2+2=4... But If you -2 Then??

[Diabloflash]

Hey everyone MY First Post !@ @

I have a standard 150,000km 4 Cylinder Engine 132hp 2000 Dodge NEON !
(best car in the world!) Its Red too@

Anyways I hate paying for gas so, while I was bored messing with my car I just happen to unplug my cars Number 2 cylinder fuel injector just to see what happens, and it started running a little ruff on one end, so I unplug the number 4 cylinder fuel injector to even it out, it ran ruff and die when I tried driving it LOL. I idle it for about 1 minute and then the engine started running smoother and smoother, so I got into it again and the f-ing thing moved! So I said sweet! and backed out of my driveway and began driving on 2 cylinders, ran not that bad, it did feel alittle rougher then normal. I started up the street got to 10km then 20km, then all the way up 60km with no problems, only 25% throttle and got there pretty fast, 70km acceleration slowed. 80km was the highest and couldn't pass it, I didn't want to push the gas pedal to much. so I thought not bad! then I had to go see my girlfriend, plug everything back together and thats it, I was just wonder...

Is it bad to run on 2 cylinders?
Do you think my car gets better fuel economy?

Because it wouldn't be hard to make a switch to shut down 2 cylinders for city and to start them up for highway or 60km+?

[imzjustplayin]

When you said you disconnected the cylinder, how did you disconnect it? Please describe in detail what you did because if you didn't do it right, you could seriously screw up your engine and not save a drop of gasoline.

[theholycow]

People on this forum have experimented with cylinder deactivation before, but nobody has had any real success. That's not to say that you won't, but it is pretty complicated to do it and actually run well / save gas.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Most often you hear of V-8's being converted into 4 cylinders. I had read articles published in the 70's on doing this. What they were doing then was removing the pushrods and exhaust valves on one bank of cylinders, and putting bushings in to hold the intake valves closed. I think this would only work with a carbureator or throttle body injection (With the deactivated bank's O2 sensor moved) though...

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Most often you hear of V-8's being converted into 4 cylinders. I had read articles published in the 70's on doing this. What they were doing then was removing the pushrods and exhaust valves on one bank of cylinders, and putting bushings in to hold the intake valves closed. I think this would only work with a carbureator or throttle body injection (With the deactivated bank's O2 sensor moved) though...

Actually it'd be easier on a FI car because you could disconnect the electrical to the fuel injector and spark plugs, no spark and no fuel means you can leave the valves alone, unless you want to reduce the losses incurred from having them open, close and compress for nothing.

[theholycow]

Additionally, you want the valves closed so it's not pumping air through them. You'll be opening the throttle more and running higher RPM, so if you don't close them you'll be pushing a lot more air through your intake and exhaust -- probably enough to lose some efficiency (vs. low RPM with closed throttle when you've got all your cylinders running).

[imzjustplayin]

Originally Posted by theholycow

Additionally, you want the valves closed so it's not pumping air through them. You'll be opening the throttle more and running higher RPM, so if you don't close them you'll be pushing a lot more air through your intake and exhaust -- probably enough to lose some efficiency (vs. low RPM with closed throttle when you've got all your cylinders running).

But for the sake of simplicity, it'd be easier to not even take off the head because if you do decide to want the extra power and or fuel economy, you don't want to have to replace the head gasket, drain the coolant, etc. You'll obviously not get the benefit of less frictional losses but you will get the benefit of less fuel being burned. If you really want a 2 cylinder engine, you'd probably want to redesign the crankshaft, remove two cylinders, remove the valves and associated stuff, plug up the oil holes, etc.

[Diabloflash]

Nobody has had any real success with cylinder deactivation??? Why? I pretty sure some people reading my post don't believe me that I did drive with 2 cylinders, so I made a video, show you how I did it, note that its really hard to drive a standard and record at the same time.
P.S all I did was disconnect 2 fuel injectors
"Video Link"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LelL8OfCYQ0

Thanks
Love to here what you think.

[Jetta90GL]

Another thought would be that if you don't keep the valves closed on the unused cylinders, the O2 sensors will read more oxygen than normal. Causing more fuel to be dumped in.

[ecofarmer]

No one said it could not be done. I have pulled cattle trailers with an injector that was unplugged before.

The issue at hand is it worth it in the long term? You haven’t posted your gas mileage for before and after. I think about the long term issue. IMO I think you will get a build up of carbon on the valves and possibly the piston if it’s run for to long like that.