Cameron

[FinallyGotOne 1]

http://www.evilution.co.uk/699

Check out the above link.

Maybe this article refers to the 451.

I simply can't account for my milage today then.

Maybe it was the fresh oil.

Either way 3's here I come.

[Leadwing 565]

(............ i did not make note of the wind direction)

The wind was from the NNW at about 25 kph this afternoon along that stretch of the 401. For the record, I managed 19.3472 L / 100 kms (I was in the big truck with a fairly strong headwind/crosswind)

[Alex 21]

The majority of UK and European smarts, both 450 and 451 are gas engines. Only around 10% are diesel. A gas engine is a very different beast from a diesel. A great many "facts" about cars are based on gas engines, and may not apply to a diesel.Oh yeah, also anything involving magnets to improve mileage, razor-blade sharpness or sexual vigor is bogus.

[MikeT 744]

Only about 18% of the 770,256 450s made were diesels. I don't know what the proportion is for the 451!

[Francesco 71]

Considering the short time-span of sales here then, Canada has a fairly healthy chunk of all cdi 450s sold -- roughly 7.5%. If they kept offering it here I think it would be even higher.

[FinallyGotOne 1]

GOOD & BAD NEWS!!! The bad first. I wanted to test this leaving the cover off the air box theory further so I ran with it off on the way to work in Cambridge today. I know that going over the speed limit on the 401 always gives bad fuel economy. Usually in the high 6's or low 7's. I figure if I went 110km/hour with an open air box and had improvement, I would conclude that there was something to it. I got 7.2 L / 100km. OuchOn the my way home I BEAT my record. I put the cover back on the air box and filled each tire to 35 psi. I traveled at about 100km an hour.98 kms (Petro Canada Hespler Rd. Cambridge to Shell Hamilton and highbury Ave. London. )3.437 liters 3.50714286 L / 100km Phenomenal!! If only I could do it every day. My guess is that the oil change and proper tire pressure were the key to coming down another liter.

[smartzuuk 167]

Two decimal places on the FE will do? (ie: 3.51)Do you use any instrumentation?

[bilgladstone 13]

Regarding the air box top ONvOFF issue: been there, done that. More important than that, is that the air filter should be clean and new. They are cheap and easy to change.

My 2cts = unless you're going to go extreme with your intake and filter, the best thing you can do is change the filter several times a year (or @ 4,000km or so).

Regarding tire pressure, my thought is that winter is not the time to be pumping them up above OEM spec pressure. That's 29 F&R for the 450 and 29F & 36R for the 451 (by memory - I might have this a little off). Reason being, you need the compliance for winter traction.

IMHO/YMMV, of course

Bil

[FinallyGotOne 1]

Two decimal places on the FE will do? (ie: 3.51)Do you use any instrumentation?

No. I fill my tank to the top of the filler neck and reset my trip to zero. I usually fill up every day after work having traveled 200-250 km. On the weekends I rack up 300-350 km. Anyway, when I fill up I take the liters that I put in (ie. 10.5) and divide it by my kilometers traveled. (ie. 240.5) I then take that number and times it by 100 which tells me my liters per 100km exactly. (ie. 4.37L/100km) I like to do it the old fashioned way. I will get a scan gauge eventually. What do they do besides monitor fuel economy that makes them 150 dollars. How to they connect to the car to monitor it. Does it plug into the computer or do you install sensors? I am just curious.

[MikeT 744]

They plug into the OBDII diagnostic port. They can read and clear engine diagnostic trouble codes and tell you turbo boost, engine load, actual water temperature, intake air temperature, RPM, km/h, average speed, and I could go on and on.The real-time fuel consumption feedback is beneficial if you want to wring every last erg out of a tank of fuel.smartzuuk was getting at the concept of "significant figures" from physics - the 3rd through umpteenth decimal places are not really important. Hundredths is sufficiently accurate, considering the uncertainties involved.

[FinallyGotOne 1]

They plug into the OBDII diagnostic port. They can read and clear engine diagnostic trouble codes and tell you turbo boost, engine load, actual water temperature, intake air temperature, RPM, km/h, average speed, and I could go on and on.The real-time fuel consumption feedback is beneficial if you want to wring every last erg out of a tank of fuel.smartzuuk was getting at the concept of "significant figures" from physics - the 3rd through umpteenth decimal places are not really important. Hundredths is sufficiently accurate, considering the uncertainties involved.

I actually have a 300 dollar obd2 scanner that does all that. I bought it when I had my lube shop open here in London. I had put it away with the rest of my tools when I closed the shop. Thank you for reminding me Mike! I realize that the long numbers are a bit over board. I did it on purpose for effect. My best milage...... to the 12th decimal point. Lol The car gives me one decimal point, the gas pump gives me four and the calculator gave me twelve. So I wrote the numbers exactly as I had them. Thanks