Turbo Upgrade - Help or Hurt Mileage?

[ProMac1K]

Just got a wake up call here this weekend when I realized that my tank is a 36 gallon and not a 24 gallon like I was thinking, and then calculated mileage, from driving her darn easy. Their goes my previous 20mpg estimations, here comes a number darn close to the single digits.



So, does a turbo upgrade harm or help fuel mileage? Being either an upgrade single or twins? If either, which would be the right way to go? Don't want to have to retire the truck to just winter duty. Also don't want to have to cut off power potential by detuning the pump.



Any opinions?

 

[Nyoest]

How does the tank size affect the computation of fuel mileage?

 

[ProMac1K]

This is just the way that I was calculating it. If you get say for an example, 400 miles to a tank, then you put in 36 gal at the fillup, that equates to 11 mpg. If you get 400 miles on a 24 gallon tank, put in 24 gallons on a fillup, that equates to 16 mpg. You would be getting more mpg and doing a lot better if you had a 24 gallon tank in that situation. Sound right? Tank size alone doesn't affect mileage, the gallons that you use affect mileage. If you get 400 miles to a 24 gallon tank, you would be doing better than with a 36 gallon tank.

 

[Mike B.]

umm. What if you had a 36 gallon fuel tank but at 400 miles you could only put 24 gallons of fuel in it.



no, a turbo alone will not help you

 

[Rman]

It takes fuel to spin a turbo. More air, more fuel. Seems counter productive. However, efficiency improves. So I think it can show improvement, When driven properly. Especially when loaded. You really need to change your method of fuel calculation as well. Look at the number of gallons you pump in, and then look at the number of miles you ran on the odo. Fuel tank size has nothing to do with it.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

This is just the way that I was calculating it. If you get say for an example, 400 miles to a tank, then you put in 36 gal at the fillup, that equates to 11 mpg. If you get 400 miles on a 24 gallon tank, put in 24 gallons on a fillup, that equates to 16 mpg. You would be getting more mpg and doing a lot better if you had a 24 gallon tank in that situation. Sound right? Tank size alone doesn't affect mileage, the gallons that you use affect mileage. If you get 400 miles to a 24 gallon tank, you would be doing better than with a 36 gallon tank.

I'm not quite sure I follow your process here. Most people use actual miles driven and actual gallons required to fill up to calculate mileage. You are using estimated miles per tank and tank capacity?



Jeff

 

[PAllyn]

If you were going the speed of light and turned on your headlights would they work?

If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it does it still make noise?

 

[Hohn]

A larger turbo often helps MPG if driven gently, because it tends to be a lot less restrictive to the exhaust-- which reduces pumping losses considerably.

jh

 

[Big MAK]

If you were going the speed of light and turned on your headlights would they work?

No

If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it does it still make noise?

Yes





. . and fuel mileage is best calculated with mileage driven and gallons put into tank.

 

[Diesel Freak]

lol



it's all relative!!!

 

[ProMac1K]

Yes, and i'm only using the amount that the tank holds because I indeed did run the tank "DRY". Hopefully that helps. I actually put in 35. 8 gallons in the tank, and had 450 miles on the tripometer. Truck shut off on the side of the road. Thought that the filter clogged or the lift pump died. Gauge showed 1/2 tank. Brought it home, stuck a new filter in, couldn't get the darn thing primed, threw about 5 gallons in the tank, got her bled out, problem fixed.



Well, it's either a new ATV, or some work to this engine. Having trouble locating the ATV that I want, as it's a special edition model, so i'm curious what I can do to the engine to get economy up there. Or is their such a thing?

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Are you running factory size tires?



Jeff

 

[ProMac1K]

235/85/16's

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Thought I'd ask. Sometimes the little things slip our minds. At least mine anyway! :-laf



Jeff

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

If you were going the speed of light and turned on your headlights would they work?

Heh. . . incase you're really wondering, the answer is YES



Should you ever get your Cummins to go that fast and you turn on your headlights, the light photons from your headlights will still travel away from you at the speed of light. So, that means if someone is standing still watching you come at them, the light from the headlights hits them at twice the speed of light right? Nope, nothng goes faster than light. . . it hits them at the speed of light. What gives? The time frame (rate of time passage) is much different between the two guys (known as time dilation). The faster you travel the greater the change in your time frame relative to someone standing still. There is a formula to calculate it. It increases on an exponential scale as I recall, traveling half the speed of light doesn't equate to a real large time shift. If you could travel super fast then came back to earth, more time has passed for those on the ground than for you.



OK, sorry for the thread hijack



EDIT: found the formula incase anyone cares :-laf http://members.tripod.com/wmhxbigguy/Theory/time.html

 

[JasonBrown]

Heh. . . incase you're really wondering, the answer is YES



Should you ever get your Cummins to go that fast and you turn on your headlights, the light photons from your headlights will still travel away from you at the speed of light. So, that means if someone is standing still watching you come at them, the light from the headlights hits them at twice the speed of light right? Nope, nothng goes faster than light. . . it hits them at the speed of light. What gives? The time frame (rate of time passage) is much different between the two guys (known as time dilation). The faster you travel the greater the change in your time frame relative to someone standing still. There is a formula to calculate it. It increases on an exponential scale as I recall, traveling half the speed of light doesn't equate to a real large time shift. If you could travel super fast then came back to earth, more time has passed for those on the ground than for you.



OK, sorry for the thread hijack



EDIT: found the formula incase anyone cares :-laf http://members.tripod.com/wmhxbigguy/Theory/time.html

Man, you put way too much thought into that.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Sorry . . .

 

[ProMac1K]

Back onto the subject please. Hey, i'm even accepting opinionated answers.