Gas mileage - surprised

When I drive to work, I use 6th and cruise and try to only alter my speed using the cruise control. I get at least 23 mpg.

You are surprised because it is probably wrong. You need to adjust it to 4 litre and 19 gallons. Only after a few fillups is it accurate. Mine was showing 10MPG at first. I average 17.5 so i thought this was off. It was the scanguage.

layonnn said:

You need to adjust it to 4 litre and 19 gallons.

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I did adjust it to 4 liters. I am not sure why the 'instant' reading shouldn't be accurate from day one... what is the difference after a few fills? This is not the average reading or the trip cost...

manoweb said:

I did adjust it to 4 liters. I am not sure why the 'instant' reading shouldn't be accurate from day one... what is the difference after a few fills? This is not the average reading or the trip cost...

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I don't know why either. I made a thread about this because mine were sooo low. Some peoples start very high.
But, right after i had set it, i got out on the interstate going 60 and was showing max of 12 on the instant view.

After about 2-3 fillups, it started showing more accurately. To give you an idea of how much it was off, my first fillup was around 8 gallons, yet the scangauge said i had filled up 18 gallons (even though my tank was set for 19). Make sure you enter the amount that you fillup every time to keep it accurate.
I am always double checking it by calculating it the old fashion way.

After reading all the posting about the Scanguage product im convinced that it doesn't work. There are to many extremes in the Scanguage readings. I honestly cant see how Toyota can put sayyyyyyyy 20mpg on the sticker and someone using the scanguage gets 28mpg. I don't get instant info but my trip indicator and some math gets me to around 18mpg.

I believe in the old fashioned way of tracking your MPG.
Been keeping an Excel spreadsheet since day one for the rig.

Corey said:

I believe in the old fashioned way of tracking your MPG.

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That gives you a report "after", not the immediate data how much you're consuming while driving on the freeway vs climbing a hill...

layonnn said:

I don't know why either. I made a thread about this because mine were sooo low. Some peoples start very high.
But, right after i had set it, i got out on the interstate going 60 and was showing max of 12 on the instant view.

After about 2-3 fillups, it started showing more accurately. To give you an idea of how much it was off, my first fillup was around 8 gallons, yet the scangauge said i had filled up 18 gallons (even though my tank was set for 19). Make sure you enter the amount that you fillup every time to keep it accurate.
I am always double checking it by calculating it the old fashion way.

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I was condsidering getting one, but I don't understand what the point is if you have to double check by using conventional means. What is the advantage?

I would say most get 20 to 21 mpg if you dont put your foot into it the scan guage is a piece crap when it comes to keeping right mpgs. use pencil and paper to figure correct mpg.

I would imagine over 20 is not uncommon on the highway if you read it when you are at speed and see what your MPG is that instant. Its the bad milage you get when you are speeding up to get on the highway that pulls your average down. I used to own a VW Corrado VR6 that had a trip computer on it. I used to reset the MPG average guage while I was at speed on the highway to see what I was getting. Doing this, it was not uncommon to see 36 MPG although when I did the pen and paper thing when I filled up it was only 22 or so average. I am a lead-foot in town though, especially with that fun little car!

Despite the fact that I dissed the plethora of fuel mileage threads (in another fule mileage thread), I just got 20.4 mpg on the last tank by trying to maintain as much momentum as possible

I generally get about 15-16 mpg with mostly in town driving. Last week I took a road trip and with the very deliberate intention of driving for max mileage. I averaged 21 mpg which was my best to date. This was gentle acceleration, using cruise and not exceeding 65 mph except for a couple of short bursts to pass some trucks and such. I think I could have maybe gotten it up close to 23 mpg with even a little more disciplined driving. This run was over more or less flat terrain with no headwinds and such. Pretty much ideal conditions all the way so I doubt I can improve it beyond 23 and the 23 is really just a max estimate right now. The 21 mpg is a real number calculated the old way, not with a Scangauge. Oh, yeah, this was using 87 octane all the way which I have been running for several months now.

I'll go against the grain here and say that it is probably correct. I just did a 330 mile roadtrip through the mountains of Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina and at fillup calculated to just shy of 23MPG. A full one third of the miles were at 20-30MPH and 5-12% grade. My Scanguage was reporting 20-30MPG the majority of the time, was down to 1MPG on occasion and up to 48MPG in others. Exactly what it should be reading. Cruising at 65MPH can result in 15MPG to 30MPG.. It all depends on the load.. Cheers.. Ron

manoweb said:

I have installed the ScangaugeII today and I had a look at the gas mileage that it reports.

Traveling with cruise control at 55MPH in 6th gear on the freeway gives something between 25MPG and 30MPG. Most of the time it stays on about 26MPG.

Engaging the air conditioning lowers the readout to 23-26MPG.

I expected much worse, the MT is reported as 18MPG on the freeway... Is the ScangaugeII to be set in some specific manner for the FJ???

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Ok So I have just driven across the country for the summit and I can tell you that the scanguage works great. It says im getting 22 mpg and guess what the old fashioned way says? Yep, 21.5 mpg. I would say thats pretty good. This is traveling at a constant 60 mpg on the highway and stock besides an ARB roof rack with IPF lights on it. If you slow down its really easy to get above 20 mpg

Great roadtrip isn't it! did you go in at Denver and turn down the spine at minturn, or south toward CO Springs? Cheers.. Ron

DoWork said:

Ok So I have just driven across the country for the summit and I can tell you that the scanguage works great. It says im getting 22 mpg and guess what the old fashioned way says? Yep, 21.5 mpg. I would say thats pretty good. This is traveling at a constant 60 mpg on the highway and stock besides an ARB roof rack with IPF lights on it. If you slow down its really easy to get above 20 mpg

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kokopelli said:

I'll go against the grain here and say that it is probably correct. I just did a 330 mile roadtrip through the mountains of Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina and at fillup calculated to just shy of 23MPG. A full one third of the miles were at 20-30MPH and 5-12% grade. My Scanguage was reporting 20-30MPG the majority of the time, was down to 1MPG on occasion and up to 48MPG in others. Exactly what it should be reading. Cruising at 65MPH can result in 15MPG to 30MPG.. It all depends on the load.. Cheers.. Ron

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Ron, I'll agree with you here. My FJ does pretty well at sustained speeds under 55. I made a trip down to the end of the Padre Island National Seashore one time (about 150 miles, round trip to the last gas station) when the driving was unusually great. I used 2wd most of the time and probably shifted into 4wd for less than two miles total. I drove pretty consistently between 40 and 50MPH. I got 28MPG on that trip. Most of my normal driving is on the highway at 70-75MPH, which gives me 18-19MPG.

I was indeed plesantly with my last mountain sojourn. I really used the shift gate and kept it around 2000RPM uphill and downhill. Constantly shifting between 2nd, 3rd and 4th and trying not to glaze the brakes. About 150 cruise miles and 150 in the curves. Down between Helen Georiga and Highlands NC, there are more curves that on the dragon.. Ron

MrBigAxe said:

Ron, I'll agree with you here. My FJ does pretty well at sustained speeds under 55. I made a trip down to the end of the Padre Island National Seashore one time (about 150 miles, round trip to the last gas station) when the driving was unusually great. I used 2wd most of the time and probably shifted into 4wd for less than two miles total. I drove pretty consistently between 40 and 50MPH. I got 28MPG on that trip. Most of my normal driving is on the highway at 70-75MPH, which gives me 18-19MPG.

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keep it below 2000 rpm cruising and a light foot on accellration for best gas millage its not rocket science.the scan guage 11 has other benefits other than mpg's. just enjoy the ride!!!!!!!