belsen

Just finished wiring up my brand new Lincoln MKZ Hybrid for towing 4 down. I'm a retired electronic engineer and felt comfortable tapping into the latest in LED lighting BUT only after investigating the voltages at the various segments. I used 6 diodes to connect to the left, right and middle brake/turn/tail lights. Since the car lights are led, I first confirmed that they are powered by 12 volts. The current draw is so small for led's that I was able to use a small gauge 3 pair telephone cable to run from the rear of the car up to the front where the 6-pin trailer connector is mounted on the Blue Ox baseplate. My motorhome and car have separate turn lamps so I didn't have to use diodes to isolate brake/turn circuits. Three of the diodes tie into the 3 sections of tail lights that go across the full rear of the car. One diode for the middle brake light, and two more for the left/right turn lamps. I looked into the Blue Ox wiring kit for my car, but I could see that it was a "drill and insert a bulb" type of design. Well with new led fixtures, there really isn't a reflector section available to drill a 1/2 inch hole since the led's are distributed evenly throughout the light assembly.

I go about 63-65 mph since it seems to keep the engine rpm's higher on the torque curve and she seems to pull the little grades better. If I drive 58-60 then she seems to lose speed faster and downshifts 5th to 4th more often. Unless there's a head wind, then I'm going the slower speeds. Used to get 0.5 more mpg's before ethanol was added to gas. In '07 & 08 I made two loops around the country... LA, Seattle, Minn, Mich, PA, FL, Tx, Colorado, Az. at the time various states were making the Ethanol switch-over. I maintained an Excel spreadsheet accounting for every drop of gas. CA was one of the last states to quit mtbe and add ethanol and I could measure the drop in mpg.

Hey there Wild Bill, this is Duner Bill, My experience is that the speedometer can be way off while the odometer could be accurate. Not sure if you checked the odometer against the mile markers? I would put a destination in the GPS and note the miles to get there. Then read your odometer before/after and compare those. I wish I could average 8 or 9 mpg, I'm around 7 to 7.5 mpg with a 39 ft Chieftain on Workhorse W22 and 8.1L engine pulling a 3600 lb Suzuki Grand Vitara. Happy Trails, Bill

Kevin, this is what he is talking about.........Grade Brake for Workhorse 2001 -2004

Kevin, in my opinion you have to make some changes. 5.5 mpg stinks!!! I have 65K miles on my '04 Chieftain, 39 ft on and extended wheelbase W22 chassis. I usualy get 7.2 mpg pulling a Suziki Grand Vitara 3500 lbs and get 6.5 pulling my 4500 enclosed trailer & sandrail. That is out here in the West where the land isn't very flat. Back east I was getting about 0.5 mpg more. With the Suziki and full tanks I weigh in at a little over 26K. I usually drive 60-65 mph. Since day one I track my fuel, milage and generator hours to calculate mpg's in an Excel fspreadsheet. In '06 I installed Brazel's UltraPower and Cold Air filter modification. My mpg went up about 10%. Then about a year later the country and CA went with Ethenol gas and the milage dropped back down about 10%. I like the Ultrapower because it gives about 60 hp more and keeps the Allison in 5th gear longer and I pull the steeper grades at 50-55 mph instead of 40-45 mph and one gear higher than before the mod. When Brazel's install the UP, they first analyze all the stored engine parameters, and can tell by the fuel trim values and other things if the engine is running "normal". My guess Kevin, is that your engine is not running optimum and you have a lot of soot in your tail pipes, although all the WH 8.1 seem to run rich. Give the Brazel's guys in Centralia, Wash a call ...Jon or Steve. Their website is HERE. If your in Texas, call Oem'y Performance, he installs UP too. Website here. Good luck, Bill

I used Rid-X once to successfully clean out my black tank and get the sensors working again. My '99 Winnie Chieftain was about 3 yrs old and the black tank sensors always read full. I don't use any chemicals in my holding tanks. I don't have any odor problems as the two Xtreme Vents up on the roof work very well. I always travel with about 5 gal of water in black tank and then dump and rinse as soon as I can at my destination. This seems to keep the solid build-up to a minimum. But over time the sensors slowly become less effective. So, to clean the sensors.... After dumping and rinsing, I added a 1/2 of the small box of Rid-X to the black tank and filled the tank to the brim with water. I let it soak for 4 weeks. When I dumped, I couldn't believe the amount of scale that came out. Thin, razor sharp pieces of debris the size of half dollar coins were flushed out. As they say "Your results may vary". Happy Trails, Bill Camarillo, CA