Quote:
Originally Posted by cugir321
I added a K&N high performance factory type air filter to my 1992 jeep wrangler last week. I was amazed. It dropped my mpg from 17.00 to 11.6mpg. I went back to the cheap standard air filter and today rechecked my milege. 17.25 mpg. This was enlightening. I got more horsepower and it ran more open with the K&N but at a cost. I'm guessing the oxygen sensor saw more oxy and thought it was lean....added more gas!!!!
|
been using K&N filters on my honda civic and my wife's Toyota Sienna for the past three years. K&N allows for more air flow, and the more airflow the more power but since your engine is getting more air flow it will use more gas to maintain the AF ratio.
you will get more hp but burn more gas in the process. in the past the increase in power is good even if my vehicles burn more gas since gas was cheaper. now a days though the increase in hp is not worth the extra fuel my vehicles are burning. since I am hypermiling and don't use the full power potential of my vehicles anyway, I can make do without the extra hp that the K&N filter adds.
I am thinking about just changing to a regular paper filter and compare the difference in mpg. I am thinking that boosting your ignition system would actually be better than boosting your engine's airflow. a better ignition spark will provide a cleaner fuel burn with the same AF ratio and will deliver better mpg.
I have replaced my civic's sparkplugs with Halo sparkplugs, MPG+ sparkplug wires, and an Accel Supercoil ignition coil. The halo sparkplugs have been in the engine for two weeks and it has been delivering a good FE increase but my full tank of gas only went from 300 miles to around 330 to 340 miles. the MPG + wires actually boosted my mpgs a lot more and before I installed the Accel Supercoil I was getting 350 to 360 miles per tank of gas (that's 10 gallons). I've installed the Accel Supercoil just a couple of days ago and the car has better acceleration AND at only a quarter tank spent I have already gotten 130 miles (that's about 2 gallons or a little over 2 gallons, mostly high way miles though). I can't really get an accurate mpg rating since I don't have a Scangauge yet so I rely on the total miles per full tank.
it is weird that my civic registers more miles for the first half tank than the second half tank. so taking the mpg calculation by the fuel gauge is totally inaccurate for me. I guess my fuel gauge is no longer accurate (probably came from topping off the tank to the max ever since I first bought the car).
I am eagerly anticipating what my total miles would be after this current tank of gas and see what type of gains I've gotten from the combination of the Halo sparkplugs (
www.greenplugs.com), MPG+ Sparkplug wires (
http://www.increasing-gas-mileage.co...roduct_Code=6c), and the Accel Supercoil which delivers an extra 10 to 15% power to the spark plugs than OE ignition coils.
after this current tank of gas, I will replace the K&N filter with a paper filter and see if the reduction of air flow to the intakes will boost mpgs better.