G
Guest
·Way back in Dec, Stephen Bentley suggested taping over the front bumper air intake to improve MPG during cold weather. I took his advice and have gathered some pretty convincing, detailed data:
Clearly there is a strong correlation between average temperature and MPG. The average temp is the average of the AVG daily temp reported by the NWS for all of the preceeding days before the fill up. The MPG is the odometer mileage added since the last fill up divided by the gas dispensed as reported by the pump. My average fill up is 6.5 gallons (typically 1/2 full on guess gauge). The circled point had 3 days of no tape and 6 days with the tape on, so it sort of belongs to both series. Next month I'll be removing the tape for the coming warm weather, so there will be more tapeless data soon.
I used the heater/defroster as necessary. I didn't run the AC at any point. You probably shouldn't run the AC with the intake taped. In my case, I didn't tape over the inlet tube on the far driver's side - this appears to
bring in the fresh air for the MD temp display. My MD temp display reads
fine with the tape over the bumper grill. Perhaps it's different for '01 vehicles, but this is my experience.
One more bonus: I took my car to the car wash the other day, and borrowed a piece of the tape to cover the battery vent temporarily.
That sure was handy!
[%sig%]

Clearly there is a strong correlation between average temperature and MPG. The average temp is the average of the AVG daily temp reported by the NWS for all of the preceeding days before the fill up. The MPG is the odometer mileage added since the last fill up divided by the gas dispensed as reported by the pump. My average fill up is 6.5 gallons (typically 1/2 full on guess gauge). The circled point had 3 days of no tape and 6 days with the tape on, so it sort of belongs to both series. Next month I'll be removing the tape for the coming warm weather, so there will be more tapeless data soon.
I used the heater/defroster as necessary. I didn't run the AC at any point. You probably shouldn't run the AC with the intake taped. In my case, I didn't tape over the inlet tube on the far driver's side - this appears to
bring in the fresh air for the MD temp display. My MD temp display reads
fine with the tape over the bumper grill. Perhaps it's different for '01 vehicles, but this is my experience.
One more bonus: I took my car to the car wash the other day, and borrowed a piece of the tape to cover the battery vent temporarily.
That sure was handy!
[%sig%]