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So How Many Clear 600kms A Tank?


houseofdiesel

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Came up a bit short of 700km.  A/C use and windy conditions.

 

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A bit of an odd occurrence, there was about a 1L difference between the count down and my UltraGuage going to work, the UG is pessimistic as a rule.  Start the car to go home and they sink up almost exactly.  UG showed about 0.7 L of fuel burned to return the roughly 18km home.  If that level of consumption was repeatable over a full tank an 850km+ tank would be possible.

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I recently did 475km on 17.5L diesel. 3.7L/100km. When the 5L indicator comes on I fill up. I have thought about spending $20 on a 25L cad tire fuel can. That would increase my theoretical highway range to just over 1200km.

 

Just for fun you could put 3x 25L gas cans in the trunk and have a range over 2750km. It would cost around $120 to fill. Vancouver to tijuana is 2200km.

The cars max cargo weight is 220kg, -80kg for driver. Leaves 140kg for fuel, 168L + 22L diesel. Max range of around 5757km

Completely pointless but interesting

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Hmmmm....I do not get this, I regularly get my fuel ratings down to 3.6LPHKs while driving as an average on my scanguageII    and as of yesterday's fill up It cost me 20 cents under a $20 bill to do 475kms with fuel costing $1.27/lt.   Mind you I refuse to push it further down than the scale after the last bubble appears, I hate the idea of running out just to see.  But to get another 150 kms seems impossible..?   I also rock the car as I fill it to get as much air out of the tank as possible while filling....allowing the fuel to settle also.  Is there a tank size change between years or gas compared to diesels..? Don't get me wrong I'm happy with my fuel costs for sure, just can't understand how people get so far on a tank?  I can get very close to 200kms on the first bubble, is that similar to you high  tankers?

 

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OK, then that would answer so many questions...lol.!

OK, now I'm thinking....what year and model had the 33 l tank and why is it a brutal job?  I'm just thinking for the far north, but a spare fuel tank solves that issue far easier..lol

 

Edited by Willys
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My only reason to change a tank would be when I do the Dempster Highway, the only fuel stop is at Eagle plains, halfway up from Dawson City...it's roughly a 400km drive.....so if in rough conditions that may be all you get from a tank? So the need to carry a bit extra comes in handy, also for the long distances between smaller towns, maybe they are short on diesel pumps...???

 

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  • 1 month later...

Since I was heading out on a fairly long run tomorrow, I needed to fill the Cabrio tonight.  Before I did, however, I took a photo of the fuel remaining indicator and recorded the mileage on the odometer.  Not quite 600km, (the actual mileage at the time of the photo was 587.3km)

 but close enough to know that I could have made it easily since I still had about 5 litres left in the tank.  This was obtained on a combination of 100kph and 80kph speeds with a little bit of construction traffic thrown in for good measure on a trip to retrieve "Uncle Glenn's" Lexus.

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OK, again I have now seemedly found a way without trying to get those strange numbers down to 3.3 on a regular average when driving.......I still refill once that last bubble shows it's head.....but I am wondering how can this car keep delivering better fuel mileages?  If you compared that chart the MPG are incredable in today's world IMHO.   It does take a 20 minute drive for it to happily be able to keep it at this number but it will average it, damn!    The more I drive this car the more I am happy I bought it! 

My biggest thought is.......is this a pre-warning that the engine is slowly working freely and is getting looser to get these numbers? I know from doing big bore kits on bikes etc etc that after  a certain amount of time they loosen up and run much better. Once they are fully worn in so to speak....they gain better power than the fresh rebuilt engine.  Less resistance resulting in better numbers, in that case HP, this case mileages? Could this be a reason why? It has 135,000kms if I recall correctly or close.  OR am I over thinking it as usual? It still gets it's every other tank fuel conditioning. Doesn't use oil that is noticable between changes and it's had 3 since the spring when I purchased it from Glenn. and a fuel filter change. I do drive it alot.....I bet when I take it out I do at least 200kms per day, never in a city, small town maybe, but not somewhere like Toronto.  So mostly always in top gear. Always shifted manually before 3000 and never lugged below 1800.

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7 minutes ago, Leadwing said:

Willys ....... The car that I posted about (above .. post 285) has only 71,xxxkms. on it.  My winter beater has 190,xxx and gets MUCH better mileage.

So maybe my bike engine experience is the same here as well...?  That's why I asked.   My car has 136,000 I think now, I haven't checked for a while....
Just curious, is the entire engine system in stock form or modified in any way..?

 

 

Edited by Willys
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I am still struggling to get the same FE with Bibit 2 (2005 Cabrio) vs Bibit 1 (2006). 

 

I was was a consistent 3.7/100 on the 06 but  never less than 5l/100 on Bibit 2....? Last week 20 l fill 340km range (5.8!!!)

 

same daily route, same driving style ( I do drive with top down tho)... now considering an engine swap (Bibit 1 is out of commission due to SAM and other mechanical issues but engine is solid) 

 

ideas/ suggestions because I barely make 450km on a tank and I really don’t want to swap an engine. LOL

 

cheers!

 

bob

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  • 9 months later...

Okay, finally took the 2006 Smart out for an extended highway drive. Drove out to Banff from Calgary for Mother's Day, then home to Didsbury. Didn't spare the horses, ran at about 115-120 kph for most of the main highway drive into about a 20 kmh headwind and of course up and down a few hills! It didn't take long to find out that 5th was needed for the steeper parts. We kept up with traffic quite well but pretty sure we're going to get it remapped before the next trip. Did some touring around Banff for shopping and stuff, then home and of course the wind had shifted so we had mostly crosswind but partial headwind. Took the old highway on the way back so ran closer to 100 kph.

 

The tally: 376.7 kms on 15.21 litres or 69.98 mpg and 4.04 l/100 kms. We've put 5,000 kms on it since I rebuilt the engine this winter. Both power and fuel economy seem to be right there so I guess the new nozzles are working well. I have a few things to attend to (rear wheel alignment especially; too much toe in and right side camber) but am encouraged by our first real road trip!

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I agree after changing my nozzles and cleaning the body of the injectors in a sonic cleaner with simple purple cleaner.....this car is performing amazingly to say the least!   Still getting stupid mileage numbers for economy....so the cost of the nozzles may actually pay off over time. BUT the response from the engine after replacing them is astounding!   So very pleased I spent the bucks to replace the nozzles.   I'd recommend it to anyone who has questionable performance or fuel issues......far cheaper than replacing the entire injectors as a single injector is far more than 3 nozzles.  The job is an easy one also. Even if you had to buy a sonic cleaner just for the job it's still cheaper than a single injector I believe, I could be wrong but it'll be very close.

 

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After travelling from the Belmont area to meet with Willys, I made the stop to meet him and three stops on the way back ..... One at my sister's for lunch and one at Glenn's shop to drop off a couple of mufflers and then home.

 

Filled up with fuel at home.  No stops for fuel anywhere along the way ... there or back.  When I noticed it was over 300kms, and still had all blobs all black, I started taking photos every 10 or 15kms. to see exactly when it actually dropped.  See photos below..  The last photo is at home.  I would say, based on this, this car is capable of over 600kms. on one tank without effort.

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  • 2 months later...

Second trip through the mountains, new summer tires all around and running synthetic in the engine and trans. 8500 kms since engine work, just over 90,000 total on car. 

Did the slow fill the night before then topped it up the next morning on rhe way out of town. Cost 65¢ for the final 0.6 litre. 

Bubbles disappeared at 223, 315, 400, 488, and the 5.0 litre warning started flashing at 526. Filled at 600.0 with 2.0 left on the dash. Yes, drove an extra 0.4 after pulling into the gas station just to get to 600! Topped up to the lip after supper for a total of 626.2 kms on 20.95 litres. Works out to 3.35 l/100 km or 84.46 mpg. Small amount of around town but mostly highway at 95-100 kph. 

From that I'd say that it would have been about 650 kms by the time the readout got to 0.0 but didn't have a gas can along and my wife wouldn't have been very happy if we had run out of fuel. 😒

Edited by mender
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  • 2 years later...
  • 6 months later...

I’m new here, but have my 05 450 for 6 yrs. It’s got 130,000 Kms on it and I guess maybe I drive aggressively because I never get more than 400 Kms at the most out of a tank. I usually put in 20 ltrs of diesel and get 370 Kms or so. I have a scangauge but don’t know how to calibrate it properly ( or am too lazy ). It says I get 43 mpg on average. It has to be better than that ! 

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Here are the setup parameters most of us use.  http://clubsmartcar.com/index.php?/topic/7011-how-to-program-your-scangauge-to-work-on-the-smart-cdi/&page=1 

 

once you have it set, display both the current fuel economy and the average fuel economy.  Then start driving and watch the current number and try to keep it below the average number.  Make a game of it and you will see what works best for your terrain..  Manually shift the gears early, lift your foot off the throttle going downhill are two things that work well in my family flat terrain. 
 

Nigel

 

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5 hours ago, Bacardiron said:

I’m new here, but have my 05 450 for 6 yrs. It’s got 130,000 Kms on it and I guess maybe I drive aggressively because I never get more than 400 Kms at the most out of a tank. I usually put in 20 ltrs of diesel and get 370 Kms or so. I have a scangauge but don’t know how to calibrate it properly ( or am too lazy ). It says I get 43 mpg on average. It has to be better than that ! 

 

Yes, if you drive it like you stole it, your mileage will suffer.  There is no need to hold up traffic while trying to get better numbers.  Gentle acceleration from stops and anticipating slow-downs also help to get better fuel mileage.  My winter beater ( '05 Pulse ) regularly surpasses the 600 km. / tank.

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Letting it slow going uphill and speed up going downhill are also big earners when it comes to economy.

 

I get 60 to 63 MPG per tank average out of my 451 but I do very few miles, mostly short runs under a mile or two with a fill up every three months or so.

 

 

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