Hi from Delaware

[GasSavers_LinuxGold]

Good Day All!

I am from Delaware and I own 1993 Toyota Camry LE V6 in excellent condition. I am looking for ways to increase my MPG, I often used cruise control, following speed limit, feather on gas during acceleration and am able to do 26 MGP. I need more, any suggestions, links or etc?

Thanks!

[theholycow]

Welcome!

Is your car equipped with a manual or automatic transmission?

How important to you is saving gas? I ask because each person has a different comfort level in how far they're willing to go.

A very easy way to help increase your fuel economy (FE) is to increase your tire pressure. You should never exceed the maximum pressure stamped on the tire's sidewall, but usually that's higher than the pressure recommended by the car manufacturer. The manufacturer's recommendation is posted on the car (usually on the driver's door jamb) and is the minimum safe pressure that they could safely recommend, chosen to sell cars with a soft ride. Increased pressure affects each driver/car combination differently but is free and safe to experiment with. If you increase it and your handling suffers you should immediately back it off.

Most improvements come from driving habits and techniques, though. Do you do mostly highway driving, or is there much stop-and-go? As much as possible, it is efficient to cruise through green lights and turns rather than braking and having to re-accelerate. Try to adjust your speed so you'll make the green light (usually this means slowing down). If you enjoy going fast around turns, don't brake more than necessary to take the turn fast.

Whatever you do, make sure each technique and habit you try is within the limits of safety; nobody should ever get hurt because you were trying to save gas (and if that doesn't convince you, a crash costs a lot more than some gas). Any change made to a vehicle or to one's driving behavior, regardless of what you're trying to accomplish (saving gas, practicing racing skills, whatever) requires attention to safety as a possible issue.

[GasSavers_LinuxGold]

My Camry is automatic. I commute to work approx 45 miles, mostly on highway. I am looking for ways to improve the engine, possibly replacing the ECM module? adding skirts? nothing crazy like blocking grill or removing sideview mirrors.

I'll keep tires up to date to improve the mileage. Thanks.

[theholycow]

Most modifications that you have to pay for won't ever pay you back in full. For example, it may be possible to gain some fuel economy from a new custom-tuned ECM but it will never save enough money to be worth it.

Skirts are far more crazy than grille blocking, IMO. Grille blocking can be done without making the car look weird.

Modifications that you do yourself using common, free/cheap materials may pay for themselves, but mostly it's about driving differently.

[GasSavers_LinuxGold]

Alright, I'll leave my car alone, I will look into blocking grille, will it hurt engine? Is there any specific url that I can look into about blocking grille, that everyone practice and found to be useful? I can google for it, but I do not want to get into sites that do not work.

Thanks,


Scott

[theholycow]

There's lots of discussions about it here, you can use the site search or use Google to search this site. However, it's pretty simple...

The easiest thing to do is to acquire some coroplast, the corrugated plastic material often used to campaign signs and road spam. Paint it black and fasten it to the inside of your grille; it will not be visible except on close inspection. You could use any material that's convenient for you, that one is just a suggestion.

If you don't have a good temperature gauge, you may want one. That's the most difficult part.

You may want to start your experiment by blocking only half of it. If you block the whole thing, try to identify where you transmission line goes through the radiator and leave an opening in front of it. Heat is the automatic transmission's worst enemy.

[GasSavers_LinuxGold]

Originally Posted by LinuxGold

Good Day All!

I am from Delaware and I own 1993 Toyota Camry LE V6 in excellent condition. I am looking for ways to increase my MPG, I often used cruise control, following speed limit, feather on gas during acceleration and am able to do 26 MGP. I need more, any suggestions, links or etc?

Thanks!

Latest update:

Bought MPGuino, installed and calibrated.

Maximum MPG @ refill: 33.7 MPG
Maximum MPG 1 trip: 35.6 MPG 47 miles
6 Mo Average: 29.7 MPG
3 Mo Average: 29.7 MPG
1 Mo Average: 31.5 MPG
Overall Average: 29.7 MPG

Goal: 32.5 MPG Average