I have read most of the threads here and noticed that RL owners need to know how to actually get more MPG's.

The obvious:

1. GOOD GAS
2. slower driving
3. Highway Driving improves MPG
4. Tire Inflation
5. Windows Up (A/C on or off...does not matter)

Not so Obvious:

1. Air Filters/ Intakes
2. exhaust system
3. Resetting computer
4. Tonneau cover/ topper
5. hood and sunroof deflectors
6. Synthetic oil
7. New computer


What we would all like to know is what actually improves MPG's?

What actually works?

Is the mod worth the cost and the MPG gain?


JUST THE FACTS please!!

I have a 2008 RL and was getting about 17 MPG before adding the hood and sunroof deflectors, Bakflip G2 and Honda running boards. I now get around 16MPG. My thought is the weight gain did not make a difference. Still need further testing to decide.

If you haven't read this thread, check it out..... http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/fuel-economy-gas-related-discussion/21240-gas-saving-tips-2.html Lots of good ideas there.

The only thing I found that really works is to get the RL out on the highway and let it breathe!! The estimated MPG of 15 on the low side is very close on for local driving. You can better the 20 on the highway with no problem!!

Facts? Syn does not increase mileage. A K&N might by a little but I haven't experienced it, just change your OEM more often. New exhaust system can actually decrease it. Happened to a friend who tried it and was told his sensor was reading too much oxygen and telling the computer to give more gas! Fact? I don't know, but I'm not about to change mine. Fact, our Ridge started to get better and better mileage after 20K. I'm very happy with it. I live in a rural area. It's 30 miles into town with only 4 stoplights and the speed limit is mostly 55 with heavy enforcement. ( they let you get by with 60) I consistently get over the EPA rating and don't drive like the grampa I am.:D

When it comes to gas mileage, facts are individual. :D

Believe it, or not... my RL's single greatest leap in MPG came when I moved my driver's seat back about 4 inches.
Obviously one of those "individual facts", but it worked for me! ;)

I'm also glad I have a Scangauge. Realtime numbers help me monitor "those times of indiscretion", and alert me to "waste conditions".
Definitely a mod worth the cost.

Remove unnecessary weight from the trunk/bed/interior, i.e. don't haul around a bunch useless crap you don't really need.

CD

Lose the airdeflectors, running boards, and any other external add-ons that stick out in the wind. Keep the revs below 3000rpm's, keep the windows closed, keep the tires at the recommended 32psi, make sure the oil and transmission fluid levels are where they are supposed to be, avoid jack rabbit starts, try to stay below 70mph, remove all the stuff we aquire in the trunk and other storage places, and use regular unleaded gasoline when not towing.

I removed my deflectors last month and changed air filter again.

I only drive when there is a tail wind working in my favor. I used to live in California. I have worked my way over to Ohio. I figure I'll have to buy floats for my truck in 6 or 7 years. At this pace as I'll be driving somewhere off of the coast of South Carolina about then. :eek:

Threads like this increase MPG the most because we're showing our "expertise" instead of driving, thus saving gas.

SLOW THE FREAKIN' HELL DOWN!

THAT is one the biggest things you can do to save gas in ANY vehicle. On the freeway I drive about 69-72MPH as most vehicle aerodynamics break down after you go faster then 75MPH and they break down FAST. For every 5MPH faster then 75MPH you go, you lose 10% more of your expected fuel efficiency.

gosh... if I didnt drive 85 mph I could be getting 21 mpg instead 19 mpg. ;)

Facts? Syn does not increase mileage. A K&N might by a little but I haven't experienced it, just change your OEM more often. New exhaust system can actually decrease it.

That's an opinion not a fact, sorry. Syn oil will increase MPG, but it will vary depending on the vehicle. My best consistent increase was 1.5mpg in a high end European car (V6), and .5mpg in a high strung Audi S4 V8. Nevertheless, it lasts longer, oil can be changed less and it's more cost effective, while being more 'green'/eco-friendly.

The air filter is hard to tell, but on some leve. it will due to the reduced restriction.

A "new" exahaust, depending on quality, or how it was installed (air leaks) could cause that problem . So far all vehicles I've owned for nearly 20 years have seen measureable improvements with new (sport) exhausts.

Facts should be relegated to actual experience, and if none exists, it should be prefaced by stating, and therefore being honest of expertise (or lack of). As an ASE Master Auto Tech I have a bit of both.

That's an opinion not a fact, sorry. Syn oil will increase MPG, but it will vary depending on the vehicle. My best consistent increase was 1.5mpg in a high end European car (V6), and .5mpg in a high strung Audi S4 V8. Nevertheless, it lasts longer, oil can be changed less and it's more cost effective, while being more 'green'/eco-friendly.

The air filter is hard to tell, but on some leve. it will due to the reduced restriction.

A "new" exhaust, depending on quality, or how it was installed (air leaks) could cause that problem . So far all vehicles I've owned for nearly 20 years have seen measureable improvements with new (sport) exhausts.

Facts should be relegated to actual experience, and if none exists, it should be prefaced by stating, and therefore being honest of expertise (or lack of). As an ASE Master Auto Tech I have a bit of both.

Sorry, it is fact, after 17,000mi of using 5W-20 dino with regular oil changes I changed the air filter and went to Mobil 1. I get about 18 tankfuls of gas between oil changes. There was no difference in gas mileage to the next oil change. As an opinion, those who claim there is, probably are experiencing the normal effect of engine break in. As to the exhaust, unless you add headers and remove the catalytic converters all you are doing is adding noise with little if any back pressure reduction. More than a few on this site will testify to this fact.:p

Turn off those highbeams! Or better yet, run without your headlights on at all!

The photons being fired in the opposite direction you are traveling is creating resistance! :eek:

My SG II shows a .0000001 mpg increase during my daytime driving.

Coincidence? Methinks not! :eek:

Turn off those highbeams! Or better yet, run without your headlights on at all!

The photons being fired in the opposite direction you are traveling is creating resistance! :eek:

My SG II shows a .0000001 mpg increase during my daytime driving.

Coincidence? Methinks not! :eek:

Slide rule error on decimal point - correction is .00000000001 mpg
rooky slide rule error.

Slide rule error on decimal point - correction is .00000000001 mpg rooky slide rule error.
A slide what? :D

A slide what? :D

Haven't seen one of those since '72.:eek:

Slide rule error on decimal point - correction is .00000000001 mpg
rooky slide rule error.

That's what I get for rounding within the parentheses. :o

Or, could it be that my 2006 OEM headlights have lost some of their photonic output and need replaced? :confused:

Anyways... thanks for the correction... I wouldn't wanna steer anyone wrong when they're looking for better mpg. :D

Cut back on your driving. Buy a big ass Flat TV set, WiII and drive your Ridgeline only when asolutely necessary. This saves GAs.:p

Slide rule ( working model )

Used one of theses for 3 years until the HP35 calculator came out ( remember reverse polish notation )

http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/

Two things you can do to your truck: (1) Air the tires to 36 psi & (2) keep the air filter, oil, etc. changed. Changing the air filter made a big difference for me (2 mpg) & going from 32 psi to 36 psi also made a noticeable difference (1.5 mpg). Doesn't sound like much but it's the difference in getting 17-18 mpg & 20-21 mpg.

Of course, there are things you can do: keep the revs at 2000 rpm as much as possible, avoid jack rabbit starts, run the AC judiciously, etc.

Every little bit helps.

Yup...All true.....

Slide rule ( working model )

Used one of theses for 3 years until the HP35 calculator came out ( remember reverse polish notation )

http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/

Thanks for the link, Larry! My math professor bro-in-law will get a real kick out of it! :cool:

When the calcs came out when I was in high school, all us sliderule users hated the "Pencils down!" declaration by our Chem teacher when a "more fortunate" student finished his test before us! :mad::rolleyes:

Yup...All true.....

Also buy the best gas you can find preferably without ethanol.

When the calcs came out when I was in high school, all us sliderule users hated the "Pencils down!" declaration by our Chem teacher when a "more fortunate" student finished his test before us! :mad::rolleyes:

Hand calculators didn't become common & affordable until my second year of grad school. I recall taking an air pollution control class with a guy whom we'll call "Nerd" for purposes of this off-topic ramble.

Nerd always came to class equipped with an HP (RPN) calculator and a TI calculator and a slide rule (in case the batteries died, I guess). One particularly gruesome afternoon, the professor was describing a formula for calculating downwind sulfur oxide concentrations from a coal-fired electrical generating plant given such variables as smokestack height, sulfur content of coal, coal burned per hour, wind speed, adiabatic lapse rate, wind shear, etc. The formula filled the chalkboard at the front of the room, spilled over to the side, filled it up & spilled to the back of the room. (I think this was rehearsed, because the prof circled an answer in the bottom right corner of the third board.)

Nerd is madly punching calculators, slide rule clenched in his mouth. The rest of the class was doing well just to copy the formula. At the very end of the show, the prof proudly announced, "You'll never have to calculate this by hand, because I've just written a computer program that does it for you. Here's the data. Go to the computer center & start punching cards."

You could hear the wind go out of Nerd's sails.

Nerd graduated. The next year, I took a water pollution control class & we made a field trip to the largest sewage treatment facility in the state. Guess who was the foreman of the graveyard shift?

(And yes, Nerd gave us the tour, replete with the famous finale where he stuck a tin cup into the outflow & drank it right down. One girl in the class puked on the spot. :D)

All the mumbo-jumbo of what to do is fine, but I think the real reason for the difference from vehicle to vehicle is just the combination of different parts and clearances. My 2006 with 21k on the clock gets as low as 12 mpg in town and as high as 23 on the highway. It gets 5w20 Quaker State conventional oil and regular gas with 10% ethanol. The tires set at 33 psi. I drive 70-75 on the highway and enjoy its sports car like handling daily. I live in Texas and leave the air set on 73 and auto year round.:rolleyes:

I leave my truck at a parking lot about half way between home and work. I jog to the truck in the morning and jog home at night. I have doubled my gas mileage and as an added benefit, nobody bothers me at the office and my wife now sleeps in the spare bedroom.

Just doin' my part to save the earth. :D :D :D

Air the tires to 36 psi

won't that give a horrible ride?? feel every bump in the road?? also would that have any affect on the TPMS?

won't that give a horrible ride?? feel every bump in the road?? also would that have any affect on the TPMS?horrible is perception. what is horrible to one is great to another.
see first answer
no, I believe TPMS alerts to low pressure

won't that give a horrible ride?? feel every bump in the road?? also would that have any affect on the TPMS?

That's not really very high. I set my tires to 40-43psi; currently at 43PSI front and 39PSI rear (max rating of 51PSI). This is due to the weight distribution being slightly nose heavy (as most vehicles are). Ride quality is decent, but it's noticeably better at 40psi. Anything lower and the handling and steering become a bit mushy. To boot my tires are a bit oversized and are nicer than the OE tires. The Yokohama AT/S tires ride very well-- glad I got them.

TPMS only monitors tire' relative pressure difference. The pressures I use don't effect it.

http://hunter.pairsite.com/greenmeter/gMeter.jpg
iPhone application to monitor MPG.
Here's an interesting article.
Thanks to Hunter Research and Technology, budding hypermilers can become iPermilers with an iPhone app that costs less than three gallons of gas. GreenMeter uses the iPhone's built-in accelerometer to tell drivers, in real time, how much their lead-footed ways are costing them in carbon emissions and fuel economy. His new greenMeter app builds upon the gMeter app that works like a poor man's dynamometer.

Don't expect to hop in your car and turn on the greenMeter. You've gotta get a little data together beforehand, including vehicle weight, engine efficiency, current weather conditions, rolling resistance and your car's drag coefficient. Once that's all entered, you've got to balance your iPhone (or iPod Touch) on a sturdy, level part of your car's dashboard or console to recalibrate the accelerometer. We probably shouldn't have to say this, but don't do this while driving. In fact, once it's set up, don't look at any of the numbers while driving. As Hunter says on his website, the colors on the screen will be all the information you need to know.
I wrote recently on eco-driving and this iPhone application would be a great way of letting drivers know the fuel economy and carbon emissions of their driving. Being able to see in real time how you are doing is the best way to teach people how to improve their driving technique, and $6 for the information (assuming you own an iPhone) is a bargain.

While the concept is good, I think it could be easily improved to make it much more valuable. First, it could better display just the pertinent information while you are driving, so you can better see the impact of your driving style. I like the idea of using colors, but the screen at left looks cluttered with other information.

Second, instead of having to determine your car's vehicle weight, engine efficiency, current weather conditions, rolling resistance and drag coefficient, there should be a database of that information for all cars and then the end user can just select their car.

Third, if it could follow your progress and tell you how much you are improving your eco-driving skills, that would make it much more enjoyable for users. If it could be turned into a game where the more efficiently you drive the more points you get, that would be even better. Add to it a way for people to upload their scores and compete trying to out eco-drive each other and I think you have a winner.

via Wired

Neat, but try getting that information for the Ridgeline. I have never seen the Ridgeline's drag coefficient or rolling resistance published :confused:

We bought our black cherry pearl 07 RTS one week ago. We have already driven enough highway miles to refuel. Averaged 19.5 which isn't bad considering we had a head wind and ours has the roof rack. I just installed the K&N air filter, and may have nitrogen put in the tires. I'd be thrilled if we can get this up to 20.5 to 22 on the highway.

northiowaridgeowner!