Tuning startup for better MPG

[PANDA]

Seems during startup and maybe the first 10-15 min of my drive in the morning my car uses ALOT of gas. Im talking a few tick marks everytime. Anything I can adjust in the startup tables to help with this?

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[Turbocharged400sbc]

there's startup afr vs ect and startup afr vs ect decay and a couple others that you can futz with in tiny....

or you can use a piece of cardboard to block off half of the radiator on the drivers side, you probably cycling the thermostat alot since the radiator works too well.

youll see what im talking about if you log ect during your first 15-20minutes, it will cycle up and down till the whole systyem saturates with heat

 

[Mook]

colleens car goes thru a ton of gas right now too. we drive a whopping 6 minutes to work. ive been trying to start the car and let it run to get it to temp before we leave but even doing that barely helps. and i cant always let it idle long enough.

her car sips that shit down.

 

[Riski]

heated seats + garage = win

 

[Mook]

dunno how that helps with mpg

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

block/coolant heater. do it

 

[Riski]

No need for pre warm up idle starts.....

but rumor has been that the winter gas mix has less octane in it thus why you seem to go through more gas and get less mpg during the cold winter months.....but I do not know if this is a fact or urban legend

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180568778488&viewitem=#vi-content

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

No need for pre warm up idle starts.....

but rumor has been that the winter gas mix has less octane in it thus why you seem to go through more gas and get less mpg during the cold winter months.....but I do not know if this is a fact or urban legend

i think that shit is a myth. come summer time people will say "oh its the summer blend with more ethanol...thats why you get bad mpg's"

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

No need for pre warm up idle starts.....

but rumor has been that the winter gas mix has less octane in it thus why you seem to go through more gas and get less mpg during the cold winter months.....but I do not know if this is a fact or urban legend

nope, it just gets switched over to a blend with more volatiles so that it can vaporize at lower temps.
air has more density for the volume, so more fuel is needed.
the engine takes longer to heat up, so more liquid/unburned fuel end up pumped out the exhaust port as there isnt enough heat in the air charge to vaporize it fully.
cylinder washdown is alot more likely since the fuel doesnt vaporize, so more fuel gets past the rings.
oh yeah the engine takes longer to warm up since the radiator is too efficient at dumping heat into the cold ass air...this is why modern cooling systems have mixer type thermostat systems to mix hot coolant with the cold inlet coolant...they reduce thermal shock from conventional T stat cycling as well as helping the engine warm up faster

 

[Riski]

ok so there is the answer.....like I said I didnt know the actual facts.....

 

[BillyBru]

yeah I went through an 1/8 tank in joes car since last night at 8. only drove to the train station and back twice. A 20-30 minute trip.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

colleens car goes thru a ton of gas right now too. we drive a whopping 6 minutes to work. ive been trying to start the car and let it run to get it to temp before we leave but even doing that barely helps. and i cant always let it idle long enough.

her car sips that shit down.

cardboard...seriously it's 1920's technology

panda's fucked though cause he's gonna have to buy an AC delco heater core to get an OEM AC declo stock cardboard box to cutup

and ya'll can quit yer bitchin' my truck gets like 6mpg in this weather

 

[Mook]

her car can barely muster 18mpg in this weather. granted 99% of her driving it stop and go city traffic. and the farthest she ever really drives is barrington. otherwise, its too and from work for the most part.

 

[99PONTIACGP]

I havent had my car for just about a month :sad: But I know it wouldnt be getting exceptional MPG's

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

since its not your baby just use duct tape to cover the upper and lower grills
or if your not completly lazy remove the two 10mm bolts that hold the upper radiator mounts to the upper crossmember, lean the radiator a bit towards the rear of the car, and block off 1/2 to 2/3rds of the drivers side of the radiator with cardboard betweeen the condesor and radiator (if your gonna do the 2/3rds cut 2-4 3x3" holes in the cardboard...2/3rds might require that you pull the drivers side dogbone/radiator side mount off)

 

[Mook]

so just regular duct tape then?

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

if you use the red duct tape you can put on a few fancy stripes too...and as long as she alternates which side of the car the sun shines on in a month or so it'll be more of a pink color

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

yep. same thing we do with our outdoor karts. difference is if temps get too high you can just pull a strip or two off while driving.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

yep. same thing we do with our outdoor karts. difference is if temps get too high you can just pull a strip or two off while driving.

fer sure....i usually leave a largish tab off the top of the cardboard so you can grab it from above without laying the radiator back...come springtime the cardboard is usually moist/beatup enough that you can just pull/slide it on up and out on a warmish day

the radiator is made to cool the engine with the ac on, in stop and go traffic with only the fans moving air in 120* ambient air temps.

it does just fine with 1/2 the surface area even at 60* air temps

edit: and if your fan turnon temps arent 10* above the thermostat temp set em to 10-15* above Tstat temp

 

[DanJ]

Mine sucks pretty bad right now... Then again it's never that great as i have never really fine tuned the timing. 04 GTP timing table, pow, done.

 

[PANDA]

James what do I need to change in those startup tables? I do not have/use tiny tuner.

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

start with the cardboard bud ...help the engine heat up faster.

gm put a fair bit of research into those settings for good cold drivability....youd do more for fuel econ by helping it exit those tables faster by getting it to heat up faster.

 

[ktraver97ss]

Yeah, right, like panda is going to put cardboard in front of his radiator. I thought u knew him better than that James!

 

[Turbocharged400sbc]

i know he's cheep...you dont get to be a baller like he is by spending money