Gas mileage

[salvatorejrm]

I am just curious as to how others are doing with gas mileage. I have a 1993 Ford Jamboree 27' with the 460 motor and I am getting just over 8 miles to the gallon. I am not complaining as I knew gas mileage was not going to be great and I am ok with that. Just wondering if there is anyway to maybe improve it alittle. I do try to cruise at 62 - 65 miles per hour.

[pnichols]

Desert Captain wrote:
Paid $3.64 on the CC in MA today but that's the first gas we've bought in 8 days.

That's one of the outstanding things I noticed about our travels in the Eastern U.S. on our couple of major trips back there: You can go days before having to fill the Ford's 55 gallon fuel tank because you can visit a lot of sights without traveling that much! Out West .... it can sometimes be hundreds of miles between points of interest.

However, we'll never travel back East in August again. Too much heat mixed with too much water in the air, and an RV air conditioner that is too quiet to drown out the cicada racket all night long while trying to sleep with the A/C on all night. :S

[Desert_Captain]

pnichols wrote:
Since most Class C motorhomes are kindof large as compared to pickups, family sedans and SUVs ... we cruise like a truck in our RV at "truck speeds" on the open road.

We travel at 55-60 MPH on highways and freeways on trips - the same as the legal speed is for trucks in many parts of the country. We do this in truck lanes as much as possible, however, so as to not irritate the speed demons around us.

Traveling at these modest cruising speeds is not only a very safe way to drive a 12,000 lb. vehicle, but it also gets us in the neighborhood of 10+ MPG fuel economy with our Ford V10 Class C motorhome. Speed kills gas mileage (and sometimes ... people) when moving a big box down the road.

Once again we agree, nothing new... The first half of our trip, mostly I-40, I cruised at 62 and with stop and go city driving thrown in we averaged about 9.3. Now i have backed off to about 57-58 and we are averaging 9.7-10. This with the V-10 in our 2012 24' C.

After 2 weeks in New England we have headed west and are in upstate NY southwest of Albany. Elkhart is a few days down the road with lots to see along the way.

Paid $3.64 on the CC in MA today but that's the first gas we've bought in 8 days.
:C

[Mbrown]

Jim Shoe wrote:
There's darned little you can do about it. So, if calculating MPG bothers you, either quit RVing or quit calculating.
On my particular 'C', I've found that expressway driving in the right hand lane about 5-10 MPH above the minimum speed keeps me from having to hit the brakes as often. On relatively flat expressways, every time you hit the brakes, you've already wasted gas. Not much, but it adds up.

That 1st line is Classic !!
that's what this Forum needs, is a Comedy Section 😉

[Mbrown]

Jim Shoe wrote:
There's darned little you can do about it. So, if calculating MPG bothers you, either quit RVing or quit calculating.
On my particular 'C', I've found that expressway driving in the right hand lane about 5-10 MPH above the minimum speed keeps me from having to hit the brakes as often. On relatively flat expressways, every time you hit the brakes, you've already wasted gas. Not much, but it adds up.

That 1st line is classic !!!
That's what this forum needs, is a Comedy Section:B

[pnichols]

Since most Class C motorhomes are kindof large as compared to pickups, family sedans and SUVs ... we cruise like a truck in our RV at "truck speeds" on the open road.

We travel at 55-60 MPH on highways and freeways on trips - the same as the legal speed is for trucks in many parts of the country. We do this in truck lanes as much as possible, however, so as to not irritate the speed demons around us.

Traveling at these modest cruising speeds is not only a very safe way to drive a 12,000 lb. vehicle, but it also gets us in the neighborhood of 10+ MPG fuel economy with our Ford V10 Class C motorhome. Speed kills gas mileage (and sometimes ... people) when moving a big box down the road.

[Hank85713]

Look to see if there is a TBI injection kit available if you plan to keep the rig. Get rid of the carburetor and that may help some, but probably no more than 1-1.5MPG at best. Even with a V10 10mpg is a sometimes thing with 9 being the most common from what I have read.

[tenbear]

My Chevy 6.0L gets 9 mpg towing a car and several hours of genny use.

[Jim_Shoe]

There's darned little you can do about it. So, if calculating MPG bothers you, either quit RVing or quit calculating.
On my particular 'C', I've found that expressway driving in the right hand lane about 5-10 MPH above the minimum speed keeps me from having to hit the brakes as often. On relatively flat expressways, every time you hit the brakes, you've already wasted gas. Not much, but it adds up.

[salvatorejrm]

Just got back from our 3rd trip and 8 mpg is about average. Not complaining we are having a great time. Thanks

[Gonzo42]

jmcgsd wrote:
Be certain to always drive with the wind at your back! 🙂

An Irish Toast:

May the rain fall softly upon your fields

and the road rise up to meet you

May the wind always be at your back

and may you be in Heaven an hour before the Devil knows you're dead.

[jmcgsd]

Be certain to always drive with the wind at your back! 🙂

[Gonzo42]

We are newbies, and not trying to give you a hard time, but we are getting 15 mpg on diesel in our class C. I started driving up to 75 mph (where legal) and was getting 12 mpg. Now I keep it to 65.

(Shameless self-promotion) I have tried to drive for max mileage for decades now in all our vehicles. Very gentle acceleration, long anticipation of stopping (foot off the go-pedal), etc. Lots of info out there.

But maybe don't obsess about it like I do, just enjoy yourself. Isn't that what this is all about?

[dave17352]

I had a 89 27 foot jamboree and tuned it up etc and found 8 to be the best I could get. Going against a head wind on I 80 in Nebraska at times I would get 6 pulling my boat! Had a blast in that rig especially when gas was just over a buck a gallon in the late 90's. In fact thats just a year after I bought the rig.

[Go_Dawgs1]

8 is pretty good for a Ford 460. Slow down to 55 to 57 and enjoy the ride. That said, "quit worring about mileage and enjoy the RV."