KJ Fuel economy thread

[glend]

Just back from my two week tour through outback NSW. Aside from the transit stages most of the time was on dirt tracks from the south Darling River, Mungo NP, Pooncarie up to Lake Minindee area, Silverton, White Cliffs, Wilcannia to Tilpa, Louth, and Bourke.

I was towing the camper trailer and with it's high profile (sticks up over the back of the KJ) it was an obvious air dam some of the time. However, on the rough tracks from Balranald to Minindee, and track from the Silver City Highway to White Cliffs, and the rest of the Darling track where speed is rarely more than 80kmph on the best sections, air drag was less of a factor.

I used a total of 406Ls on the trip with typical tank fill figures of (L/100kms):

14.92
15.46
14.58
22.28 ** something wrong with this one, I think I didn't factor the jerry can top up properly.
13.21
10.55 * Silverton day trip not towing
14.35
13.91
14.46
15.86
the last tank figure is missing because I haven't refilled it yet. I suspect the last leg from Dubbo to Lake Mac was in the 12s as I had a good tailwind.

Best towing fuel economy happens when on paved transit sections when staying in 4th gear at 90kmph which gave the 13 figures.

Vehicle configuration is GDE Full-torque tune and the GDE Transmission Tune, and I was running my big tyres for this trip (Cooper STTs 255/70 16s on the 16x8" Mamba rims). Despite the GDE tune additional KWs and torque, the gearing effect of the larger tyres was negating the additional power. I know from previous towing trips with my Bridgestone D694s (245/70s on stock alloys) that I can get 11 and 12s when the camper is attached (on the pavement). I found myself turning overdrive off a fair bit to gain extra push on hills and such.

You can see the figures from the Silverton day trip figures, where the camper was left at Broken Hill, that figures in the 10s are achieved even with the larger wheels and tyres and roof rack.

Another KJ CRD on thd trip, also towing a camper got figures similiar to alittle better than mine. A modified JK petrol towing a camper got 22s everywhere due to the high lift and 37" tyres - he also had the most mechanical problems - steering damper failure, loose track bars, etc

[Lancer]

Just back from Derbyshire where George and Jerry at VMSpecialists changed my cambelt, serpentine belt and replaced the metal fan with a Mopar 11 blade plastic one and Hayden clutch. Not a big trip by any of your standards. I filled up before I left on Wednesday night. I've done 402.7 miles with just under a quarter of a tank left. The Evic (I know it's not 100% accurate but it seems to mostly correspond with my calculated usages) read between 8.2 and 8.4 l/100kms on the cruising parts of the trip along A roads, small country lanes and some motorway travel. Where I did get stuck a bit in town traffic (in Buxton in the Peak district and in Chesterfield) it read about 11.7.

[Tom&Phet]

So I've just managed a PB for my worst ever fuel consumption. No highway driving, just the usual daily work commute and a few runs to the shops no doubt. All driving has occurred on 60kph speed limited roads. All start stop drives generally under 10km's including dist from home to work. Fuel light on this morning at 339.8kms and a quick dash to the servo on the way to work took 74 Litres to fill. Therefore I've achieved an amazing 4.586 kms/Litre or 21.8 L/100kms! Yeah for owning the petrol......

OMG....that is insane.
We get around 620km with a full tank of V-power. That is at 120-125km/h freeway driving from Sydney to Albury.
I found there is a big difference when using cruise control. Around 20-30km less when used.
Around town going to and from work we get around 550-580km per tank.
However nothing beats the feeling putting your foot down on a 3.7

[Tom&Phet]

Is there something wrong with your KJ or are you running heavy gear i.e roof racks and so forth?
I think the only time ours used that much fuel was up at Stockton beach running in soft sand with the tire pressure right down.
Would be very interested to find out the reason...keep us posted please.

[bowieforest]

Just went through my first two tanks in my MY04 CRD.

Cleaned a (very) clogged MAP and driving around Newcastle to work 60-80 kph yeilded about 10.5.

Disiabled my EGR (screwed the bugger closed as per the thread) Then towed my 7x5 box trailer + KTM to Taree for a ride and got 9.9 !!!

Very happy. Uses less than my 05 XT forester does towing nothing!! Only sad part is it sits 50mm lower

[Pipeliner]

Only sad part is it sits 50mm lower

CRDSTU (Murchison Products) can fix that for you!<!-- / message -->

[Tom&Phet]

So, the numbers are in and here is the result... I predicted less than 380kms and came in at 370.1kms on v-power (although it's hardly a prediction when it's based on experience) and took 72.4 litres to fill at the pump. I fueled with ordinary 91 octane this time so I'll compare how this new batch goes. In answer to your question - my KJ runs a 2" OME lift, Bridgestone 235/70R16 AT's, nudge bar, tubular side steps and other than that it's completely stocko. Not even a tow bar....I must fit that! The odo has just ticked over 80,000kms so the engines just run in

wow 19.5l/100km...Shell must love you

Results from last weekend. Took off at home with 220km on the trip. Those km were done going to and from work. Each work trip is about 21km one way without much traffic. We went up into the Blue Mountains via motorway sitting on about 110km/h. Took some unsealed roads to Narrow Neck, McMahons and checked out a couple of camp sites on the same type of road. At the end of the day came back home and had 460km on the trip. Waiting for the wife to fill it up sometime this week to get the exact numbers but already our consumption is way lower than what you get. Our KJ is a 65th Anniversary 2006 with 125'km down. The one and only aftermarket part is the KN air filter which gets looked at every 10 to 15'km and then only very lightly oiled (too much stuffs up the sensors) after washing. We run Coopers At3's stock size.
I will post the exact numbers later this week but i already can see we are running around the 13l/100km.

[DarrenR]

I spent the weekend 4wdriving in heavy sand and returned 24lt/100km out of my V6, woooo!!! argh its killing me....

Regards
Daz