I have a 1991 Suzuki DC51T carb. type, not EFI, 2 wheel drive 4 speed with A/C. Filled up yesterday for the first time and only got 25 MPG. I was very upset. I've had a 100# weight in the back for better traction and I've run the A/C about half the time. I was hoping for at least 40MPG. Chunked the weight when I got home and will not turn on A/C this tank of gas. Is 40 MPG going to be possible with this truck? I bought the 2wd hoping it would get better than the 4wd's, but now I'm starting to think "For Sale" sign in the window. Sorry, I did a more detailed search after posting and found that we all have been lied to about the 45-50MPG. Sorry.
JFoshee, I don't know how fuel efficiency was expressed to you so I can't speculate about that, but here (in the Philippines), it's typically expressed as km/liter.....my dealer told me I'd get around 12-15 km/liter. But, of course all the engines here are completely rebuilt during the process. I'm your typical American thinking in MPG so I didn't have a clue what he meant. I acted like I knew what he was talking about. I got home and brought up a conversion program online. I mistakenly converted km/liter into km/gallon (US) and found I'd be getting around 50km/gallon. Wow, I thought...what a bonus. It wasn't until I took delivery of my project and started testing mpg that I found out I was converting the wrong things into the wrong things. I found I'd get almost 13km/liter. Well, 13km/liter DOES equal almost 50km/gallon, but I totally spaced on the km v.s. miles thing. 1 km/liter = 2.82 mpg so I'm really getting around 30mpg. I'd really expect you to get at least 30mpg though, especially with 2wd. I can't turn off my 4wd (another snafu in my build process).
Fuel economy is erratic. The vehicles are old and used. Ours almost always get better with use. Some guys are saying 50MPG. I have never ever seen anything that high personally. I usually get high 30's right close to 40. But, this is under 80KMH. Faster speeds lower economy in my experiences. Also, make sure you are driving properly. These small engines NEED to rev. Lugging them will be hard on fuel. You should be in 3rd at 60kmh then shift to 4th. If you are cruising at 60kmh, then you can shift to 4th. Alignment, tire pressure, unbalanced tires, wheel bearings, sticky brakes, incorrect carb settings amongst many other things can cause poor fuel economy. What kind of tires are you running? Oversized tires will throw your calculations way out, as well as can be harder on fuel. I see you got an air filter. You may wish to check your fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor as well.
Agreed. Good advice. My 'lower' fuel economy are the result of at least 3 different things. I chose a/t so my Filipina wife could learn how to drive - she hasn't. Well....I don't have the patience, bravado, nor the intestinal fortitude to continue teaching her. Second, I didn't know Suzuki had a full time 4wd so didn't think to exclude it. I'm now stuck with it temporarily. Additionally, since they're 'converts' here to LHD and the front suspension is 'built' rather than modified, I've since noticed my front alignment is way outta whack. No sophisticated alignment machinery here so it's merely eyeball adjustments on toe-in, camber, etc. As a result, the right front tire wears considerably faster than anything else. With proper diagnostic equipment in MS and a stock ride, you can have all things adjusted correctly. Most can be done yourself and there's no reason why you can't get 30+ or even 40+ out of your mini. MiniBrutes advice is sound.
Hi J, mini is right.......you can expect up to 40 miles per gallon...but not much more...depends how fast you drive and the tires...I have the same truck...with an aluminum rack for carring glass....on the bright side....you get more milage than an 8 cylinder suv....be sure to fill up with premium gas or at least put in octane boost.....clean oil,fresh air filter and a good tune up all help......I'm reminded about the story of this guy who bought a vw bug when they were first brought over...he was brag'n about the great milage he was getting to the point that his co-workers would add a little gas in his tank when he was not looking....he got bolder with his brag'n...then they would remove some gas when he wasn't looking and his brag'n stopped...he then brought it back to the dealer to complain that it wasn't working properly....lol good luck with your milage....glenn
In Manila, i can only do 10-12km/l or 30mpg on purely city driving most of the time bumper to bumper traffic with aircondition on most of the time. Personally i think that these little vehicles should be well tuned, i always inspect my plugs and set the correct engine timing and idle speed to make its fuel efficient. While on highway driving i get around 16km/l or 40mpg. Regarding the wheel alignment on these trucks, i disagree with craktskull that there is no sophisticated equipment to align the tires and he just uses eyeball adjustments in cebu, maybe you have not gone to the right place for these services or maybe the unit that you bought has a conversion (modification, Built) problem which maybe fixed with the correct original parts. My kei truck in manila is very well aligned and all tire wears are even.
Quite a lot of reputable shops in Cebu City with digital wheel alignment diagnostic systems. I just had mine aligned at a Servitek shop aligned for just 600 pesos (US$13.00). After a a tune-up and change of plugs, my mileage now improved to 13km/l city and 18km/l highway using Shell 93 octane Unleaded.
Both Aldee and Kargador are correct about the equipment here. I should have clarified my position a little clearer, but didn't think it applied to someone out of Mississippi. My front end WAS built out of parts we selected out of a pile. After all the other modifications were done (some VERY questionable) I couldn't get anyone with a high end diagnostic machine to even attempt it. I'll even post a pic in the next few days to show it. My front end was bottoming out and caused a lot of rubbing on the front wheel wells, particularly the body panels that were created. The shop refinished the body areas and attempted to recreate the original ride height by replacing the front coil spacers. It didn't help. Instead of redoing the entire front end with new parts, they came up with a solution. Before I'm brow beat with this explanation, let me just say there were some economical as well as timing issues I had to deal with so I agreed to what they proposed. Their idea was to create "mini" springs between the upper and lower arms. They took a surplus spring and cut it in half, sandwiched each half between mounting cups and welded between the arms. It fixed the bottoming out problem but I can't get aligned correctly now. Yes, I would always cut out the extra springs and go with completely new front suspension parts but it's not worth it for me just yet. The tires are cheap and a lot less expensive than the new suspension parts. Maybe after a few more tires....lol This is NOT a fault of any service center here, but merely my own fault. I chose to sacrifice an abnormal wear pattern on my tires to solve the suspension issue. I did also obtain 18km/l while travelling south to Boto. Around town is around 13-14. However, like I said......in Mississippi, that shouldn't be an issue. My regards to Aldee and Kargador for setting me straight.
i have a 99 daihatsu with EFI and dual overhead cams and a 5 speed and i rev the crap out of it. i have only run one full tank of gas through it so far, but i have to admit i smile when it's time to fill up lately. with fuel prices being about $3.75 a gallon driving my big dodge quad cab and getting 14mpg was getting ridiculous. i have been running about 110-115kmh (70mph) on the fwy with the a/c running and getting 38mpg i think it was. i have no complaints at all about that. sure they tell you 50 mpg when you go to buy one, but the dodge dealer told me i would be getting 18/22 city hiway in my dodge. it's more like 14/19. the only cool thing about the dodge is that i've got the computer in it that monitors your mpg, i found that cruising 67mph will actually get you 22mpg and that at 80mph it's only getting about 14mpg. it helps me keep my foot off the throttle when i can see how much i'm wasting trying to pass someone. and when my lead-footed wife drives it, i tend to only get about 9/11mpg she loves the power compared to her hyundai tucson 4cylinder.
My fuel gauge doesn't work but I added gas when I got the Hijet three months ago. This week I added some more. But I drive only a few miles per week out in the country. Sam
sam, your fuel gauge doesn't have to work to figure it out, just your odometer. i just count how many km i get when i get to the pump and devide that by how many gallons i put in. but it only works when you fill up completely each time. KM x .62 / gallons = MPG
Fuel Mi;age Alignment, tire pressure, unbalanced tires, wheel bearings, sticky brakes, incorrect carb settings amongst many other things can cause poor fuel economy. What kind of tires are you running? Oversized tires will throw your calculations way out, as well as can be harder on fuel. I see you got an air filter. You may wish to check your fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor as well.[/QUOTE] I have not had the alignment checked, but believe it to be O.K. Tire psi and balance should be O.K because I just had them mounted and balanced. I've had three of four hubs off and bearings and brakes are O.K. Fuel filters are O.K,one new the other clean. This leaves the carb. This is an area of concern. I would like to adjust it to the correct specs, but am in question as to what is right and exactly how to get it there. I 've just recieved my service manual from James Danko (good job, for the most part) and the section on adjusting the carb is a little vague. The book states to set timing to 7 BTDC RPM 950(+-)50, run engine to 2500 RPM check CO2 Level CO(%) 1.5(+-) 0.5. It shows where to adjust the carb and shows a special tool, it even gives a Suzuki part number for the tool. But I don't have anyway to check the co2 level coming from the tailpipe. I do have 13" wheels and tires, I forgot the tire size, but could get it, I usually run between 80-90 km. This is between 56 and 64 MPH according to a quality GPS. I try not to lug the motor, but won't say never. Is there a way to take the tire size of the 13" and get closer to the actual miles I'm running on a tank? The last tank ran 194 miles. (This was with the weight.)
Fuel mileage JFoshee, I think you are probably getting better fuel mileage than you think. According to your post you say you normally drive 80-90 kph, and you also say according to ur trusty gps you are going 56-64 mph. Well math says 56-64 mph is in fact 90-104 kph. Which means you are in fact going faster and traveling further than ur speedo/odometer is actually showing. Meaning when you convert your kilometers to miles you are coming up with less total distance traveled. This would show you are getting less fuel mileage. Hope I didn't confuse just trying to help..........later, slim.
Slimbad, You are correct. After some quick calculating I figuired I'm getting 30-35 MPG. The equation I used is for example: 12" tires 100/kmh = 60/mph-13" wheels 85/kmh = 60/mph so for every 100 km the odometer shows I add 15km. Odometer shows 400 km between fillups add 15 to every 100km(or multiply by .15) gives me 460 actual km. Convert to miles and divide by gallons it takes to fill up. I know this sounds complex, but I'm no mathmatcian and I figured it out. I will agree that the least little bit of load on the change on the engine will affect your milage. Hauling, running the A/C, or even carrying a passenger
Instead of having the 21 inch tires which come with the truck, I have 25 inch tires. Does that make the odometer inaccurate? I suspect that the speedometer is way off but I don't know by how much. Sam
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html convert your tire size here and you will get an accurate percentage of how far you are off on you speed.. with a larger tire you get more "roll out". that is to say one rotation of the tire gets you further and the larger the tire teh further off your speedo will be. it will also keep you out of hot water with the local authorities when you know how far off your speedo is
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html sam, use the calculator above and it will give you a good percentage to straighten out what you MPG is... KM x .62 x (size differential) / gallons = real MPG 400km x .62 x 1.24 (25" tire is 24% larger than stock so use 1.24) / 8 gallons = 38.44 MPG
LGC, I have been estimating my miles as .75 of the kilometers. So when the speedometer reads 40kph, I assume I am going about 30mph. I was always weak in math; I am a words person (despite evidence to the contrary), not numbers. Sam
Yeah, 25 is pretty close on the highway. Anyone who tells you they are getting 50 is running downhill at 75kmh with a tail wind. (Or, is full of BS, Or missed that day in math class. ) These trucks are optimized for city use. Although they will run at highway speeds, you are working it in a manner that will eat a lot more fuel.
On the first tank full my 92 Carry made 43 niles per imperial gallon. This was city diving. According to my GPS the average speed was 45 KPH.
ya should have figured it was city driving. on highway foot-to-floor it dose 100km. no way it can be getting good mileage wound up.
