fuel economy

[RED-GU]

hey all
I've got a 98 patrol 4.5 litre with 3 inch lift running 285/65/17 with roof racks and drawers in the rear. I was wondering was the best way to get better fuel economy.
I was told to put a unichip in with extractors and new exhaust system.

Has anyone have any ideas in gettig fuel consumption down.....


Thanks


REG_GU

[mkpatrol]

Im gunna be a smart arse here but its the only anwser, Buy a TD42

[warthog]

Local exhaust bloke here told me he spent about $1000 on extractors + exhaust for his 4.5 gu and was unimpressed with the results based on that I would leave exhaust alone.

[AndrewPatrol]

Another smart-arse answer. take all the crap off. Its the only way. If you cant afford to run it, you cant afford to own it!!!!!!!!

[RED-GU]

thanks everyone

and Andrew get over yourself!!!!!!!

[Bingham]

an expensive machine to run but mods will give a small advantage but nothing worth writing home about, so enjoy the herbs while you can and if you trade in get ready for slow and steady................

answer,,, there is no miricle cure....... do what you can but it wont give younthe resukt your hoping for.......
bingham

[Robbo]

My 4500 has uni chip extractors 3" 35" A/T but std gearing. I think the only hope we have might be in the gearing and lighten the vehicle. When i use optimax 15L per 100 ks hwy (manual) in the city shit loads. What do ya do its 3000kgs & 7' high!

[mkpatrol]

an expensive machine to run but mods will give a small advantage but nothing worth writing home about, so enjoy the herbs while you can and if you trade in get ready for slow and steady................

answer,,, there is no miricle cure....... do what you can but it wont give younthe resukt your hoping for.......
bingham

Yep i enjoy the scenery Isnt that why we go bush?????

[Shorty40]

LPG ?

[legsx1]

take the roof racks off for a start, you would be amased how much drag they cause.
Next empty all the load out, then the seats tyhat you dont use, the carpet and all that crap, it all helps to reduce the weight and the reduces the consumption
Last move is to install a chevy V8

[hienuf]

LPG ?

i agree Lpg will be your best long term solution.

[AndrewPatrol]

and Andrew get over yourself!!!!!!!


Only stating the bleeding obvious -- just that everyone else has been polite about it. A bit of searching wouldn't go astray.

[AndrewPatrol]

Sorry, `before i get stoned (rocks thrown at me - lol)
big petrol fourbies have a history of not being economical, don't you think the manufacturers would have had a half decent go at getting the best all round package out of it considering the market wants POWER.
If you go spending heaps on all these other gadgets (gas, exhausts, chips etc) you may gain a fraction in mileage but it will be at the expense of something else (reliability, wallet)
A friend recently spent $3000 getting gas on - how much petrol is that? How much power has he lost?
I lost reliability having gas on one of my cars - engine rebuild at 40k ("factory fitted") !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In short, do as smart arse no1 suggested, cut your losses and go buy a diesel.

[adam.s]

haha andrew, you are speaking shit.

You lose zero reliability having gas installed, if anything they tend to run better on gas because it's already atomised, you don't need to wait for the petrol/engine to warm up before it runs smooth.

On top of that, gas burns so clean that your oil is clean. Clean oil can only mean better reliability for your internal moving parts.

You either were unlucky and got a dud engine, or it was tuned badly and pinged itself to an early grave, or it wasn't a Nissan

If it was a factory commodore/falcon install, then the problem isn't with gas


edit: If you add up the amount of money you spend on a diesel with respect to servicing and what not over the years, they do actually cost more to maintain/run then a petrol.

[RED-GU]

hey
thanks for all responses by its true lve been thinkin about it and lm going to keep my 4.5 and deal with it....

l was jusy asking if there might be a solution l havent heard that was all!!!

sorrry Andrew for jumping down your throat

red gu

[AndrewPatrol]

Maybe so Foad, but thats still not all the equation, is it? Read my response again. Gas only comes out on top if you do a lot of k's, let alone if you want to do long outback trips, where's your gas then. It needs servicing on top of the servicing thats done to your engine anyway. I have (dare I say it ) a 3lt GU auto and it costs about $350 every 10k and oil and filter every other 5k (which I do) , if I drove only country I'd do the services only every 10k, auto trans and brakes are irrelavant 'cos they get done on any car. I get about 14.5 lt /100 in town and 12's in the country. Cheap enough for me!!!!!!!
No worries Red GU - I probably asked for it. I have a mate who has a Defender (yeh I know) and he used 60 lt across the Simpson recently, I used 100 lt and another bloke used 120 lt in a 4.5 Patrol. That Landy is amazing and its a bloody good 4wd out of the box. 2 things surprised me with these figures 1-the landy's consumption 2-the lack of difference between the two patrols, you haven't got it that bad. I believe my auto accounted for a lot of that. But when it came to "big red" who got up in one go? Give me an auto any day.
This has all been said before so I'm bowing out now. See youse around.

[adam.s]

Maybe so Foad, but thats still not all the equation, is it? Read my response again. Gas only comes out on top if you do a lot of k's

Yeah maybe so, but who seriously owns a 4x4 and doesnt do major kilometer's in it - are you saying you own a shopping trolley?

There is no way i could afford to run my 4x4 if it was petrol, it just simply chews too much.

let alone if you want to do long outback trips, where's your gas then.

If you want to drive Brisbane to Cape York (2800km) there is only about 700km where you cannot get gas, either put a larger lp GAS tank in, or run a secondary petrol tank - only need to be like 40-50L max, carry a couple of jerry cans as just incase.

It's 2005, not 1973, gas is readily available at most servo's these days, it's bullshit if you live more then a couple of kilometres away from a servo with gas.

It needs servicing on top of the servicing thats done to your engine anyway.

Er, no it doesnt. The only other consumable item for a car that has been converted from petrol to gas is upper cylinder lubricant, and thats like $14 for a whole years supply, not exactly going to bust the bank is it.

I have (dare I say it ) a 3lt GU auto and it costs about $350 every 10k and oil and filter every other 5k (which I do) , if I drove only country I'd do the services only every 10k, auto trans and brakes are irrelavant 'cos they get done on any car.

Name a single car that doesnt need this sort of regular servicing? It's not specialised to gas vehicles - anyone who actually looks after there car is going to do oil/filter changes pretty often.

And if it's costing you $350 to do an oil and oil filter, you need to learn what a spanner is :p

I get about 14.5 lt /100 in town and 12's in the country. Cheap enough for me!!!!!!!

Yeah might be cheap enough for you, but it's not cheap enough for everyone. Mine gets about 15km/100 around town, maybe a bit less if I didn't give as much pedal, but that is running on gas - cost me 36c/L last week, same day petrol was in the vacinity of 82cents.

Sounds to me like you are a soccer mum ?

[MKPatrolGuy]

Maybe so Foad, but thats still not all the equation, is it? Read my response again. Gas only comes out on top if you do a lot of k's

Yeah maybe so, but who seriously owns a 4x4 and doesnt do major kilometer's in it - are you saying you own a shopping trolley?

There is no way i could afford to run my 4x4 if it was petrol, it just simply chews too much.

One of my Patrols does only about 5000km per year, and it isn't a shopping trolley.

[mkpatrol]

edit: If you add up the amount of money you spend on a diesel with respect to servicing and what not over the years, they do actually cost more to maintain/run then a petrol.

I am going to have to disagree with that comment. A mate of mine has an Auto petrol & I have a Deisel manual GQ. He was getting 16.5/100 & was getting 12.5/100.

We did this about 18 months ago, we worked out how much fuel would be used over a period of 350,000klm. With the money saved in fuel over this time I had enough money to do 3 deisel tune ups, rebuild the engine & almost enough to turbo it at the same time. Servicing was also taken into account but only to manufacturers specs. We didnt take into account any other repairs as that can be a lucky dip & can depend apon driver abuse.

I would be differnet now but even with the unexplained increase in deisel prices it would still work out cheaper on the fuel usage alone.