Fuel mileage record

General information about the first-generation Nissan Maxima in the US. What was the Datsun 810 became the luxury leader Maxima in the US in 1981.

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TheDieseliminator
Posts: 207
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Florence, AZ

Fuel mileage record

#1

Post by TheDieseliminator »

Well I have quite a story to tell. I don't know if some may remember but I listed my all time best miles to a tank of fuel at 490.6 miles. Not too bad. Well a week ago I filled the car up to see if I could obviously break this current best record. After I got done filling up I had put exactly 14.621 gallons of fuel in according to the reading on the fuel pump. Of course the station I went to you had to prepay for the fuel (which I really don't like and hate), so I got $39.00 diesel cause I thought it would fill up my car for sure. Turns out when I got to the 39 mark it read 14.621 gallons of fuel and I could have gone another gallon I'm sure. The sedans run what I believe to be a 16.4 or 16.5 gallon tank. I just thought oh well I'll try to see if I still can beat the record even though I didn't totally fill it all the way up. Well yesterday marked the day I was on E for that tank of fuel and I was really pushing the car as far as what the guage was reading. It was lower than E, of course with the little orange warning light on below, and I was about a mile away from the same exact fuel station when I ran out of fuel going up a hill. Turns out all I had to do was get over that hill and then it's all downhill to the fuel station from there. I could have made it!! But as stubborn as I am I've ran out of fuel more than once in that car because of trying to pinch every mile I can get out of it. I failed no doubt about it yesterday and had my dad come bring a fuel can to get her running again. Past all that and what most will want to know is the tripmeter read 518.9 exact miles when I ran out. All I have to say is it was kinda bad and good that I ran out of fuel. Bad in that it took time to come save me and get the car started back up and good that I got a 110% accurate calculation of the fuel mileage I busted out on that past tankfull. You guys do the math and only become amazed. That becomes my new all time record and not bad for a car that has a leaking injection pump, 222,500 miles, and recently rebuilt fuel injectors (within 10k ago that is). I have since refueled the car all the way up and was able to put about a total of 15.1 gallons of fuel in it before it was filled to the hilt. And by hilt I mean I fill up the car so I have fuel or I guess foam basically all the way up to the filler cap. Some may consider that crazy, oh well I try to get filled as high as I can. If you think about it I should even be able to go higher than the 518.9 mile mark since I filled up more this time. We'll have to see and I'll get back to you guys about a week from now after that tank is getting close to E. You just can't beat the efficiency of a diesel engine! :wink:

Salvy
1982 Datsun Maxima diesel wagon w/ 228k miles
*occasional daily driver*

1982 Datsun Maxima diesel sedan w/ 252k miles
*now off the road as a parts car and sent to the yard :( *
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kassim503
Posts: 1027
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Stony Brook, NY

#2

Post by kassim503 »

Thats reallly good mileage! congratulations!



Most pre-paid stations can give you change back, but you have to go back inside the booth and most of the time its just not worth the wait in line thing over again.


Hows gas prices over there? I noticed the numbers at the pump drop a dollar a gallon over here.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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asavage
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Location: Oak Harbor, Wash.
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#3

Post by asavage »

While not as big a deal (perhaps) as gasser electric injectors, it's not a good idea to run the injection pump (in diesels) or electric fuel pump (in gassers) without fuel: the fuel is the lubricant.

On gasser fuel injectors, they'll still fire even though air/fuel or no fuel is around the pintle, and they overheat and can die fairly quickly.

On diesels, the injectors don't move once air is in the high-pressure lines, so they don't wear, but they can overheat anyway if the engine is up to temp. This has been a problem on long downhill runs. But the real problem is in the IP, where you'll have a fuel/air mix churning around, which is not an ideal lubrication situation.

Summary: avoid, do not encourage, running fuel injected engines out of fuel.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
83_maxima
Posts: 423
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Denver

#4

Post by 83_maxima »

The FSM says to "never run the fuel pump dry." This is for gas cars of course.
My diesel VW has no fuel pump, I don't know about the diesel Maxis.
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asavage
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Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Oak Harbor, Wash.
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#5

Post by asavage »

83_maxima wrote:My diesel VW has no fuel pump . . .
Yeah, it does. It's a vane-style transfer/lift pump built into the front end of the IP. See part No. 7 in this pic:
Image
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
TheDieseliminator
Posts: 207
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Florence, AZ

#6

Post by TheDieseliminator »

kassim503 wrote:Thats reallly good mileage! congratulations!
Thanks for the compliment. I certainly don't encourage running out of fuel, but I've done it 4-5 times in my car owning it over a 3 year period. But still I would think other members would consider the fuel mileage to be pretty darn good. Anyone else get this good with a sedan or wagon? I'd think a 5-speed sedan could do better than my car given I have the automatic trans.
kassim503 wrote:Hows gas prices over there? I noticed the numbers at the pump drop a dollar a gallon over here.
The cheapest I have seen "87" gas and diesel fuel for around my area is at a Hess station right across the street from work. On Friday leaving work it was $2.19 for gas and $2.47 for diesel. Not horrible and hopefully it gets down to the $2 mark.

Turns out I ended up using this tank of fuel a lot sooner then I thought I would given yesterday I took a 340 mile road trip in the car to go pick up a 5-speed 4WD diesel transmission for my 86 Isuzu Trooper. On the way back from the junkyard I had to stop at a fuel station to get some fuel as that orange fuel light came on. Total miles on tripmeter read 505.7 miles and exceded the 500 mile mark which is still great. This all has to do with being frugal on the pedal and not "flooring" the car ever in the whole time you're doing a test from the F/----to----/E mark on the fuel guage. It's still good to know that efficiency is still there on this old of a diesel car.

Salvy
1982 Datsun Maxima diesel wagon w/ 228k miles
*occasional daily driver*

1982 Datsun Maxima diesel sedan w/ 252k miles
*now off the road as a parts car and sent to the yard :( *
User avatar
kassim503
Posts: 1027
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Stony Brook, NY

#7

Post by kassim503 »

anybody clock an average highway mileage for the gasser?

Im about to do two round trips from here to binghamton next week, it is about 882 miles in mild/ light hills. Anybody clock the highway mileage in a gasser max? I wanna know how much and if its worth taking the bus or not.

Im not sure what my mileage is, but I think I can give an approx, from Long island to buffalo, ny, done the trip in 65 bucks, 72 mph crusing, sometimes down to 70, and that should convert to 20-19 mpg, but that included long island, inner nyc driving, and pennslyvania hills that I had the hammer down for mabye 3 hills, should make too much of a fuel economy difference.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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