DSII Gas Mileage ?

[pvenuti]

I have a 2000 DSII with 78k miles on it that get's driven about 30 miles a day. 25 of those miles are highway at 65 MPH and the other 5 are around town miles. I'm only getting about 13 MPG using the low grade gas and thought that this seemed excessively low. Can anyone else please comment on there gas mileage and associated driving habits along with the grade of fuel that you are using.

Also assuming that 13 MPG is low can anyone suggest where I should start to look for a resolution to this problem. The truck runs fine idles well has good acceleration I just thought that 18 MPG seemed more reasonable.

 

[joey]

First do you have any aftermarket parts on your disco? (i.e. roofrack, bumper, running boards, larger tires).

If you do, remove them. If you don't don't add any. Then get the highest octane fuel you can buy at your local fuel station (i.e. 92 or 93) Then when you start your Disco don't let it idle more than a minute before driving. Don't press the gas pedel very hard, gradualy accelerate (kind of like "Driving Miss Daisy") Then when you get on the interstate don't drive faster than 60 mph. also Don't try to speed up to pass anyone. Do this for a week then let us know how it goes. You should see up to 18 MPG at this point. If not you missed one of the above items.

 

[pvenuti]

Ok, I have a set of Thule racks just plain bars no accessories on them. I also have the standard brush bar with light guards. Tires are standard size and have around 5k miles on them. I will change the grade of gas I'm using and let you know if I see an improvement.

 

[joey]

I would also look a synthetic oils throughout the vehicle (i.e. oil, diffs, trans etc). And a good tune up (air filter, plugs, wires). This may help as well.

 

[NHESS81]

With the gear you have, 13 is not too far from realistic. It sucks. Have you had this disco for a long time? Did you used to get better mileage? Anyway, Joey pretty much nailed it, you have to drive it like a snail, is it fun no, but you do get up to the speed limit eventually ahha. Id say it takes me about 30 seconds to get up to 50+MPH, dont get me wrong the disco has plenty of power and can beat some street cars to 60, but if you want mileage you let the lil kids in their hot rods accelerate and get ****** off behind you as you slowly get up to speed. I drive between 70 and 75 on the freeway *the only good thing about living in CA and driving I-5) and get 15-16MPG and this is with 89 octane-yes, I know my Landy girl wants the top shelf, but I can barely afford that much, I treat to 92 once in awhile, but as long as my MPG and nothing else seems to suffer I am not too concerned. That is about 200 miles a week with maybe 50 in town driving. Discos HATE idling and they HATE stop and go driving, if you drive around town expect 13 at best. But in your case it could be a lil better...good luck on gettin more bang for your buck!

edit: oh yeah, im rockin a 97 D1 with 110,000m...that lil bugger is still runnin strong!

 

[witecaphyr4u]

Our dealer told us to expect a best of 15. We drove form Texas to Iowa then to Minneapolis then back to Texas. Most tanks were right around 15. One tank we hit 17 and one was down around 13. Most driving was around 70Mph. The lowest tank had in-town driving mixed with a trip through a muddy cornfield to see some horsed(I have a 3yr old). BTW this is an 03 with <40k and running midgrade(89-91) fuel.

 

[ericksd]

I have a 99 DII and I get about 13 with 50/50 highway/city.

Roof rack with 4 Hella lights and factory brush guard with 2 LR Lights.

Just took the roof rack off to fit it in the garage, but I wont know what improvement that makes until I get some low compression and misfires sorted.

Dan

 

[pvenuti]

Thank you everyone for your reply's. I cant see pulling the rack or brush bar off so I guess I should just be happy that it not poor mileage caused by a poorly tuned engine.

 

[Jeff Discos]

Something interesting.

I just changed the two front O2 sensors on my 97 D1. It has 128k miles, and always ran good, and got up to 17mpg on the highway going an average of 70-75 mph, and 15 in town.

Now, I'm getting max of 16-17 on the highway, and around 13-14 in town. I think it's strange to be getting poorer mpg in town or on the highway with new O2 sensors. It does have noticeably more power, and the engine sounds even better than before, unfortunately with noticeably less mpg. Isn't this mpg change the opposite of what should happen with new O2 sensors?

 

[witecaphyr4u]

Jeff, could it be that your pushing it a little bit more with the added power? To me its kinds habitual when I get a new power adder to go out a push on it a little more than normal.

CS