Pimp My Moving Van, BITOG-style, CA-TX

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Solo2driver

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Hey guys! The family and I are packing up and moving from San Diego CA to Houston, TX in about 2 weeks. With gas in our area going up 10 cents in less than 8 hours today, it got me thinking...purely unscientifically and sans calculator, that if I spend a couple of dollars at my expense, I *might* be able to eek out a tad more precious MPG's out of the moving van on this trip.

For the numbers guys, it will be roughly 1500 miles one-way. If the moving truck gets 7mpg, then that will be about 215 gal of fuel, or $950.00

If it gets 8mpg, then that's 188 gallons of fuel, or $825.00

If it gets 9mpg, then that's 166 gallons of fuel, or $733.00

Other than driving really slowly, drafting semi trucks, and running full air pressure in the tires, what can we do to help increase some mpg's, even if it's only half a point? Even though it's a rental, I am not against asking the company to give me a truck with fresh service/filters/etc...but I do think that I am above running without an air filter or a quart low, so don't ask :)

Oil additives (Valvoline Synthetic Oil Booster, etc.), AutoRX, changing to a thinner weight, lots of fuel system cleaners, higher/lower octanes, lighter differential fluid, etc?

Seeing that a bit better fuel mileage might be as much as $200 in fuel savings, I am open to ideas...let's get rolling! We're leaving in two weeks!
 
Quote:
The family and I are packing up and moving from San Diego CA to Houston,


It won't help. Many of our members attempted to escape from California by going to Texas. The same issues followed them.

Sorry, but you're now a permanent carrier of the condition.
frown.gif
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Drive slower when you can't draft. Drafters get no love ..but they may give you a pass due to size. You too can exercise "right of weight". It may count for something
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I have been experimenting with trying to get better fuel economy and am finding being smooth and gentle with the accelerator helps.....I like the statement I read here a few years ago "I drive as though there is an egg between my foot and the accelerator. Imagine the egg between your foot and the brake pedal too. Minimizing braking minimizes energy losses. Avoiding traffic seems really helpful in either respect.

What about driving at night or really early in the morning to avoid traffic (also avoiding heat, air conditioning, and starts and stops)?
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
...What about driving at night or really early in the morning to avoid traffic (also avoiding heat, air conditioning, and starts and stops)?

That should be worth some MPG's if it's feasible for you to do so.

Max psi in the tires would help, and you might want to consider adding those pizza trays from Wal-Mart (probably need a larger size though) as seen in the Hypermiling/aero mods thread.
 
Not your van? rental?

remove air filter...
aero mods...

Valvoline Synthetic Oil Booster? VSOT (oil treatment)? I have seen it in awhile...

check atf. swap a gallon if it's black or shifts [censored]
change oil to 5W20 syn?

drive at night...

steal seth's gearvendor...
 
All you need is a couple MPG so I'd suggest doing the basics only - pump up the tires, slow down, remove the air filter, change to a low vis oil like 5-20, plot a route away from mountain passes and congested cities. That'll do the trick.
 
Originally Posted By: gtx510
Not your van? rental?

remove air filter...
aero mods...

Valvoline Synthetic Oil Booster? VSOT (oil treatment)? I have seen it in awhile...

check atf. swap a gallon if it's black or shifts [censored]
change oil to 5W20 syn?

drive at night...

steal seth's gearvendor...


Sounds about right, but Seth probably wouldn't like it, and I'm pretty sure he would win in a fight :)


We found two better jobs in TX, paid private school tuition for my daughter, and move closer to my wife's family...even if cost of living stays the same, we still come out ahead. While our moving costs are going to be reimbursed, it's still the initial output of funds that is going to be challenging, and it's a church that is paying for it (wife is a teacher for a church-school) so I would rather not "waste" their money that could be going other places.

I did not think about changing the ATF, what is the reasoning...cooler temps, or better lockup for more efficiency? Why not just add a friction modifier (LubeGuard, etc.)?
 
Removeing the air filter will not do a thing unless it is in need of changing...bad advice ,20 wt never get the difference back in mpgs .VSOT makes sense, go to 5w-20 then add VSOT to thicken the oil back up!Change atf yeah right if the oil is so bad and draining half will help do an experiment ,get a full bucket of muddy water well stirred drain half then add water to bring the water level up to full .The result will be a bucket of not as muddy water. Gear vender will only work if the van is under geared "revs too high" or is lightly loaded.
 
Just don't let him grapple you, the guy couldn't stand 2 minutes of huffing and puffing without having a corinary. anyhow...

I forget to mention Lube Control FP60 or FP+. http://www.lcdinc.com

Feel like checking the plugs? I'd figure that they are platinum and have 100k intervals, but 60k is more realistic.

ATF thickens when it gets old/burnt? I was helping a guy retrieve a GTX in norcal and the truck was roasting ATF on the way up, before any towing. We ended up having to slurp out a gallon of ATF in a parking lot. Check it to avoid that....
A gallon of ATF is cheap and easy to change with a siphon (vacuum) pump. Changing 1/3 the fluid is still better than nothing...
I've never used the Lubegard stuff but that might be worth a try?

I haven't seen VSOT around here in about a year... Moly would be good, but iirc, higher zinc levels decreases mpg's.
Using a low HTHS oil might help w/ mpg's? read the posts on Joes Gibbs oil.

Stevie, are you saying an clean air filter doesn't present a restriction? So freer flowing filters like K&N don't add power? Wow, I guess all those dyno tests are lying...
 
We rented a 24 ft and 18 ft U-haul for moving my sister from Utah to MT.

The 24ft got 4 mpg and the 18ft got 7 mpg. Both on expensive diesel fuel.

I drove the 24ft and know how to drive so that was the best MPG it would have gotten. The oil looked clean and fresh, air filters on both were semi-new.

The 18 ft ford chassis died in Dillon MT and required 2 days to fix it. U-Haul paid for 2 hotel rooms, both trucks so all we had to pay for was the fuel and food for the whole move.

I'd check the airfilter (and if its dirty have them change it) oil and tires.

Drive slowly and easy. Night / early am is a great idea.

Be safe.

Bill

PS: TX has no state income taxes, so you made another 7-8% over Kalifornia.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
We rented a 24 ft and 18 ft U-haul for moving my sister from Utah to MT.

The 24ft got 4 mpg and the 18ft got 7 mpg. Both on expensive diesel fuel.

I drove the 24ft and know how to drive so that was the best MPG it would have gotten. The oil looked clean and fresh, air filters on both were semi-new.

The 18 ft ford chassis died in Dillon MT and required 2 days to fix it. U-Haul paid for 2 hotel rooms, both trucks so all we had to pay for was the fuel and food for the whole move.

I'd check the airfilter (and if its dirty have them change it) oil and tires.

Drive slowly and easy. Night / early am is a great idea.

Be safe.

Bill

PS: TX has no state income taxes, so you made another 7-8% over Kalifornia.


Thanks Bill, those numbers feel more accurate than my estimates...we will have a small truck, we are simple folk with not much "stuff".

re: taxes, we don't make enough to really be affected...good or bad, I am not sure :)
 
I say air the tires up, travel with light traffic, egg under the gas and slow down.

I lived in San Diego for two years. I can't take the heat anymore now that I am older. My brother and I were born in Hawaii with the heat and all. But we never went to the mainland until I was 10 years old. So we never knew anything but hotter weather. I just can't take the heat now that I am in my middle age.

I think it is pretty nice place to be in the winter though. Good luck on the move!
 
My wife and I recently moved from Wisconsin to the Portland, Oregon area. Total trip length was ~1600 miles. We rented from Penske as they were the only ones who would guarantee a vehicle on the day we wanted it. We rented a 16' van powered by a GMC 6.0 gasser. It was fairly new and everything on it looked well kept up. We by no means filled up the back but we had to rent the 16' van since we wanted to tow our car behind the van.

Overall we averaged 10 mpg. I was quite happy with that. The van handled as well as one expects but I was quite surprised with the two dolly. I know I had it up to 75 several times on the freeway and there was no sign of fishtailing or other erratic behavior from the car and dolly.

Clark
 
Only way I`ve found that I get noticeable better highway mileage is to simply cruise at a slower speed. If I set the cruise control at a steady 65mph,it makes a big difference in my hwy mileage when on extended drives even over going just 70-75mph,although it`s very hard for me not to put my foot in it on a long open deserted highway!

Welcome to Texas!
 
Take a couple of sections of corugated plastic, and bend them from the edges of the van box to the cab so the whole works is more bullet shaped.

It'd be about the only way to gain..
 
Just to update, we went 1600 miles. Probably fully over-loaded, the truck had nearly zero air space, filled all the way to the roof and no wasted areas. Trailer weighed 1950lbs + 2450lbs car + about 300lbs of interior junk.

Our best tank was 12.65mpg, worst was 9.89mpg. This was the Penske 16' gasoline truck. Very very dirty air filter (that I shook the loose stuff off each day), lots of high crosswinds and bad weather for about 400 miles through West Texas. I tried to keep it between 55mph and 65mph the whole way.

OTOH, my wife was following me in the Saab and only got 30.5mpg combined. It was very hot in Arizona, had to switch to Premium as she was getting some pinging/flashing CEL even at lower boost levels. The Power Steering pump failed right as we got into town (replaced by a good Euro shop thankfully), and then the battery died and had a bad cell, replaced by Interstate under warranty.

Other than that, pretty uneventful trip. We are now TX residents (well not officially, need to do the paperwork)!
 
Glad you made it safely. What part of the Houston area are you going to be living in and working in?

Cost of living in Texas is a lot cheaper than living in California.
 
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