30 MPG from an 80 ?

[chapel gate]

No worries.
My partners 2010 rav 4 auto returns 27mpg. I find this awfull for a 2.2 litre modern motor.

 

[joeyjune]

Yes that is bloody disgraceful! I just bought a P reg Rav4 for my kids to play with in the field, they love it! I have never even glanced at em let alone driven em, but have to say I am impressed. The handbrake is good, I tried to show off with a handbrake turn in the field and boy did she spin! Followed by "don't you EVER do that"
(followed by a change of pants and a stiff gin)

 

[chapel gate]

No idea on the veg oil/bio diesel. I know others have. Not something i can be bothered with tbh...

 

[joeyjune]

no I went off the idea for a while, but since i have a nice processor and might have a few fish and chip shops who will let me run off with some used oil, and since I am now looking at a nice old gas guzzler for myself, i am getting interested again!

 

[Michael Montgomery]

Newly testing with fuel pump tweaks for fuel gains so far havent yielded a noticeable difference after the mods recently.

Did 630km (391miles) adding 77 litres at the pump to fill to the filler cap.

Works out to 23MPG althrough have been enjoying the increased power with my leg falling heavier on th peddle than usual.....lol

 

[Allchin]

I Did 32000 miles on a run to Magadan, Sibiera, driving around most of the Stans up to 5000m. I would guess half that milage was on dirt roads and averaged just over 30 mpg.
Just prior to that trip l took the vehicle to Diesel Bob,Ribchester, Lancashire to set up the pump as l had fitted a intercooler and upped the boost to 10psi.
I also spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Terra Del Fuago and average 28mpg in North America (Around 30000 miles), MPG dropped to 26MPG driving through Central America and by the end of the trip 83k miles in Uraguay was down to 23MPG. The fuel pump cold start lever was leaking and vibrating! l have since had the fuel pump striped down by Diesel Bob, finding some excesive wear, main suspect to be ethanol in fuel. Also the injectors needed refurbishment.
Have not run the truck yet so dont know the curent MPG but hope it back up to 30MPG!

Stephen

 

[chapel gate]

I Did 32000 miles on a run to Magadan, Sibiera, driving around most of the Stans up to 5000m. I would guess half that milage was on dirt roads and averaged just over 30 mpg.
Just prior to that trip l took the vehicle to Diesel Bob,Ribchester, Lancashire to set up the pump as l had fitted a intercooler and upped the boost to 10psi.
I also spent 2 years driving from Alaska to Terra Del Fuago and average 28mpg in North America (Around 30000 miles), MPG dropped to 26MPG driving through Central America and by the end of the trip 83k miles in Uraguay was down to 23MPG. The fuel pump cold start lever was leaking and vibrating! l have since had the fuel pump striped down by Diesel Bob, finding some excesive wear, main suspect to be ethanol in fuel. Also the injectors needed refurbishment.
Have not run the truck yet so dont know the curent MPG but hope it back up to 30MPG!

Stephen

Impressive figures, did the intercooler improve economy?

 

[Allchin]

Never really checked it. Prior to the Russian trip, I had done trips across the Sahara and driving in sand seemed pointless checking the MPG. By the way, at the time in Egypt, the fuel cost were around 15pence a liter! The previous year it was 9p!

Stephen

 

[joeyjune]

Wow, you have certainly put your LC through its paces, good for you, sounds like a blast doing some of those drives! Maybe one day when my ball and chain falls off I dream of doing something along those lines.

I don't know which model you have Allchin, in the pic it looks like an 80 is that right? 12v or 24v?

 

[karl webster]

i have ran bio and veg in the cruiser.

All id say is be prepared to spend some money on fuel pumps and injectors if you need to. Really the same applies to any car really though if your going down the veg route.

My argument to people is. With the money I've saved on fuel over the years I could have put a brand new cruiser engine in the truck more than once.

 

[joeyjune]

Thanks Karl. Yes when i looked into veg oil for my wife's old van I learned a bit about pumps and stuff, but not much and forgotten most of it now! Obviously would want to be more careful with a LC!
Am I right in thinking the 100 series will run on VO but the 120 won't?
If I get a 100 and want to run on veg oil, I might tap you up for a bit of info or things to check as I really don't have a clue currently and would want to do as much preventative stuff as poss.

Oh and also.... do you run WVO or clean stuff from Lidls? Do you add a cup of petrol to think it, mix it with diesel, or run it neat?

Oh and also also.... I note you have a manual. Have you had an auto before that and if so, how do you find the differences? I would think with my economical driving (why I got a manual last time, changing up down the hills and whenever possible) it should make a noticeable difference to fuel economy, am i right here? I might try and find a manual

 

[karl webster]

I have autos and manuals at the min mate.
If your going to run wvo or new oil ideally you need to twin tank it with a heat exchanger.

Autos are nice but you won't get the mpg imo.

Personally I wouldn't run a 100 on waste veg or bio. The reason for me running 80s is that they are running manual fuel pumps etc. all the other stuff has the electronic shxtx on them.

 

[joeyjune]

oooooooh, I am glad i asked you now! I had the feeling the 80s AND 100s were the "old" tech, where you didn't have electronics BS dictating everything. Is that not the case then?
I thought it would be ok to run the 100 on decent clean veg oil, maybe 50/50 with diesel. Thinking again now! I would love to dry diving a manual. I went for a manual in my Volvo XC90 (puke) for the reason that I like driving and always loved changing gear, plus the fuel economy. It isn't any better on MPG than my friend's auto, and its bloody HORRRRRRIBLE to drive, notchy gears which have ridiculous ratios, regularly stall on roundabouts as trying not to rev 1st so hard but go to second and there is nothing there so its a case of stop, select 1st (which takes a shove due to notchiness) then pull away like you are a kid just learning to drive, YUK.
How is the LC manual to drive? I really wish I could try one as I am sure my experience of the XC90 is a one off from a once good but not dog shite car maker, and my faith may well be restored by a manual LC. I do think it must do better on fuel as I usually drive with fuel economy in mind (unless in a hurry when I don't care about fuel). The biggest hatred of the Volvo is the stupid foot hand brake. Trying to pull a boat up a steep ramp is a nightmare, hand brake starts are just a joke and I have regretted getting the manual from the minute I got it! The LC has a lovely proper hand brake so that wouldn't be an issue, and I suspect I would enjoy the drive more with a manual, I would certainly enjoy an extra MPG or 2

 

[karl webster]

Nope, the 80s are old school (better) imo
50 59 mix would be ok and I've even gone as far as 80/20.

Twin tank is the safer way to go though if you don't bio.

 

[joeyjune]

Why is it safer? is it to do with heating it up or something?

 

[karl webster]

Less chance of doing damage to the engine. Apparently starting the engine from cold with cold oil can damage due to the engine not giving a clean burn.
With a twin tank set up you start on derv and run untill the engine is up to temp then turn over to veg. When you park up you flick back to derv so when the engines next started all the fuel pipes have diesel rather than oil in them.

 

[joeyjune]

I see said the blind man! Interesting stuff thanks. I have a bloody big and good quality biodiesel processor here, never used it as we changed vehicle soon after buying it. I would love to get into that properly and a low economy but beloved TLC (aah, how sweet that sounds!) could be just the ticket to making me do that.
Better still, not having to convert it to BD and just use WVO would be great. I have a few people to ask who might be able to get a source for used veg oil from local chip shops (I live by seaside!) so that would be great, even to just go 50 50 and add 5+ mpg, would make me very happy. my pile of pants XC90 does around 25-30, If i could get equivalent of that from a LC, that would be a great feeling!

 

[karl webster]

My bio costs 25ppL when I make it. That's with paying 10ppl for the oil

 

[karl webster]

Ps. You don't have to convert the truck to run bio only when you use neat veg oil wether that be new or used.

 

[joeyjune]

Sorry I don't follow this "You don't have to convert the truck to run bio only when you use neat veg oil wether that be new or used."

are you saying you don't have to do any conversions if you use bio, but you do if you use veg oil? is that right?
Maybe I should get back on the learning about bio!