RE: The Mothership needs an MPG Boost (05-19-2016 )Billdozer2 Wrote: (05-19-2016 )Rawze Wrote: I just put my own truck on the road finally yesterday.. First load out .. It was in-framed by myself, and has all brand new pistons, liners, bearings, head, etc. and I counter-bored it too, and it has 3 new injectors. --- SHE BROKE 8.6 MPG ON HER FIRST TRUE FILL-UP going from Georgia, then it headed to North Carolina, and Then to Missouri (second fill-up) with 25K in dry-box that does not roll too good.. Average to location on it is 8.1,.. so IT IS STILL SHOWING II IS UP A BIT!-- New injectors perhaps?
Truck is doing great so far, but it is early to tell. I would have thought that fuel mileage would have dropped way off too,.. but it is not showing it so far. It also has a gallon of Supertech 80/90 gear lube in it.
That's interesting. I would have thought the engine would need to seat before optimum fuel mileage could be attained. I know the whole "breaking in" for car engines is starting to turn into a myth now with better engineering of internal parts (although I still take it easy with a new car cause I'm old fashion like that) but I figured diesel engines would still be designed a little tighter to help make the engine last longer before wearing out.
(05-19-2016 )Rawze Wrote: You know, if the truck did 6.8 mpg consistently, the owners would be good with that. As it stands, the trailer is probably costing me .5 to 1 mpg. I admit I like the truck despite its flaws, it just should have been specced right.
First of all --- Volvo trucks have a HORRIBLE engine compartment design that is OFF THE TOP --- 0.6 MPG LESS FUEL EFFECIENT THAN ANY OTHER BRAND OF NEWER AERO TRUCK! -- Simply because they have restrictive charge circuits AND horrible design of exhaust flow!.-- PERIOD!--- So you can count on one thing for the whole life of those trucks! --- THEY ARE GOING TO LOOSE FUEL MILEAGE COMPARED TO OTHER AERO TRUCKS IN THAT CLASSIFICATION!. Hell,.. I can fit the turbo and other piping literally inside the piping of even my POS prostar it is so small and restrictive,... YES, they are that bad!. The turbo runs 100 degrees hotter because of poor engine compartment air-flow external to the engine, and that makes the oil run hotter as a result. It is easy to have one running around at 235 F oil temps and it will constantly be in silent derate (lowering its fuel mileage a bit more). The list of problems with Volvo trucks is long, yet everyone seems to love them because they don't look past that interior on them. It is truly a shame. -- The sad part is that everything I mentioned could be fixed by slight design changes to them,.. but I don't think the the Volvo truck company realizes what they have done, or perhaps they are simply too cheap to do things right?.
I think a big problem with the engine compartment is that, granted this is just speculation, the Volvo truck is designed to have the Volvo engine. Granted yes I know you can get a Cummins in a Volvo, but I think that with the smaller size Volvo engine, maybe the air flow would be better? Rawze, what design changes would you do and could something like that be retrofitted onto a current Volvo truck? Just curious and thinking that anything I could do to help my engine/turbo stay cool would be ideal.
(05-18-2016 )brothermothership Wrote: Despite all this, the fuel economy is not acceptable. Most of the time it's 6.0 to 6.3.
What kind of MPGs were you looking to get? Mid 6's seem about right for your truck and the way it is spec-ed out. Maybe after another 25,000 miles, you can get into the upper 6's. But I don't think you are going to get much more than that. |
