Price Of Fuel Versus Trip Distance

[Jurisinceptor]

As the price of fuel continues to rise, the wife and I tend to shorten the distance we travel.

Those trips out of state are few and far between these days. When, not if, the price of a gallon of fuel makes it to $5 or more, we will have to give up our lifelong passion of motorhoming and camping.

As it has been said trillions of times, all good things will come to pass. However, it has been a fine ride with abundant memories.

How nice for you that you have had a "fine ride with abundant memories." What about those of us who are only in our forties and just starting to get the taste of motorhome travel? I bought my first class A last year. Now, I worry that I won't get the chance to travel the country and see the places I have never been. I truly wish that something could be done to regulate fuel prices.

[LivingLikeEachDayIsMyLast]

With a Ford V 10 engine (32 foot southwind MH) with 40,000 miles, the engine is running fine. Any suggestions to when to change the plugs?

What else can I do to help the milage, about 8 mpg now? I assume there are no points, the air filter has been replaced. Ron

Hello Ron, At forty thousand miles my motorhome ran fine until I took it up into the mountains. As soon as it was under a load climbing a steep grade it would start misfiring badly.A new set of plugs fixed it. If you haven't already changed the fuel filter, do it now. Maintaining tire air pressure also helps mileage.

[LivingLikeEachDayIsMyLast]

How nice for you that you have had a "fine ride with abundant memories." What about those of us who are only in our forties and just starting to get the taste of motorhome travel? I bought my first class A last year. Now, I worry that I won't get the chance to travel the country and see the places I have never been. I truly wish that something could be done to regulate fuel prices.

Hopefully things will get better for the newbies out there wanting to experience the road. For me, considering all of the home foreclosures locally, I may set my motorhome up on a half acre lot & rent it out to someone who needs a place to live. At least I can get some monetary return on my investment. Just a thought if fuel continues to rise.

[afchap]

Our 40' diesel MH has a lifetime avg mileage of 7.2mpg. When diesel got up to over $4 a gallon a couple of years ago I found my fuel cost was pretty much 50 cents a mile ...drive 800 miles and spend $400 for fuel. With lower prices we probably are between 30 and 40 cents per mile now, but I still budget close to 50 cents per mile to be sure it is covered. OTR truckers have told me their cost per mile is around $1.15 or more ...they include all routine maintenance/service costs. With those costs in mind, we normally take the shortest route between destinations unless they involve lots of traffic/stop and go. We don't make pointless side trips in the motorhome, and we don't go very far out of the way for "cheaper" fuel as that would not pay.

As fulltimers, we consider the cost of fuel just another part of the cost of "utilities" to keep our "house" in operation. We can control the cost just a little by driving less, but it is a necessary cost to run the house. One thing we do to help hold the cost down is to use a CC (PenFed) that credits us with 5% on each statement for all fuel purchased at the pump. That means $4.00/gal fuel would actually cost us $3.80/gal ...every little bit helps! Actually, the cost of RV parks is much greater over a year's time than the cost of fuel.

[C-677946]

Hey Breeves 43, what all did PDI do to achieve your results? I went to the website and they offer tuning plus a computer control module replacement. Did they do any other modifications?

There are any number of diesel shops out there who can tune your engine. And there are a few who can build up your engine. One of the proven shops, which has been around for years, is Pittsburgh Power/ aka Diesel Injection of Pittsburgh.

[cb5300]

I have a 2004 Monaco Windsor with a ISL400CUMMINS it get 8mpg. I had PDI tune the engine. Now I get 13.5 to 14 mpg.

Hmmm...I assume that this was obtained while going down hill...with a good tail wind.

[bert338]

We had a trip planed this summer to Zion and Sedona, but with fuel prices going up we have an alternate trip plan to Shaver Lake. Back in 2008 we did Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore which added about $300.00 plus to that trip.

Lucky we live in California which has plenty of vacation spots.

[rrlowther]

I am not familiar with PDI...where is it located?

Forgive me, I'm new to the MH world. We just purchased a 40' Safari Zanzibar diesel pusher, 300 CAT. We bought it for business/work. Where is this PDI and how do we contact them. I tried to Google them but didn't find anything.

[wolfe10]

rrlowther,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Can't give advice on your specific question, as the only two posts by the person mentioning PDI were on this topic, with the last post on 2/5/11. May or may not be a valid company. His post that date was the only info that has been posted.

I am, however, very familiar with the Caterpillar 3126/C7 and it's care and feeding.

What year is yours and how many miles on it? That will give you a place to start when looking at what maintenance should be done (or may already have been done).

Brett

[johnf]

I am not familiar with PDI...where is it located?

Try; www.pittsburghpower.com AKA Pittsburgh Diesel Injection

John F

[Jackhal49]

What helps us is we do volunteer work at state parks so we stay at one place 2 months or more and get a free FHU site with utilities. What we save in campground fees and utilities we later spend on fuel.It is a great way to travel the country and have something interesting and helpful to do as well. I don't intend to change my traveling unless diesel fuel goes to $10 a gallon.

Good Luck, All, and Enjoy!

[rrlowther]

rrlowther,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Can't give advice on your specific question, as the only two posts by the person mentioning PDI were on this topic, with the last post on 2/5/11. May or may not be a valid company. His post that date was the only info that has been posted.

I am, however, very familiar with the Caterpillar 3126/C7 and it's care and feeding.

What year is yours and how many miles on it? That will give you a place to start when looking at what maintenance should be done (or may already have been done).

Brett

Forgive me Brett, I just saw your response. We have a 2000 Safari Zanzibar, 40; 300 CAT B series engine. We had a lot of trouble with over heating. First a mis-diagnosed ECM replacement $2,200.00. The the thermostats and a new radiator. Ended up being the doors causing the over heating problem. We cut the louvers out of the doors and installing wire mesh. We have taken one trip so far to Santa Fe from Denver and back. It was 99 degrees out and we had one check engine light about 30 miles outside of Santa Fe.

With the new radiator we had CAT coolant put in it as the repairs were made at a CA authorized repair center. I put in to bottles of Purple Ice Coolant additive and that seemed to help on the trip back.

Right now with towing our Jeep Grand Cherokee dingy we are getting 7.75 mpg. It currently has 39K miles on it. Any thoughts on how we might improve that? Thanks

[wolfe10]

Right now with towing our Jeep Grand Cherokee dingy we are getting 7.75 mpg. It currently has 39K miles on it. Any thoughts on how we might improve that? Thanks

Actually 7.75 MPG with a 40' DP in the mountains, towing a heavy toad isn't bad. And, does that count the diesel to run the generator?

But to improve MPG: slow down-- perhaps 200 RPM over peak torque in 6th gear (so 1640 RPM or so). Drive in economy mode. Climb at around 2000 RPM-- higher uses a lot more fuel.

And, indeed there are a lot of Safari owners who have had to open the rear of their coach to gain adequate air flow. Be sure to keep the front of the CAC clean-- that helps with MPG and HP (lowers intake air temperature) and keeps better air flow to the radiator for less overheating.

Brett

[rrlowther]

Actually 7.75 MPG with a 40' DP in the mountains, towing a heavy toad isn't bad. And, does that count the diesel to run the generator?

But to improve MPG: slow down-- perhaps 200 RPM over peak torque in 6th gear (so 1640 RPM or so). Drive in economy mode. Climb at around 2000 RPM-- higher uses a lot more fuel.

And, indeed there are a lot of Safari owners who have had to open the rear of their coach to gain adequate air flow. Be sure to keep the front of the CAC clean-- that helps with MPG and HP (lowers intake air temperature) and keeps better air flow to the radiator for less overheating.

Brett

Okay what is a CAC? And where is it located? Thanks for the information.

[wolfe10]

CAC= Charge Air Cooler. Also called After-cooler. Also called Inter-cooler. Intake air exits the turbo-- often over 300 degrees F. The CAC is an air to air "radiator" that cools the air to close to ambient temperature before it goes to the engine intake manifold.

If you raise the bed and look inside the fan shroud/between fan blades, you will see the CAC, NOT the radiator. The fan blades sling the dirt to the perimeter, so look closely with a strong flashlight and make sure that the perimeter, particularly lower perimeter is as clean as the center. Restrictions to air flow makes intake temperatures higher and limits air flow to the radiator which is located behind it.

Brett

[theoldman]

Gee, denpalmer, that sounded just a bit political. I won't go into the many reasons why I disagree, but only say that I'll be going to Ireland in April, and wish the fuel there is going to be as cheap as it is here. Heck, I would settle for it being just twice our price. When you check on what I'm saying, remember the fuel there is priced per liter, not per gallon. The old school teacher in me can't help but ask a question! Which companies have posted the most profit for the last year?

I don't care about the cost of anything in Ireland! I care about here, what it is anyplace else does not matter!

And as far as who is making the most money ? Our Gov. is making far more off each gal.

than any oil co.

Me NO I did not want change , I liked it much better the way it was.

Drill baby drill !