atoyot

Yesterday i had to take a major road trip. Drove all interstate from Greensboro, NC to Birmingham, AL and then back to Greensboro. Trip was about (i will have to check for exact as it has slipped my mind) 1000 miles round trip.

I had just changed the oil and filter with OEM and air filter with OEM. I have been using shell rotell synthetic 5w-40 in my Land Cruiser for many years, as well as hearing nothing but good things about it from the oil gurus at bobstheoilguy.com.......or whatever the name of that forum is so that is what type of oil i'm running.

anyways, on the way from Greensboro to Birmingham i averaged 31.8 mpg according to the car. I used mostly cruise control as most as i could. ON the way back i averaged 30.1 mpg.

I used the AC almost entirely. I had the sunroof open some on the way back which perhaps is why the mileage is lower. Trying to give as much info as i can. Let's see, only me in the car with one suitcase, so the weight was down. Stock tires, stock everything. This is a 00' model with 45,000 miles on it.

I was blown away at how good of gas mileage i got. Totally amazed!

steveski

That is some pretty awesome mileage - better than most

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

You should have calculated the mileage manually. Sometimes the computers can be off by as much as 5mpg.

For a large V8 rwd sedan, the LS400 surely gets great mileage thanks to its aerodynamics!

j stuff

iTrader: (5)

what year car do u have, this may play a role too. I hear the first gens arent as good as the newer ones in terms of mpg

Bill Dowd

Keep running the shell rotell synthetic 5-w30 you will play hell wearing out the engine. I use mobil one and there all about the same. A friend of mine used mobil one synthetic in the motor trans rearend and ps on a 90 Lexus and had the same motor trans and ps at 568,000 miles when he traded it in in 2005 this is one of the highest know mileages dealer serviced so far. There is a story about some guy in the San Diego area that us supposed to have just over a million miles on his motor don't know about the trans.

lexie

Serious?!
I thought the computer is more accurate; well, let me track it manually next tank ; I have been getting 14 mpg (100% city driving) with my '98 LS according to the computer.

jcrome04

Amazing mileage! congrats man. Most I've ever squeezed out was 29.3 (with manual calculations) my 97 doesn't have the info screen.

Asia-H.T.

iTrader: (9)

My personal record after 3 fill up's: 20.4mpg

It's an UCF11, manual calculations

atoyot

Bill, how do you figure that? Any info to back that up or are you just a M1 fan? I am also an M1 fan and have run that oil for quite some time. Just recently after doing a ton of research and talking to oil experts, it was determined that the additive package in the Shell rotell synthetic is superior to the M1. it is also about $2 cheaper, which really isn't the point.

After replacing the valve cover gasket in my land cruiser at 200,000 miles and running M1 up until 140,000 miles then switching to shell rotell, the top end was clean as a whistle. Also, oil analysis from blackstone labs confirmed that this oil was holding up just fine and they even suggested stretching my oil changes to 15,000 miles based on my lab results.

I plan on submitting a sample of oil for analysis after the next oil change to see what they say in the LS.

so why would running shell synthetic "play hell wearing out the engine"? i would like to know.

atoyot

Also, i will try to calculate the next tank (mpg) manually to compare the numbers.

rrj_gamz

Ok, I'll ask a dumb questions, but how do you manually calculate your mileage? Miles driven/gallons purchased?

Anywho, I drove to Houston from Dallas this past weekend and I drive around 80 MPH and it takes me approx. 3:45 minutes...On the way down, the computer said 24.7 and on the way back it was 25.1. I didn't slow down or anything but I was creeping on an oil change (almost at 5000) and I probably changed my filters about 12,000 miles ago...

What are some ways to get better MPG?

RA40

iTrader: (6)

The mileage has dropped a slight amount in ours in part due to the tire wheel combo and age. Now at 125K, best on freeway is about 23-24 MPG. City is dismal...I don't want to calculate though I'd take a shot at about 15-16 MPG.

I'd be curious to do a compression check and see how each cylinder is doing but that's a lot of work. Possibly changing the O2 sensors, cleaning up the throttle body and seafoam might nudge it a bit more.

jasonburt

Change your ECU Coolant Temp Sensor. Mine was old and flaky..gained 6 mpg.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

my LS with a dead O2 sensor atm is pulling roughly 22ish mpg highway and 18-19 city

python

iTrader: (4)

mpg is better calculated by this method
fill tank
drive car
fill tank again
miles traveled divided by gallons used = mpg
any other method will not give u an accurate calculation, also its better if u do this on 2 or 3 tanks of gas as this will give u an even better idea of what type of milage u r getting