Results of ECU reset and other for feul economy

[Mr.Ames]

ctt 1982, do u have any mods? how many km on ur car? i'm lucky to get 400km/tank in grande prairie, and i drive probably the same as you and i have 111,000km on my car

 

[GMalatrasi]

lol

 

[newprot5fan]

one more question with these long reach spark plugs...
Do you gap them the same as the normal plugs (.044")? these are the ZFR5F-11 plugs...
thanks!

 

[Kansei]

The "11" in the part number means 1.1mm gap, which is normal. I'd say you should probably make sure the gauge is correct on the plugs before you put them in, but I usually can't find my gap measurer so I don't bother haha

 

[Chicoloco]

Ok, filled the tank. Resulted in 308.5 (kms/miles?) on the tripmeter when the gas light turned on.

Note: The gas needle on the First Half goes down slowly, but after the half it goes down faster.

Oh the first half i was on highways, second half of the tank i was on stop-and-go city traffic. I had the A/C always on.

80F +degrees everyday.

 

[newprot5fan]

I've never used anti-seize on the plugs for this car, but yeah some people do I guess?

As for how far to tighten them, it says right on the box. We have an aluminum head so you basically just hand tighten them and just go a little bit farther (1/16th of a turn or so) with a wrench handle on the extension. To do the plugs on this car, since you haven't before, you need a spark plug socket with the rubber insert to get the stock plugs out, they are very deep in the holes. You also will of course need a decently long extension that fits on your spark plug socket.

Hmmm....What is this rubber insert that I need?

 

[Kansei]

Hmmm....What is this rubber insert that I need?

it sits up inside the spark plug socket so that it grabs onto the white part of the plug as you pull it out. Since the plugs are so deep in our engines are are vertical, it's the only easy way to pull them out. Any auto parts store or like a Sears Hardware store should carry them (there are different sizes). Not exactly sure on the size we use, but I do know that most spark plug socket sets sold in the states are imperial but our plugs are actually metric.. but it's some size in millimetres that it nearly a dead on conversion to inches.

 

[chuyler1]

Miles/Kms per tank is a useless stat. Please calculate your mpg properly. Run until empty. Fill the tank up completely (2nd time pump shuts off). Reset your trip. Run to empty and fill up again. write down trip mileage and number of gallons put in the car. Divide miles by gallons to get immediate results. For more accurate results repeat the process several times and sum gallons, sum mileage, and divide. On my P5 I usually get 28-31 mpg but it has slipped a little toward the low end now that the car has 76K miles on it. My MS6 gets 19-20 thus far, woohoo.

 

[Chicoloco]

Can't i just divide what i obtained and divide it with the capacity of the tank?

Like 308.5/14.5 = 21.28 mpg? wow that suks. I accelerate pretty hard from stops many times and sometimes floor it. Oh and I'm a salesman, so i do a lot of stop and go traffic in the city.

 

[chuyler1]

Unless you run to empty...NO. When you fill up, most of the time there is at least 1-2 gallons left in the tank...even when the warning light is on.

You need to divide by the number of gallons you used to drive that distance. You will only know that by filling to the brim once, and then filling to the brim again and writing down the number of gallons you put in the tank.

 

[newprot5fan]

it sits up inside the spark plug socket so that it grabs onto the white part of the plug as you pull it out. Since the plugs are so deep in our engines are are vertical, it's the only easy way to pull them out. Any auto parts store or like a Sears Hardware store should carry them (there are different sizes). Not exactly sure on the size we use, but I do know that most spark plug socket sets sold in the states are imperial but our plugs are actually metric.. but it's some size in millimetres that it nearly a dead on conversion to inches.

OK....

So just out of curiousity, how hard is it to take off the rubber caps to the spark plugs on numbers 1 and 3 (# 2 and 4 don;t have that rubber cap)??? Since I have never done this before, I don;t want to use too much force to yank them off but they sure as hell won;t come off easy. Do I just rip them off no matter how hard it is?

 

[Chicoloco]

ooh ok that's true! Thosw couple of gallons do make a difference. i just divided again with 2 gallons less 12.5 and it makes 25 so yeah i need to do that.

 

[Kansei]

OK....

So just out of curiousity, how hard is it to take off the rubber caps to the spark plugs on numbers 1 and 3 (# 2 and 4 don;t have that rubber cap)??? Since I have never done this before, I don;t want to use too much force to yank them off but they sure as hell won;t come off easy. Do I just rip them off no matter how hard it is?

yeah just give them a good yank. if there wasn't any dielectric grease on them they can be really tough to get off.

 

[Tasty]

Miles/Kms per tank is a useless stat. Please calculate your mpg properly. Run until empty. Fill the tank up completely (2nd time pump shuts off). Reset your trip. Run to empty and fill up again. write down trip mileage and number of gallons put in the car. Divide miles by gallons to get immediate results. For more accurate results repeat the process several times and sum gallons, sum mileage, and divide. On my P5 I usually get 28-31 mpg but it has slipped a little toward the low end now that the car has 76K miles on it. My MS6 gets 19-20 thus far, woohoo.

What? No. You fill up, reset the trip meter. Next time you fill up, write down what's on the trip meter, then divide that by the # of gallons you pump in. There's no need to fill up twice, add, divide by pi, and wait for the moon to line up with Europa. This method will give you pretty damn accurate mpg, and it's the way people have been doing it for eons.

I really don't get all the whining in this thread anyway. Our cars were only EPA rated at 25city/31hwy mpg. If you're in that range then you're pretty much on. I get 31.2 in mixed driving. That's solid the last 3 times I've calculated it.

 

[chuyler1]

You have to fill up completely before attempting to track mileage (that's once) and then you have to fill up again after you have tracked mileage (that's twice) to find out how many gallons you used since your last fill-up. You can call it whatever you want but you have to start with a full tank, drive, then fill it up again.

I also recommend running until the light comes on or at least 1/4 tank. You will find you get better mileage on your second half of tank than your first (most likely due to weight).

 

[Tasty]

You have to fill up completely before attempting to track mileage (that's once) and then you have to fill up again after you have tracked mileage (that's twice) to find out how many gallons you used since your last fill-up. You can call it whatever you want but you have to start with a full tank, drive, then fill it up again.

I also recommend running until the light comes on or at least 1/4 tank. You will find you get better mileage on your second half of tank than your first (most likely due to weight).

I think you're saying what I'm saying, but in a different way? (dunno)

 

[newprot5fan]

yeah just give them a good yank. if there wasn't any dielectric grease on them they can be really tough to get off.

well, changed the plugs! My first ever repair or work on my car!

The plugs in there were Bosch with the 4 prongs...they looked black (like soot)

So if the car starts, then I did it right??? It felt some went in better than the others, so I just want to be sure they are good.

I have a question though. When you look up in the end of the rubber plugs, there looks like there is a place for the end of the spark plug to go. But how can it reach the plug? I think the plugs are too deep. That probbaly sounds like a very dumb question, but I am just wondering if the rubber caps just cover the spark plug hole or if they are supposed to make contact witht he plug.

thanks for the help!

 

[newprot5fan]

WEll, had the car out for a run. There doesn;t seem to be any sudden acceleration spots..meaning it seems more smooth accelerating (but also feels a bit weaker) and the idle seems smoother.

Still bucks in reverse and 1st gear. Hard to say if it actually improved.

Is there any chance that I didn;t screw some of them all the way in (maybe crossthreaded?) I don;t think that is the case, but it sure felt like some went in more than others. BUt the car runs fine..no weird sounds..etc...I guess now I am just being paranoid.

When I did pull off the first boot, there was a wire that seemed to pull out of the rubber top. I looked at the other rubber top and the tip of this wire was in the rubber cap, so all I did was push the wire back into the cap until it seemed flush. Did I break anything? If I did, would the car run?

thanks

 

[JoshP5]

I really don't get all the whining in this thread anyway. Our cars were only EPA rated at 25city/31hwy mpg. If you're in that range then you're pretty much on. I get 31.2 in mixed driving. That's solid the last 3 times I've calculated it.

You'd whine too if your mom's SUV was getting better mileage than your P5.

 

[chuyler1]

My P5 bucked in 1st and reverse from the day I got it (if you try to drive slowely or idle it while fully in gear). I don't think changing the plugs would fix that. The plugs should help with fuel economy though. You may want to reset your ECU after replacing them though. Then check the mileage to see if it improves.