Need to increase mpg

My 1989 740GL just turned 190K miles. I'd like to increase my mpg from
the 22 I'm getting now. I check the tire pressure weekly, so my next
stop is under the hood. Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

You could have the injectors cleaned, renew the filters, make sure the valve
clearances and cylinder compressions are ok, any/all sensors are working as
they should, and lower the idle speed to the minimum the engine will run on,
but you will still be running an old, relatively inefficient engine.
You might squeeze out a few more mpg if you imagine that the gas pedal is
made of eggshell.

Si

 

checking tire pressure often is good, but what do you set it at? I've
increased mine from the 28psi in the manual to around 36psi. The ride is a
little firm, but the handling is good and I get a couple extra MPG
consistantly. The tires wear normally, perhaps even better than they did at
the suggested pressure....

 

fyi...
In California, most of the "service" stations now have coin operated air
and water dispensers.
A lot of folks are unaware that by law, the station must give you
quarters (or tokens) to operate the dispensers if you buy gas there.
Be sure to ask for your quarters (or tokens) every time you fill up.

 

Other than the physical advice that you are sure to receive, don't
forget that car mileage is like sex - a lot depends on how you do it. -
Don't laugh at what I am going to write. You may not get more gas
mileage, but if you take the first parking space when you drive into a
shopping center (and one that you will exit by driving and not backing
up), you will surely reduce the number of miles that you drive in the
course of a year. I operate in km and I am sure that on shopping trips,
I save 2 or 3 km per day.
Another thing that I learned from NY City taxi drivers was to slip the
transmission into neutral when coming to a stop (if you have an
automatic tranny). Braking takes less effort because the transmission is
disconnected from the motor and the idle speed drops off a bit. This
reduces brake wear as well.
Somebody else said to treat the gas pedal like an egg shell. When I was
teaching my wide to drive a manual tranny and she was abusing my clutch,
I said that she wouldn't like it if I treated her soft body parts like
that. The same goes for driving.
Good luck.

 

bob wrote:
....take the first parking space when you drive into a

I do this already, but for a different reason. A brisk walk across the
parking lot can't hurt this desk jockey. I like your thinking on the gas
savings as well... I'm constantly amused by the people cruising the lot,
looking for a spot up close. I see them when I park, I see them still
cruising as I walk into the store. How much time did they save?

When I was

Better mind your soft body parts if she finds out you refer to her as
"my wide" *g*

 

Is it manual or auto? If it's auto, then 22 mpg is pretty reasonable.
You might get a few extra percent by further increasing tire pressure
and switching to synthetic lube in the transmission and rear end, but
you're not likely to see any huge improvements unless you currently
drive agressively and can tone it down some.

 

Hi Clay,

I can't believe that "service" has fallen so low...........
TG I'm in British Columbia, but considering the Canadian dollar value,
they'd probably charge 75¢, of they started that here

Andy I. ('93 240 "Classic" wagon)


| fyi...
| In California, most of the "service" stations now have coin operated air
| and water dispensers.
| A lot of folks are unaware that by law, the station must give you
| quarters (or tokens) to operate the dispensers if you buy gas there.
| Be sure to ask for your quarters (or tokens) every time you fill up.

 

calling your wife your" WIDE" ,will mean that soon the you wont be driving
being in plaster

 

Thanks for all the replies. The car is an automatic. I run the tires
at 35psi, and my ride to work is nice and easy thru the countryside
except for the last 3 miles on a 4 lane boulevard. I've been using
high mileage oil for a couple years now and the engine runs like a
charm. The car has paid for itself over and over, trying to get as
much out of it as I can. My son is off to college in 7 years,
hopefully he'll be taking my brick with him. And I agree, never call
your significant other "wide"!

 

She doesn't read my computer stuff, yet! And she would know that it was
a typo. She hasn't gained 5 lb in 25 years - long way from "wide", more
like nice wife. <g>

 

Canadian dollar value? What year do you live in?? I'm confused... its in the
80 cent range.

We have free air all over the place at Ontario service stations and car
washes.... only a few places have 25c op machines.... and no one uses them.

 

My fuel economy meter reads 0,0L per 100kms when coasting in gear and 5.3L
per 100kms when in neutral.... better to slow down in gear in a fuel
injected car, the ECU will cut fuel and you get engine braking.

 

add some slick 50 at your next oil change 10% better economy especially at
any increased engine speed and will make that engine rebuild a little
further away

 

I always set my pressure to what the sticker on the door-jamb says.
Funny, but every time that I take the car into Volvo of Las Vegas, they
adjust my pressure down to about 32 psi.

 

That's hysterical. I'm aware of the Cali law, but here in Las Vegas,
most of the time the damned machines are non-operational, and you only
find that out after you put in your money! Before I got my compressor
out of storage, I stopped in at a gas station to fill up a low tire and
put my money....(.75 cents, can you believe?) and my tire went flat
during the process. I told the guy in the station that I wasn't moving
my car until I got my tires checked and that if he wanted to call the
police, then go right ahead. He actually called a towing company with a
compressor on the truck and I checked and filled all of the tires on my
old 240.
Vegas is a wierd town...I grew up here. It's normal to not get anything
when you put a quarter in a slot machine, but when you put money in the
air machine you don't expect your tire to DEflate!!!

 

Ahhh, that's probably why I got an erection out of your post.

 

I always park out by the Good Will Bin.
My XC is a European color called Dark Bronze Pearl (Actually it's just
dark metallic brown) and it shows every flaw, so I don't want anyone
parking next to me and banging their damned '74 Monte Carlo door into
me. The other day I was leaving the grocery store and the wind was
actually pushing a shopping card UP-hill towards my car. I got there
just in the nick of time...or maybe the "dent" of time. I ran away from
$200.00 worth of groceries to save my plastic back door.

 

My mileage meter on the info center goes blank when I come to a stop. I
wonder if that's something else that the dealer wants to charge me a
fortune to fix.

 

You'll probably get a lot of negative feedback about Slick 50. I
started using it when my old 240 Turbo was new. It definitely makes the
turbo quieter. I don't hear the turbo on my XC at all. Who knows,
maybe it's not working either, along with a ton of other things.