Michelle (GMC Gypsy)
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Queen said:
Do you keep your tire pressure at the recommended levels and equal all around? That will make a big difference in mpg.
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Do you keep your tire pressure at the recommended levels and equal all around? That will make a big difference in mpg.
bigsallysmom
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Perhaps you bought gas without ethanol.
highdesertranger
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ok lafnbug here is my opinion on awd's.
1. as has already been pointed out all the tires must be the same height. so if you have 4 tires with 30,000 miles on them and ruin one, you should put 4 new tires on the vehicle. mind you this is really only a problem on pavement, on dirt not as much of a problem. but as soon as you hit pavement it's a big deal. at best the AWD will be searching for the drive wheel, at worse you could do serious damage to your drive train.
2. there is no locking hubs. a lot of 4wd vehicles nowadays are like this too. so for the convenience of being lazy and not having to get out and lock your hubs you are unnecessarily wearing out parts. these parts are not cheap. main reason that you don't see older AWD's on the road.
3. there is no 2wd to 4wd shifter. which has all the disadvantages of number 2 and no advantages that I can think of, besides being lazy. lets face it either you need 4wd or you don't there really is no middle ground here.
4. AWD's are not really 4wd's you have a rear differential a front differential and a transfer differential. you cannot lock it in 4wd you must rely on a differential or a computer as to which wheel is driven. again more parts to fail. some AWD's can actually lock you in 4wd(push a button), again even more parts to fail.
look at it this way what is the oldest AWD you have seen on the road recently? my guess is like most vehicles nowadays maybe 20 years old. I doubt you will see a 30 year old AWD on the road. I have a 1946 CJ2A 4wd jeep runs like a champ everything original(that's 70 years old). in 20 years that jeep will still be running your band new AWD probably not. so there you have it, I view AWD's as disposable vehicles use once and throw away, of course to be fair I view most new vehicles this way. highdesertranger
1. as has already been pointed out all the tires must be the same height. so if you have 4 tires with 30,000 miles on them and ruin one, you should put 4 new tires on the vehicle. mind you this is really only a problem on pavement, on dirt not as much of a problem. but as soon as you hit pavement it's a big deal. at best the AWD will be searching for the drive wheel, at worse you could do serious damage to your drive train.
2. there is no locking hubs. a lot of 4wd vehicles nowadays are like this too. so for the convenience of being lazy and not having to get out and lock your hubs you are unnecessarily wearing out parts. these parts are not cheap. main reason that you don't see older AWD's on the road.
3. there is no 2wd to 4wd shifter. which has all the disadvantages of number 2 and no advantages that I can think of, besides being lazy. lets face it either you need 4wd or you don't there really is no middle ground here.
4. AWD's are not really 4wd's you have a rear differential a front differential and a transfer differential. you cannot lock it in 4wd you must rely on a differential or a computer as to which wheel is driven. again more parts to fail. some AWD's can actually lock you in 4wd(push a button), again even more parts to fail.
look at it this way what is the oldest AWD you have seen on the road recently? my guess is like most vehicles nowadays maybe 20 years old. I doubt you will see a 30 year old AWD on the road. I have a 1946 CJ2A 4wd jeep runs like a champ everything original(that's 70 years old). in 20 years that jeep will still be running your band new AWD probably not. so there you have it, I view AWD's as disposable vehicles use once and throw away, of course to be fair I view most new vehicles this way. highdesertranger
Queen
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I'm wondering if that screw had been there a while, maybe leaking slowly. Since I have a tire pressure monitoring system AND no longer have a garage, I've gotten lax about checking.Michelle (GMC Gypsy) said:
No, it was plain old crappy ethanol, but if I could get 8mpg better regularly I'd buy the good stuff in a New York minute!bigsallysmom said:
minimotos95
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My question is are you doing the math miles driven / gallons used = MPG or are you just going by what the dash readout says? The aftermarket Scangauges are proven to be reasonably accurate but I have yet to meet a dash readout that was right. The margin of error in the trip meter(or gps) and gas station fuel pump is bad enough but those factory gauges are "guess-o-meters" at best
HDR I do see 20-30 year old AWDs commonly and most of the ones I see not on the road suffered engine or transmission failure, which could be from the extra stress of powering both axles all the time. It seems some of the oldest ones I see commonly are the synchro/quattro VWs and audis. Most of the simplistic older AWD systems were essentially just a limited slip coupling in the center differential, which IIRC is what wears exponentially faster if you have mismatched tires. I think the newer systems use clutches that likely wear out even faster.
HDR I do see 20-30 year old AWDs commonly and most of the ones I see not on the road suffered engine or transmission failure, which could be from the extra stress of powering both axles all the time. It seems some of the oldest ones I see commonly are the synchro/quattro VWs and audis. Most of the simplistic older AWD systems were essentially just a limited slip coupling in the center differential, which IIRC is what wears exponentially faster if you have mismatched tires. I think the newer systems use clutches that likely wear out even faster.
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