MPG?

[burmashave]

I have a '96 Tropical on an F53 chassis with the 460. I just took my first trip this year, about 400 miles round trip. A shorty. Service this year:

fuel injectors cleaned
hanging brake calipers serviced
mobil one oil change and lube (myself)
new air filter
tune up including new wires/cap/rotor

no drive-ability issues

tires are new last year - 8 michelins

only got 6 mpg on this trip. am pulling a 3000 lb toad. Is this ridiculously low? I can't tell from last year because I had some brake issues last year that negatively affected the mpg. Everything mechanical seems fine. I was hoping for 8 mpg though. It means an extra 150 miles per tankful.

[pacevette]

We just sold our 1996 coachmen 34' also with the 460. We only had the toad with us on one trip and of course it was on hilly terrain. Our fuel milage plummeted. We were down to 7 mpg. Now without the toad I was very pleased on our trip to florida. Once we got out of w.virginia we got almost 9 mpg all the way down. And almost matched it on the way home. I can't say for sure why your not getting better milage but it is capable for sure. I also had the from caliper dragging. I went ahead and replaced everything on the front. Hoses..calipers..and rotors. The only thing I can say for our 460 we had is that the air intake was loose. I tightened everything up before we left on our trip. And whoever put the engine battery in before we got it had the air intake snorkel tucked behind it. That would be a place to check as well. Good luck!

[NITEHAWK]

Before we traded we had a '97 class C with the 460 engine. new plugs, new wires, tires inflated to spec, super heavy duty trans. rebuild for economy, towing a Geo Tracker-1800# and got 4.5MPG driving economically. So, 6MPG isn't bad.

We now get 9 with 36' dp pulling same toad!!

[LVJ58]

My neighbor has a 92 class A with the 460, and he says all he get is around 6mpg. Our 38' 2000 v10 averages out around 7mpg towing a 3,200bl toad.

It would appear your coach with the 460 ranks in the average for mpg. I have met folks who've installed the Banks exhaust system or equivalent who told me they realized a power increase and a cooler running engine. Not sure whether the exhaust system increases mpg or not.

We get our best mpg cruising between 55 & 60mph.

[wa8yxm]

Looks like you did a great job on the internals.. Have you treated the externals yet?

Give it a good bath and then wax it.. Use a good wax (Ther eis a thread around here with the name of a company starts with an "M" that makes auto wax)

I have used several wax products over the years including but not limited to

Turtle Wax (both past and "Zip Wax" areosol)
Dry Wash - n- guard
RV Solution (The last time I did it)
and something else the name of which I forget.

Before waxing.. 8mpg was about the best I got.. Post wax.. 10

Same road and conditions

Actuall best I have seen 13.8.. but I had some help that day.. Yes it was on level ground.. but. The tumble weeds were passing me like I hd the brakes on and they were going straight down the road.. 100 mph tail wind pushing me greatly improved the MPG.

[DandS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm Before waxing.. 8mpg was about the best I got.. Post wax.. 10

A 25% mpg increase by a wax job ???? That's one of the most ridiculous claims I've ever heard.....must be smokin something.

[Stevegd007]

WELL jeeze...your moving a house on wheels down the road and towing to boot and you can not expect to see car like MPG. I believe if your doing this type of driving you should not be fussing about MPG. That said about the only thing that would help some would be to slow down. Keep it 60 MPH or less.

[burmashave]

not complaining. just want to get a feel for if there is something wrong that needs to be addressed. 150 miles per tankful pays for some work done real fast

[Nick-B]

Hi Burmashave,

Your 6mpg is pretty typical for a bigger F53/460 coach. Not much you can do to improve it.

Your motorhome is a big one with the tag axle (more weight and drag) and I think you'll find it weighs about 18,000 lbs EMPTY. My 36' Coachmen on the same chassis is 18,300 without a bunch of stuff in it. Between the weight and the wind resistance, there just isn't any "magic bullet" for these big gassers. Sorry.

[burmashave]

ok then. thanks to all who responded. now I know

[wa8yxm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DandS A 25% mpg increase by a wax job ???? That's one of the most ridiculous claims I've ever heard.....must be smokin something.

Actuall measured improvement on two different vehicles.. One motor home, On hatchbck.. I did the math myself.

You can choose to believe it or not, but I've seen it and repeated it on the motor home.

And yes, I found it hard to believe as well, but I did the math on the car, on the motor home I let the computer do it.

[Topflite51]

Driving habits can and will affect mileage significantly. We average 7.9 in our '97 32' Southwind pulling a 2200 lb toad at 60 MPH. Did a trip, w/o toad and doing 65+ last year and averaged 6.8. Speed can kill the pocketbook.

[Topflite51]

Wax on, Wax off.

[Kathy_MD]

I get an average of 7.2 MPG towing. Sweet spot for MPG is 62 mph.

Coach weight (Cat scales) is 18,940 in travel-ready condition. TOAD weighs 3,400.
So, the V10 is moving about 22,340 lbs.

Katherine