VSOT - HUGE mileage increase?

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I added a 1/2 bottle of Synpower oil treatment to my Dad's 98 4.3L Blazer and brought the cold tire pressure from 30 back to the speced 32 psi. He drove from CO Spgs to Denver and back and got over 30 mpg
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Truck has 180,000 miles worth of pretty hard driving.
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Sometimes I get concerned that something is broke on the truck BECAUSE it has always gotten unheard of gas mileage!
 
I got the same engine in my Blazer and according to my scangauge I'm getting around 23MPG. How can you tell you got 30MPG.
 
Some engines do get better milage than others just like them. I had a 1978 Toyota pickup that would get 42mpg.

When I was driving semi trucks most trucks would get 5.5-5.8 mpg. One truck in particular would get 6.3-6.5 no matter who drove it.

All trucks had the same drivetrain.
 
quote:

I got the same engine in my Blazer and according to my scangauge I'm getting around 23MPG. How can you tell you got 30MPG.

Via the trip computer. Normally it gets around 22-23 mpg all highway. All I did was add the 1/2 bottle of SPOT, 1 oz of LC, and topped of the tires. I've never seen a mileage increase that high from adding ait to the tires, and they weren't really that low!
 
I have seen VSOT give mileage increases on older cars via sticky rings being loosened.

I have seen very little (read near zero) mileage difference going from 30 PSI to 32 PSI.
 
Was this over a single fill up? If so what were the ones before and after this one. Some times the air bubble in the tank throw things off.

But I do believe some single examples of a make and model do get much better mpg. I had a 82 Honda Civic like that; wish I still had it. Someone ought to figure why and make all of them like that. Must have something to do with balance of the power being made.
 
"Someone ought to figure why and make all of them like that."


Its all in the tolerances of the engine. The deck hieght of the cylinder block would be one of the biggest variables to this. 30 years ago if the deck hieght was +or- 0.020" you were doing good. I have seen some engines +0.040" on one side of the block, and -0.005" on the other side. Today they are getting that spec down to 0.005" give or take.
 
The problem is depending on the trip computer.

Calculate the mpg the old-fashioned way and see what that give you!
 
Trip computers are notoriously wrong. I did have one on a C5 once and it was fun to watch it go to 99 on instantaneous mode when exiting on a downhill off ramp from the highway though.
 
When you're filling your tank, if your gas has a lot of air bubbles in it when the pump shuts off, and you don't top off, then you'll have a little less gas in the tank than you think you do. When you fill up next time, it will look like you used more gas than you actually did, and your mileage will look worse. Its not by much, but its there.
 
Don't most trip computers calculate fuel used directly from the ECM?

Fuel added to the tank to return it to 'full' only matters for manual calculations...and even they will average out over time.
 
Hi

I drive the same route everyday, with the weather as the only major varience. Even the times of mileage is roughly equal..i.e. same time of day..etc.

I use the same gas station, and almost always the same pump. Tires have been inflated to 36psi since "week 1" and checked several times a week first thing in morning before car moves.

week 1....1066 miles....27.28mpg..... fresh M1 10w-30, Full bottle VSOT
week 2.....618 miles....28.06mpg
week 3.....720 miles....26.61mpg
week 4.....678 miles....27.15mpg
week 5.....752 miles....25.47mpg
week 6.....858 miles....24.34mpg
week 7.....735 miles....24.65mpg
week 8.....722 miles....26.58mpg......fresh M7500 5w-30, 5oz VSOT
week 9.....762 miles....26.99mpg


Week 9 begins 2x dose of FP60. FC20 has been the standard treatment since M1 was first used.

L36 3800 V6
L26 UIM w/ TB adapter
 
I don't know about you guys, but the back of the VSOT container talks about the engine benefits... not the gas tank pros & cons.

This stuff help keeps a new engine looking/driving/acting new. That's all I care about. I use it constantly & it has not affected my MPG plus/minus-1 since day-1.
 
Hi

I can keep my 3800 looking and driving just fine with GC / M1 among other choices, but potential "reports" on fuel economy some months ago drew me to VSOT.

I cant say if VSOT helps mpg much if at all at FC20 doses, but economy sure fell badly after 3000 miles on a fill of M1 10w-30 and full bottle of VSOT.

However, it went back up immediately after a fresh fill of M7500 5w-30. I doubt the viscosity difference of 5w and 10w made any affect.
 
FuelEconomy.gov rates that vehicle at 16/20 for 4WD, 17/23 for 2WD. So you claim to be getting 8-10MPG over that with just tire pressure and an oil additive? Me thinks not...
 
"but economy sure fell badly after 3000 miles on a fill of M1 10w-30 and full bottle of VSOT."


I think I might have seen this too, mileage going down more towards the end of the run of VSOT. Its hard to say really.
 
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