Do you know how long your car would idle before running out of fuel? (MPG, engines)
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This question has always fascinated me but I doubt anyone knows the answer. Is there a way to calculate it without standing around for a day? This also creates a paradox. You are guaranteed to get 0 mpg out of a full tank no matter what the EPA says.
40 gal diesel tank. I can go 600 miles from OC to Reno at 65 mph average about 10 hrs run time. I usually have a little under 1/4 tank left when I get to Reno. When my guage shows empty I can go exactly 80 more miles before I runout of fuel. I could probably idle for 48-72 hrs before running out of fuel.
Get a ScanGauge or similar tool that will read the vehicle's OBD III port. It will tell you the gallons per hour fuel use rate. The simple rule of thumb is that the more cylinders and more displacement, the more fuel the engine will use at idle. Also, diesel engines will use much less fuel at idle than a comparably sized gasoline engine, though the newer gasoline-direct-injection gasoline engines have narrowed the gap some. A small displacement (under 3.0 liter) diesel four cylinder may use less then 2/10's of a gallon of fuel per hour at idle, while a 5.7 liter or more gas V8 may use close to a gallon per hour.
Diesels at idle use very little fuel. My idle rpm is about 800rpm. At 65 its 2300. I've driven 12 hours at 65-70. While its a estimate fuel consumption at idle is literally a drop in the bucketwhen compared to 65 mph fuel consumption.
Found this while checking out Vegistroke's site:
In my testing(+ - 10%) our 7.3's consume 1oz every
1min 12sec, So round that down to an 1oz/min. And of
course we all remember our basic measurements and
that there are 128oz/gallon. So with that in mind it will
take 2hrs and 8min to use one gallon of fuel.
So looks like I was wrong. I can idle for 80 hrs give or take a few hours. Even if its half that guys test say 1 gallon per hour it's still 40 hrs of idle time. Of course by then my cylinder walls will be washed and wreck my engine.
It can be calculated because the injector pulse width is fairly constant at idle, so knowing this x injectors using x amount of fuel. Somebody with a sharper pencil than mine would have to do it, but it is very possible. Why you would want to do it is beyond me.
Honestly, you could fill it, let it idle for 4 hours, and fill it again. After 4 or 5 tests you could average actual use per hour of idling.
My Ford F250 has a 3208 Cat Diesel in it. I figure 1.5 hours per gallon, Idle time. I have tested it while traveling, where I pulled in and filled it up, pulled to the back of the lot and caught some sleep, and then filled again before I took off.
I have heard that cars now are required by the EPA to have a cutoff after a certain length of time, a couple hours, maybe, to make it nearly impossible to use CO in a closed car to commit suicide. I cannot confirm this, because like all information about suicide, it is virtually impossible to find out any reliable information associated with it.
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