RE: [T3] Wacky Mileage

[Greg Merritt <gregm@vwtype3.org>]

<x-flowed>At 5:08 PM -0700 5/18/04, brian b wrote:
> Had a stock rebuilt put in my 68 SB a few weeks back
> and just hit the 500 mile mark recently.  I have done


	Brian, I started recording mileage data for my Squareback for 
the first time ever starting in January.  After a couple of tanks, 
the mileage I measured was pretty poor.  (Ok... mid TEENS, yuck! Ok, 
lowish mid teens on the worst tank. Bleh.)

	The car was about due for a valve adjustment, so I had at it. 
Four of them were quite tight. (Ugh -- that should probably be 
another thread.)

	Guess what?  My mileage on the last tank was about 22mpg. 
Wow -- pushing a 50% increase!  That included a good chunk of highway 
miles done at a NON-miserly speed.

	Also, it's important to check valve lash on a newly-assembled 
engine after you've run it a bit.  Have you had the chance to check 
them?

	On my car, I also have a (re-)cracked fuel filler overflow 
hose.  Talk about wasted gas.  I need to repair that again.

	I've been reading some Prius forums... the discussions there 
reminded me about the importance of tire pressure.  I get the sense 
that getting the best possible mileage is really a combined approach 
-- getting the car at peak tune, watching the tire pressure, and 
driving thriftily.  Even the last item is kind of tricky -- for 
example, the engine tends to run most efficiently when it's at lower 
rpms with a wide open throttle!

-Greg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org

</x-flowed>