Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 23:50:23 -0700
Reply-To: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Craig Oda <craigoda@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: trip report and gas mileage
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Despite the misfire and engine vibration in my 1.9L waterboxer, the
old Westy keeps taking me and my family on camping trip after camping
trip. In preparation for a overnight camping trip, I filled in gas
right before the trip, then carried 2 additional people, a full water
tank, a surfboard, full camping gear, a BBQ grill, charcoal, TV/VCR,
porta potti, and about 40 pounds of tools and spare parts up over
highway 17 to Sunset Beach and back for a 135 mile round trip. I
filled up at the same gas station and got 19.4 mpg, my highest yet.
This is with automatic transmission. I've been measuring my fuel
economy because I had a problem with the O2 sensor and I went from a
low of 5mpg. I then found the problem was a clogged O2 sensor and
brought the mpg up to 12mpg (with the O2 sensor disconnected). Then,
I got the mpg up to 17 with the O2 sensor connected and the fuel/air
mixture readjusted. At that point I figured that I was getting
correct inputs from the O2 sensor and I should have stopped. However,
since I was starting to get into the whole spirt of the challenge, I
installed a tachometer and a set of Bosch Plus Four Platinum plugs.
Now, I'm probably easy prey for propaganda, but I feel that the Bosch
4 electrode Platinum plugs may be adding a little fuel economy. Maybe
1 mpg? Perhaps I am just imagining things.
They have an attractive commercial video here without much technical information
http://www.boschusa.com/AutoParts/SparkPlugs/PlatinumPlus4/
Hey, I fell for it. Cool pictures and sounds must work for other
consumers too.
I use the tach to try and keep cruising RPMs below 4K, which in my
3-speed automatic means that I'm cruising at below 60mph (speedo
recalibrated using a GPS unit to verify actual speed). I also have a
fuel/air mixture gauge which I used to set the mixture to rich at
wide-open-throttle, but at between .4V and .5V otherwise. It does go
lean when I am on the freeway going downhill with my foot off the gas
pedal just cruising along under the momentum. I guess this is okay??
Advice anyone?
When I was down camping at Sunset Beach, I noticed that there was a
gathering of vintage Pontiac Firebird cars down there. There were
having a picnic in the day use area. (Sunset Beach is south of Santa
Cruz). There was a beige diesel Westy down there in the day use area
and a really primo condition white vanagon in the lot too. No vanagon
mtg, just coincidence in the Santa Cruz area. Might be interesting to
meet some vanagon people down there one day if there is any interest.
Sunset Beach is quite nice. It's in the Monterey Bay marine
sanctuary, so it's common to see seals, dolphins and whales in the
water. The gray whales freak me out a bit because they sometimes come
really close to shore when I'm in the water!
BTW, as I write this there is an old 2.1L engine in the main cabin of
my Westy. I thinking of swapping it into my 83.5 There are really
nice directions here:
http://www.oldvolkshome.com/19to21.htm
I'm curious as to why I need to switch the Thermostat to the 80C
version? I have a 1.9L waterpump/thermostat setup in my garage
somwhere. Is this an optional mod to get lower engine temps or is
this a required mod when I do the swap? (assuming I don't isolate the
misfire issue with my 1.9L and I go ahead and do the swap.)
5. 80C Thermostat and Thermostat O-Ring (VW# 034-121-119). Volkswagen
themselves only carry 87c Thermostats, but you can get OE German 80c
Thermostats from Bus Depot and others that deal in Vanagon engine
parts..
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