Optimizing for Economy
From Taurus Car Club Maintenance and Modification Wiki
Contents |
General Optimizations
This is a list of general things you can do to improve the fuel efficiency of you Taurus. Being general, it will also apply to any vehicle you drive.
1. Keep your tires properly inflated.
2. Perform routine maintenance on your Taurus. Make sure that the oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs are in good shape. If the check engine light is on, have the codes read to see what the problem is. Alignment is important, if the wheels are pointing in opposite directions ... it doesn't help.
3. Reduce the weight where reasonable. Do you have things in the trunk you don't need to?
4. Aerodynamics! Take off that roof rack, the trunk rack, or the spoiler.
Driving for Economy
1. Accelerate slowly and smoothly. No jackrabbit starts, no standing on the gas pedal at a green light. You might get passed while accelerating slowly, but you waste the most gas starting from a stop.
2. The brake pedal is your enemy. Every time you tap the brake pedal, you are turning your gas into heat and brake dust; you use the gas to get you up to a certain speed, then use the brakes to slow down. For example, if traffic is slowing down ahead, let off the gas pedal sooner rather than later and allow the car to slow down by itself.
3. Timing stoplights. This is a great way to save gas, unfortunately, it is the hardest to do for a few reason. The first being traffic might not like it - the traffic might be going too fast for this, but it is always worth a shot. Second, all stoplights are different. If you drive on the same roads it should not be too hard to get used to.
The idea behind this is to slow down early for a yellow light or red light. Ideally, you want to be coasting around 15mph when the light turns green (13mph is when the computer is programmed to shift into 2nd gear, this saves the transmission some). Also, in areas with a lot of stoplights close to each other, try not to accelerate too much, stoplights are programmed for people going at or below the speed limit.
4. Cruise Control / No Cruise control. Cruise control is debatable. It can help keep a steady speed, but in hilly areas, cruise control does the exact opposite of save fuel. Because cruise control is programmed to keep a steady speed, it will do just that. Cruise essentially accelerates going up a hill and decelerates going down a hill.
No one wants to be the slowpoke going up the hill, but both your wallet and your transaxle will like it. By keeping a steady foot on the gas pedal, or by increasing throttle only a little and giving up 5mph or so, you will save fuel going up the hill. While going down a hill let the car gain 5mph or so (within reason). Cars use very little gas going down hill, so try to use this to your advantage and gain a little speed, then coast a little when the pavement levels out. Or if going down a hill before going up a hill, gain speed going down the hill then you will not need to use so much gas going up the hill.
5. Idling. The owner's guide says not to idle for more than 30 seconds. This may or may not be correct and this is a debatable subject. When the car is first started, it is running very rich until the computer thinks the car is warmed up. If it is warm out, it may take 30 seconds. If it is wintertime and the temperature is cold (below 30) it may continue to run rich for a long time, possibly a few minutes. In very cold weather, especially for those with transmission coolers, the automatic transmission will be very sluggish and it will also take a long time for the torque converter clutch to lock up. As far as idling is concerned, it is up to you to decide what you want to do.
Air Intake
There is a lot of discussion on the internet about how improving the air flow to the engine can increase HP or fuel economy. These discussions take one of three forms. Either the idea is to increase the air flow and subsequently the gasoline flow, the air is somehow mixed so that the gasoline is better atomized, or the air is cooled before entering the engine.
Products in the first category have some success in general. However, on the Ford Taurus, these products do not offer much. The stock Taurus engine is not able to take in more air then is already provided by the existing air intake system.
Products in the second category are generally scams produced cheaply to dupe unsuspecting consumers. While better atomization might increase the HP available by making the gasoline combust more readily, the products sold to do this do not achieve this result.
The idea behind cold air intake (CAI) is to increase the potential energy of the combustion cycle. This is done by using cooler air, which has a greater density, and is read by the MAF, and allows the engine to burn more fuel. Since the engine can only move a certain amount of air at a time, the denser the air is, the more power it can make. This is a proven technique based in physics and thermodynamics (science behind gas behavior) to improve performance. The Taurus already has a cold air intake tucked into the wheel housing. The main reason to alter the CAI on a Taurus is to alter the sound of the vehicle and remove the restrictions that aid in sound abatement. See this forum thread for a more complete discussion of CAI modifications for the Taurus.
Aerodynamics
There is much room for improvement in the basic aerodynamics of the Taurus.
1. Block the front air intakes as much as possible. Air that moves into the engine compartment this way creates additional drag. You must be careful to watch for overheating. Enough air must get through the fans to the radiator to control engine temperature.
2. Get racing hub caps. Racing hub caps are an aerodynamic alternative to the many stylish hubs and hub caps available. They tend to be plain brushed aluminum convex shapes that can either snap on or be mounted with screws.
3. Replace the side mirrors with a camera and monitor system. The cameras used on cars generally have a much lower aerodynamic profile then the stock mirrors do.
4. Fair the wheel wells. This basically means constructing covers that would block air from entering the wheel wells. This is only possible in a limited way for the front wheels since they must have room to turn, but the rear wheels can be covered much more. If you have wondered why the rear wheels of a Toyota Prius are covered, this is why.
5. Install an underbelly plate to keep air from entering the underside of your Taurus.
6. Lower your Taurus. This reduces your overall profile.
More on aerodynamics.
Under Drive Pulley
An under drive pulley (UDP) is a pulley that reduces how fast accessories on the drive belt are turned. There are four accessories on the Taurus. These are the alternator, the water pump (WP), the power steering pump (PS), and the a/c.
Since the pulley on the accessories turns less often with a UDP setup, it takes less energy and torque to turn them. The drawback to this is that the accessories may be underpowered when the Taurus is sitting at idle. This may show itself as dim lights. Since the accessories are designed to function properly at idle, any greater speed provides more then enough energy.
It should be noted that this mod will require a new belt to ensure a proper fit.
Slightly more extreme then this is to remove one or all of the accessories from the belt. This has complications of it's own however.
Less extreme is to replace belt driven accessories with electric versions. Automakers are slowly switching to electric versions and the Electric Vehicle community also makes use of these systems. Despite this, such systems can be difficult to find, and it may be necessary to cannibalize other makes of vehicles to get the parts.
Please refer to this forum for more discussion on UDP.
Tires
One of the ways to improve fuel economy is to get low rolling resistance tires. Rolling resistance is simply a measure of how hard it is to turn a round object. Stiffer or more rigid round objects (marbles, bowling balls) are generally easier to roll. (Rolling resistance is distinct from inertia.)
Another way is to inflate the tires to the maximum pressure on the sidewall. This is the maximum safe tire pressure. The tire pressure on the door jamb is recommended by the manufacturer as a compromise between comfort, fuel economy and performance. Because tire pressure fluctuates with temperature, it may be a bad idea to inflate your tires to the max. Also, inflating tires to the maximum pressure on the sidewall might increase wear in the center of the tire. Keeping this in mind you can still increase the tire pressure and reduce the rolling resistance of the tire. An increase in pressure will also provide a more firm ride.
See this article on low rolling resistance tires. See here for a description of rolling resistance. And inertia.
