Andyinchville1
Veteran Member
Hi all,
Just thought I'd post some information up here in the hopes of getting constructive constructive input on how to get a few more mpgs to reach the elusive 60 mpg at 60 mph ....
My base car is a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI wagon with 5 speed with approximately 211000 miles on it when I got it.
The previous owner had pretty much run the car exclusively commercially produced biodiesel and seemingly took really good care of it for as many miles as it had.
For me , in stock, form I typically got mpgs in the high 40s...
Over the time I had the car I did basically very little to it unless things wore out or broke and then I would replace things with better than normal parts with a slant towards hopefully helping miles per gallon...
One of the first mods I did was replacing the steelies and p195 65 R15 tires with Avis rims and P 205 70 R15 ecopia tires ... the thought here was to use lighter Wheels to offset the heavier new tires and the reason for going with ecopias was because they were rated as a low rolling resistance tires and their larger-diameter effectively upped my gear ratio for fewer engine rpms at speed.
My next mod was a stage 1 tune with Dynamic EGR from Malone tuning ... this was a great addition because the power was increased significantly and the fuel mileage actually increased also.
As time went on ( around 315000 miles) my injector pump decided to go out on me so I replaced the pump with an 11 mm pump and upgraded to DLC 520 injectors at same time ... ( the pump was timed and Hammer modded also I was told one of the old injectors had started leaking a little bit so spray patterns probably weren't that good towards the end) ... at the same time I also had a high mileage timing belt kit installed along with new alternator one-way pulley , tensioner fir serp belt etc...).
This gave a noticeable boost in power and even further increased fuel mileage..
at around 316 k I had this is suspension refreshed and upgraded ( koni special active is all around, VR6 Springs, Audi A-Arms with TT bushings and , sway bar bushings ).
It was interesting to note that my fuel mileage actually went up just by upgrading the suspension ... my theory behind that is possibly the new alignment helped although there was really nothing wrong as far as I could tell with the old alignment ....
My other Theory as to why mileage increase after the suspension rework was because my car now sits more level ....I'm thinking maybe that had something to do aerodynamically to improve things because the car set with a forward rake prior to leveling it up ...
All my exterior lighting is Led for better light output and less power consumption.
All fluids are synthetic.
Tires are run at 44 psi which is Max on sidewall cold.
Lastly, and interestingly something that got me almost 2 extra mpgs was making plexiglass Grill blocks basically covering everything except the intercooler opening.
My theory on why the grill blocks helped so much was 3 fold...
1) better aero
2) faster warm up
3) I never heard just mentioned before but my other theory is by blocking off the radiator and not allowing it to cool as much the thermostat may stay open more there for less water pump losses ? ( I wonder if it takes less engine power to actually move water when the thermostat is open as opposed to having the engine try to turn a water pump against a closed thermostat?)
Anyways the net result of all that and running approximately 4 oz of power service and 4 oz of 2-stroke oil per fill up ( I typically fill up around 500 miles or about 1/2 tank per fuel gauge ( the fuel gauge is not necessarily 100% accurate because by the time I reach 1/2 on a fuel gauge it typically takes me about 9 gallons to fill back up) .... was 57 mpg driving 60 to 62 mph.
My last two trips from Harrison burg Virginia to Atlanta Georgia netted approximately 57 miles per gallon ...hand calculated.
no hypermiling mostly Highway ... speed 60 to 62 miles per hour.
My question is how much more will it take to get me three more miles per gallon so I can attained 60 miles per gall on at 60 to 62 mph?
Some thoughts I have are:
1) installing DLC 1019 nozzles because I heard a larger slug of fuel at the right time will actually net more MPGs
2) a larger downpipe and mandrel bent exhaust system .... wouldn't mind straight through but I don't want a lot of drone since I do spend hours at a time in the car.
3) I'm thinking about installing a wink type multi-panel mirror and doing essentially a side mirror delete although for legality reasons I would probably have very small 2-inch spot mirrors outside for inspection purposes
4) roof rack delete for better Aero.
5) it doesn't look super difficult and I wish I had a lift but thinking about a belly pan and smoothing the under car aerodynamics.
6) I've already purchased materials and I'm working on a kamm back for the car
7) I have pizza pan covers ready to be installed on the Avis Wheels but just debating about how to install those.
8) thinking about water mess injection but not a lot of information seemingly about fuel mileage increases ... everybody seems to mainly discuss additional power and or lowering egts for Towing .... I would be interested in more information about low boost fuel mileage.
9) I had thought about propane fumigation but that seemed to be more difficult and complex than simple water meth...
10) lightening the car May net small increases but I've already basically deleted out the back seat ( mainly for cargo volume but I had toyed with the idea of carbon fiber hood, smaller and or lighter battery, I even toyed with the idea of rear door deletes and simply fabbing up something lightweight and its place but I think that would be too hard core and give up the utility of easy access into the cargo area which unfortunately I can't do because most of my work is driving delivery).
11) thinking of adding a rear sway bar for better handling and maybe not having to slow down four corners as much? ... cons of the rear sway bar would be decreased aerodynamics because it hangs down in the undercarriage and the extra weight ... I suppose I could use an ID parts shine type sway bar but I'm wondering if that might be too stiff for the rear end I like the adjustability of some of the other bars I've looked into
So what are your thoughts on my proposed mods? are there any other things I should look into?
I'm trying to achieve the fuel mileage without necessarily resorting to hypermiling techniques because I have to get to destinations on time.
In advance for any and all help.
Andrew
Just thought I'd post some information up here in the hopes of getting constructive constructive input on how to get a few more mpgs to reach the elusive 60 mpg at 60 mph ....
My base car is a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI wagon with 5 speed with approximately 211000 miles on it when I got it.
The previous owner had pretty much run the car exclusively commercially produced biodiesel and seemingly took really good care of it for as many miles as it had.
For me , in stock, form I typically got mpgs in the high 40s...
Over the time I had the car I did basically very little to it unless things wore out or broke and then I would replace things with better than normal parts with a slant towards hopefully helping miles per gallon...
One of the first mods I did was replacing the steelies and p195 65 R15 tires with Avis rims and P 205 70 R15 ecopia tires ... the thought here was to use lighter Wheels to offset the heavier new tires and the reason for going with ecopias was because they were rated as a low rolling resistance tires and their larger-diameter effectively upped my gear ratio for fewer engine rpms at speed.
My next mod was a stage 1 tune with Dynamic EGR from Malone tuning ... this was a great addition because the power was increased significantly and the fuel mileage actually increased also.
As time went on ( around 315000 miles) my injector pump decided to go out on me so I replaced the pump with an 11 mm pump and upgraded to DLC 520 injectors at same time ... ( the pump was timed and Hammer modded also I was told one of the old injectors had started leaking a little bit so spray patterns probably weren't that good towards the end) ... at the same time I also had a high mileage timing belt kit installed along with new alternator one-way pulley , tensioner fir serp belt etc...).
This gave a noticeable boost in power and even further increased fuel mileage..
at around 316 k I had this is suspension refreshed and upgraded ( koni special active is all around, VR6 Springs, Audi A-Arms with TT bushings and , sway bar bushings ).
It was interesting to note that my fuel mileage actually went up just by upgrading the suspension ... my theory behind that is possibly the new alignment helped although there was really nothing wrong as far as I could tell with the old alignment ....
My other Theory as to why mileage increase after the suspension rework was because my car now sits more level ....I'm thinking maybe that had something to do aerodynamically to improve things because the car set with a forward rake prior to leveling it up ...
All my exterior lighting is Led for better light output and less power consumption.
All fluids are synthetic.
Tires are run at 44 psi which is Max on sidewall cold.
Lastly, and interestingly something that got me almost 2 extra mpgs was making plexiglass Grill blocks basically covering everything except the intercooler opening.
My theory on why the grill blocks helped so much was 3 fold...
1) better aero
2) faster warm up
3) I never heard just mentioned before but my other theory is by blocking off the radiator and not allowing it to cool as much the thermostat may stay open more there for less water pump losses ? ( I wonder if it takes less engine power to actually move water when the thermostat is open as opposed to having the engine try to turn a water pump against a closed thermostat?)
Anyways the net result of all that and running approximately 4 oz of power service and 4 oz of 2-stroke oil per fill up ( I typically fill up around 500 miles or about 1/2 tank per fuel gauge ( the fuel gauge is not necessarily 100% accurate because by the time I reach 1/2 on a fuel gauge it typically takes me about 9 gallons to fill back up) .... was 57 mpg driving 60 to 62 mph.
My last two trips from Harrison burg Virginia to Atlanta Georgia netted approximately 57 miles per gallon ...hand calculated.
no hypermiling mostly Highway ... speed 60 to 62 miles per hour.
My question is how much more will it take to get me three more miles per gallon so I can attained 60 miles per gall on at 60 to 62 mph?
Some thoughts I have are:
1) installing DLC 1019 nozzles because I heard a larger slug of fuel at the right time will actually net more MPGs
2) a larger downpipe and mandrel bent exhaust system .... wouldn't mind straight through but I don't want a lot of drone since I do spend hours at a time in the car.
3) I'm thinking about installing a wink type multi-panel mirror and doing essentially a side mirror delete although for legality reasons I would probably have very small 2-inch spot mirrors outside for inspection purposes
4) roof rack delete for better Aero.
5) it doesn't look super difficult and I wish I had a lift but thinking about a belly pan and smoothing the under car aerodynamics.
6) I've already purchased materials and I'm working on a kamm back for the car
7) I have pizza pan covers ready to be installed on the Avis Wheels but just debating about how to install those.
8) thinking about water mess injection but not a lot of information seemingly about fuel mileage increases ... everybody seems to mainly discuss additional power and or lowering egts for Towing .... I would be interested in more information about low boost fuel mileage.
9) I had thought about propane fumigation but that seemed to be more difficult and complex than simple water meth...
10) lightening the car May net small increases but I've already basically deleted out the back seat ( mainly for cargo volume but I had toyed with the idea of carbon fiber hood, smaller and or lighter battery, I even toyed with the idea of rear door deletes and simply fabbing up something lightweight and its place but I think that would be too hard core and give up the utility of easy access into the cargo area which unfortunately I can't do because most of my work is driving delivery).
11) thinking of adding a rear sway bar for better handling and maybe not having to slow down four corners as much? ... cons of the rear sway bar would be decreased aerodynamics because it hangs down in the undercarriage and the extra weight ... I suppose I could use an ID parts shine type sway bar but I'm wondering if that might be too stiff for the rear end I like the adjustability of some of the other bars I've looked into
So what are your thoughts on my proposed mods? are there any other things I should look into?
I'm trying to achieve the fuel mileage without necessarily resorting to hypermiling techniques because I have to get to destinations on time.
In advance for any and all help.
Andrew
Last edited:
