Smarty Jr settings and better fuel mileage

[IdahoMan]

Recap of and updates to Post #1



Notes: These were local driving in a rural area with some city, some open country road, and a little freeway and occurred Jan-Mar '10.

The rest of the Smarty Jr settings were left to default (Timing and Torque Management). Listed in order of testing since purchase.



Smarty Jr Settings and Mileage



#1 Economy - POD=100

750 miles - 14. 9 mpg

750 miles - 15. 3 mpg



#2 Tow - POD=75

465 miles - 15. 3 mpg



#3 Performance - POD=75

670 miles - 15. 7 mpg

(running another one now)



Kevin

 

[MrFixit]

Do the same with the POD @ 100 and report back. My best always comes from Performance @100 and defaults. As Bob says. . crank it up, just take it easy. I think you are negating the Tow #2 affect by turning it down to 75 thus giving you about the Hp as in #1 (or less) so same MPG.

 

[IdahoMan]

MrFixit,



I'll give that a try.



I have found some threads in this forum where users have found it worked better for them to run, for example only, #3 at say pod=70 than #2 at pod=100. The MADS website mentions a similar approach. That is why I am curious regarding the experience of others with the POD settings.



Kevin

 

[zzman]

To get the most mpg possible for me, I do not use the cruise control but a steady pedal position works best on the highway. It seems my cruise control likes to overfuel when climbing over an overpass or slight hill. A steady foot position will lose very little speed but will not waste any fuel. A practice I use when I have just enough fuel to get where I'm going.

 

[Edgemann55]

I've had the Jr for over a year now and like others it gets me 17-18mpg combined and as high as 22mpg running 70 on the freway all hand calculated. My overhead runs about 3 mpg above hand reads. These are all on the #3 performance settings and I have never updated the Smarty Jr as I have been happy with how it has performed. I never really had any big smoke problems like others had. Only bellows if I get on it hard. Plus the big + to me is how low the EGT's run. Even on a steep grade hard run she peaks at 1100. Before Smarty I could hit 1400 easy.

 

[S.Morris]

SMjr mileage figures _________Moved this from int post. Mileage is in imp mpg.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Been meaning to post up this info for a while now and finally found the mileage sheet at same time as at the computer



These figures are for a trip from Ottawa Ont to Zephryr Hills Florida and return. Truck is 04 4x4 DRW 6spd/5600 with 3. 73 gears and stock tires, carrying a full faired motorcycle etc. in box (approx 1000bs). Back seat area packed to the roof.



I made this exact trip one year ago (and a year before that in a CC Dakoto 2wd 4. 7 5spd man. carrying same bike)completely stock and will give some comparison a little later.



Trip down was over 2 days and blizzard cond in Penn. and very high winds the whole trip. SMjr set on Perf with POD at 70(slippery roads )TQ on 4,TM on 2(def). (1500miles+/-)

On 4 hand calc tanks down I got 18. 6,17. 4,19. 4,20. 9(imp. mpg)at avg speed of 115 kph. for an avg of 19. 1imp or +/-15. 9usmpg.



Over 3wks I put one tank(826km) through in Florida with tonneau cover on but all around driving , city/country/highway with POD on 100 but driven conservatively(except once on a damp road found out a dually can/will go sideways in 4th gear with a little to much throttle input)

On this tank I got a fantastic 22. 0imp/18. 5usmpg... ... .

It has been my experience that the manuals will do better in general all round driving than the auto's but less at highway speeds.



Return was also over two days, over same route. It was still VERY windy the whole way back. I got 16. 6,18. 4,19. 9,19. 8 to avg 18. 7impmpg/15. 6usmpg.



Things of note: I got 1. 6impmpg more than same trip stock last year(down)(put MBRP turbo back on in Florida).

:I got 1. 5 imp mpg less than same return trip last year

:I have proven that driving 75mph instead of 68mph will cost me a consistant 2 US mpg or 10%



Two years ago did trip in 2001 Dakota CC 2wd 4. 7 Man. with 3. 55 gears carrying same load. I got 19. 6 down and 19. 1 back imp mpg. (this same truck will run 24-26 imp mpg with tonneau and 115kph speed) As you can see the mileage is almost identical as dually... ... ... . loaded.

I can say Dakota was loaded too heavy and dually just enough to ride good



In my experience with the jr. I get my best mileage(towing 8-10llb bumper pull TT if I use the economy setting ... 14-16 imp mpg. @60mph. (I get 12. 5-13. 5 on tow no matter how I drive)(Have not towed on Perf).

I get best unladen mileage by approx 1mpg on perf(over stock)Econ is same as stock and tow is same or slightly worse.



Hope you can cipher out my preambleand trust this will answer some questions regarding smjr.



I run tq on 3 or 4 as it is too touchy on throttle especially towing in lower gears and also a little more forgiving to driveline .

 

[IdahoMan]

S. Morris,



Thanks for the info. I will post my latest run on #3. I just started another run on #1 (economy) where I lowered TM one and set Timing to max. So far my MPG (empty) with the SmartyJr, both those listed here and the latest, have been below or barely the same as stock, all conditions being very close to the same.



Kevin



Note: Just did some imp to usgal conversion and I did not come up with the same results as you. I found the usmpg to be higher than the imp mpg after converting. For example, 19. 1 imp = ~22. 9 us gal. Maybe I am missing something in your calcs.

 

[S.Morris]

Kevin



My calcs are roughly based on 20%. The US gal is 3. 785 litres. The IMP gal is 4. 546 Litres.



If you take a USMPG figure and multiply it by 1. 20 you will be real close on imp mpg.



The overheads in our trucks read mpg in usmpg . The litres/100km is Canadian(I still like the mpg... ... metric I have to convert..... )



So litres divided by 4. 546= imp fuel quantity.

litres divided by 3. 785= us fuel quantity.

100km =62. 1 miles.



Best I have ever gotten with my truck was 22usmpg ... . 60mph< highway all stock.



Steve

 

[IdahoMan]

Thanks, I found the error in the way I was looking at MPG instead of gal alone.



Kevin

Kevin



My calcs are roughly based on 20%. The US gal is 3. 785 litres. The IMP gal is 4. 546 Litres.



If you take a USMPG figure and multiply it by 1. 20 you will be real close on imp mpg.



The overheads in our trucks read mpg in usmpg . The litres/100km is Canadian(I still like the mpg... ... metric I have to convert..... )



So litres divided by 4. 546= imp fuel quantity.

litres divided by 3. 785= us fuel quantity.

100km =62. 1 miles.



Best I have ever gotten with my truck was 22usmpg ... . 60mph< highway all stock.



Steve

 

[IdahoMan]

Update May-2010

Recap of and updates to Post #1



Notes: These were local driving in a rural area with some city, some open country road, and a little freeway and occurred Jan-Apr '10.

The rest of the Smarty Jr settings (Injection Timing and Torque Management) were left to default unless noted. Listed in order of testing.



Baseline MPG w/o SmartyJr (in this environment): between 15. 6 and 16. 0 on average



Smarty Jr Settings and Mileage (Parameters listed if different than default)



#1 Economy

750 miles - 14. 9 mpg

750 miles - 15. 3 mpg



#2 Tow

465 miles - 15. 3 mpg (POD=75)



#3 Performance

670 miles - 15. 7 mpg (POD=75)

756 miles - 15. 35 mpg



Some observations: No improvement seen over stock. Only one setting was within the range of average stock MPG. Most were worse.

Power is smooth and very noticable. #3 Performance with TQ at default is too sensitive to throttle input.



Current testing: #1 Economy, TQ=3 (reduced), TM=4 (increased)



(TQ= Torque management & TM= Injection timing)



Kevin

 

[RMachida]

Thank you Kevin for going through these tests. I have just been running at SW=3, TM=4, and TQ=default, POD=75 and have been satisfied with a very modest mileage increase while increasing available power. The only thing I would like to see is a bit less smoke when initially accelerating from a stop. Maybe I need to play around with the torque management setting. It does require a lot of care to watch your right foot to get decent mileage but it was the same before when stock.



I'm glad you are willing to methodically go through a lot of the settings and posting your results.

 

[IdahoMan]

RMachida,



I have found the settings I have tried to be relatively smoke free with normal driving. If I step on it I will get some gray smoke but nothing extreme nor black. I have used the default TM and TQ setting up till my current test. I am anxious to see if the timing makes a difference. (Though changing both TM and TQ in my current run is going to make that difficult to determine. May reset the TQ to default so TM effect can be determined)



Kevin

 

[AABEN]

I made a 6 months trip to TX this winter and got 15. 2 going down and 14. 1 on the way home. My total weight is jest over 23. 000. Most of my road speed was at 62 63 so I thank that was good for a 6 months

 

[IdahoMan]

AABEN,



What were your SmartyJr settings?



Kevin