Dadhawk's FR-S (6AT Firestorm)

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

I'm curious. Do you ever use a fuel system cleaner/treatment?

No, really don't do anything to it other than standard maintenance, on more or less the standard schedule.

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Edit:Maybe someone's pranking you. They are somehow adding fuel to the car when you're not looking for the fun of watching you go on about how great your car's fuel economy is?

Hey, if they are, hope they keep it up. Free fuel is free fuel!

[alex87f]

That's a very interesting trendline!

Off of the top of my head:

-I've always seen my MPG going up during my ownership of a car, but the longest period I followed it for was 18 months / 20 000 miles. That might be down to learning the car, but it would plateau after two years at the most, not keep going up like yours
-Global warming maybe? A few milder winters & warmer summers may help the engine run cold for shorter amounts of time?
-Oil? Have you always used the same?
-Has there been a no-speeding policy enacted over the last decade that may have pushed you to driver closer to the limit?
-Maybe fuel providers have increased the quality of their product so that it plays nice with DI?
-Driver weight? Did you gain / lose weight?

It might also be down to completely external factors, like you gas station having its flowmeters fine-tuned to read closer to the amount of fuel delivered.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by alex87f

-Global warming maybe? A few milder winters & warmer summers may help the engine run cold for shorter amounts of time?
-Oil? Have you always used the same?

Who knows. The weather in Atlanta is relatively consistent, with mild winters and hot/humid summers.

Originally Posted by alex87f

--Has there been a no-speeding policy enacted over the last decade that may have pushed you to driver closer to the limit?

Not really. I consistently drive no more than 10MPH over the speed limit except rare occasions. Have for decades.

Originally Posted by alex87f

-Maybe fuel providers have increased the quality of their product so that it plays nice with DI?

That's a possibility I suppose. I will say I've never been afflected by "Crickets".

Originally Posted by alex87f

-Driver weight? Did you gain / lose weight?

I'm heavier now than when I bought the car.

Originally Posted by alex87f

It might also be down to completely external factors, like you gas station having its flowmeters fine-tuned to read closer to the amount of fuel delivered.

I suppose that could attribute to it. The station I buy 75% of my fuel from has gone through a major renovation including a change in the pumps since I bought the car.

[Dadhawk]

Over the weekend, I thought I noticed my backup lights were out when backing out of a particularly dark spot in a parking garage at night. Bought and replaced one of the two with an LED that is significantly brighter than the old bulbs.

The second one wouldn't come off by hand and I didn't have the car jacked up so couldn't get to it with a tool to twist it off.

Turns out the bulbs weren't burned out, just completely ineffective over the brake lights. Even with the newer bulb they provide no real help and are completely washed out by the brake lights. I suppose they might help if you have a backup camera.

Not sure why I never noticed that before.

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Over the weekend, I thought I noticed my backup lights were out when backing out of a particularly dark spot in a parking garage at night. Bought and replaced one of the two with an LED that is significantly brighter than the old bulbs.

The second one wouldn't come off by hand and I didn't have the car jacked up so couldn't get to it with a tool to twist it off.

Turns out the bulbs weren't burned out, just completely ineffective over the brake lights. Even with the newer bulb they provide no real help and are completely washed out by the brake lights. I suppose they might help if you have a backup camera.

Not sure why I never noticed that before.

They put the light in the coolest looking location at the time. I replaced mine with LEDs with lenses on them but eventually I seem to recall putting the stock ones back since they made no difference looking out the rear window/mirrors. I had attributed this to having a tinted rear window. But same bulbs in my STI and it looks floodlit through the rear facing camera. I think you need a rear camera to find the 86 backup light useful for driver visibility.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by wbradley

They put the light in the coolest looking location at the time. I replaced mine with LEDs with lenses on them but eventually I seem to recall putting the stock ones back since they made no difference looking out the rear window/mirrors. I had attributed this to having a tinted rear window. But same bulbs in my STI and it looks floodlit through the rear facing camera. I think you need a rear camera to find the 86 backup light useful for driver visibility.

Yea, I have the same bulbs (the ones you mention with the lense in the end so it project) in my Suburban. They'll blind you if you accidentally look at them at night and made a huge difference backing down our relatively steep driveway at night.

[Dadhawk]

(well two days early)

Time to do my annual update on some stats.

It's been a relatively calm year with no unusual service calls, and only a slight tap on the rear from a fellow driver to show for it.

I drove 18,500 miles in the FRS, which was a good bit lower than the previous year (22,123 miles). I did put more miles on my Suburban this year (almost 6,500 miles more than the previous year) so I'm still driving way too much, even during the pandemic. To be fair I only worked from home 1 week during the entire period.

I also averaged 35.3MPG this year, slightly higher than the previous year. I've saved $11,873 in the 9 years in fuel costs over my previous commuter (2001 Chevy Astro).

I'm adding the distance since recall to the annual list this year.

[Dadhawk]

I know it's been mentioned on the forum before, but during the local Colonial Pipeline panic buying event I experienced the issue where if your tank is relatively full, and you add fuel, the gauge does not update.

When I went to "rescue" my son from running low on gas, I filled up two gas cans and since I was already there, and the station still had 93, I thought I would top off even though I was at 7/8ths or so of a tank. (I know, don't judge, I wouldn't have done it if not already at the station).

I added just shy of 2 gallons of fuel to the car. When I started it up, the gauge did not move from it's position halfway between 3/4 and full. it stayed in that position until I had driven around 150 miles then started decreasing normally.

This is the first time I had filled the car up when it was more than half a tank, so had not experienced it before.

Rant 1: For what it's worth all of this would have been avoided if you could siphon gas from the car (or any car). All of ours are new enough to have the anti-spill valve in them. Anyone have any luck siphoning gas out of a late model car?

Rant 2: My son's Focus has a "no gas cap" fuel portal so a standard gas can nozzle doesn't fit through and open it. Ford does provide a funnel but it's a serious pain to use with a gas can. It barely extends outside the car and has a very narrow opening that you have to be careful when pouring fuel into. We are going to have to find a better solution.

[FR-S2GT86]

Whoever came up with that capless fuel tank design is a fricking idiot. If the seal ever goes bad (and it will) it will be an expensive and time consuming fix.

As for siphoning, I tried on my FR-S with no luck. It's easier to pop off one of the fuel lines in the engine bay and pump it out by turning the car on and off several times with the key, getting about 3 ounces out each time. I suppose wiring in an auxillary power source and switch directly to the pump would make it so that you wouldn't have to constantly turn it on and off.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by FR-S2GT86

As for siphoning, I tried on my FR-S with no luck. ,,,

From what I've read, you can probably do it with something like a small surgical tube, but you need something you can snake by the ball in the valve without jamming or breaking it. I think the last time I siphoned gas was more than 15 years ago, so it's not exactly a rush issue.

I have a FloTool Shaker Siphon I bought for $8 30 years ago that still works great for other types of vehicles that don't have the restrictions. Have to check to see if they sell something that works in modern cars.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I know it's been mentioned on the forum before, but during the local Colonial Pipeline panic buying event I experienced the issue where if your tank is relatively full, and you add fuel, the gauge does not update.

Filled up this AM and the gas needle returned to it's normal function, thank goodness.

This is a very odd behavior though. I wonder if it's an artifact of the two sided tank, and what appears to be two level detectors (one in the fuel pump and one in the sender). Can't tell from the exploded diagram if there is a sender in each side of the tank.

[bcj]

The top-up bug was covered really early on here on the forum.
It's a thing.

Fuel gauge not reading properly

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by bcj

The top-up bug was covered really early on here on the forum. It's a thing.

Yea, I know its a thing, just hadn't experienced it before, and even in that thread (which I remembered) there wasn't a really good explanation for it, not that it matters in the end.

[bcj]

It fixes itself ... eventually, so most people got over it, for some values of over.