Questions on my new VX

[valenki]

I got my VX 2 days ago. Still driving with dealer plates. THe est ride ever in the 2 feet snow. I got a lot of questoins though , please look at my other post and help me out with what you can. My biggest concern is how to make my VX more fuel efficient. Ive been only able to squeez out 300 miles from the full tank. And my VX only has 15k on it. Any Ideas? I already checked the tire pressure and air filter. All seems to be working fine. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance

>>>Taken from other post

Mean while I have some questions for people that might know the answers.

1. How many miles should I be able to go on a full tank? And what kind of gas should I fuel it up with??

2. Should I do a tune up? Even though the car has only 15k on it?

3. Should I change transmission oil?

4. Are there any other maintenance I should do from the start?

5. The rear seats are very comfy, but getting in is a problem cause space is so tiny even if I move forward the front seats.

6. What 's the max speed in 4-low ?

7. Is it a good idea to put in a performance air intake , if it is, what's the best one?

8. Do we ever have VX meets here in New England? If yes, when?

9. Is it a good idea to re-paint the plastic skirt (bumper) , if yes what kind of paint is the best to use???

>>> Separated out from other thread.. Better exposure... wsg

[Moncha]

Welcome to the family!!


Originally posted by valenki

Mean while I have some questions for people that might know the answers.

1. How many miles should I be able to go on a full tank? And what kind of gas should I fuel it up with??

Use mid grade fuel. I average around 300 to 350 per tank.. The VX was NOT meant to be fuel stingy. Full time 4 wheel drive and 4000lbs takes alot of fuel.

2. Should I do a tune up? Even though the car has only 15k on it?

If it's running good no. Have a good mechanic check it..

3. Should I change transmission oil?

Did the previous owner provide you with documentation of services? Do it any way. At 15k it's due.

4. Are there any other maintenance I should do from the start?
All regular maintenance ahould probably be done just to be on the safe side.

5. The rear seats are very comfy, but getting in is a problem cause space is so tiny even if I move forward the front seats.

Yep!

6. What 's the max speed in 4-low ?

??? There is no listed max speed.. You will use a lot of fuel using this.. I've run up to 50mph.

7. Is it a good idea to put in a performance air intake , if it is, what's the best one?

Some swear by them other.... I don't use one

8. Do we ever have VX meets here in New England? If yes, when?

Yes, keep checking the meets section (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=13)

9. Is it a good idea to re-paint the plastic skirt (bumper) , if yes what kind of paint is the best to use???



There are a few that have... It's not a nessesary deal but to each his own..


Hope it helps some.

[edyavno]

Hey valenky, welcome to the board. Moncha pretty much answered all your questions.
The only thing i want to add is about painting the cladding: looks like it's not a good idea to paint the cladding, I recall a few people who've done it saying that they have to re-paint periodically because it starts to chip. However, a few people have had success applying line-x (http://www.line-x.com). A member here recently did a first color version of it:
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=995&papass=&sort=4

PS what does "valenki" mean?

[Dallas4u]

Ok... Scott, how the HELL do you get between 300 and 350 per tank???? Even before my supercharger I would only get AT THE MOST 280... that would be on the highway, running as far as I thought I could before running out of gas. Usually, around town, I couldn't get more than around 230.

By the way... fuel efficiency hasn't changed much, if at all, with the S/C for me. If it has then it's because I lay on the throttle a bit more. I still see around 230 TOPS in town.

[johnnyapollo]

I get around 300 per tank, more if I'm travelling. I usually fill up at about 280 and there's still a lot of gas in there (It'll take 18-19 gallons). My usual romps around town put me more in that 280 range. Best I've done is 330 all highway/travelling.

I have a PV catback and Hot Shots intake with no special tuning. Can't wait to see what the SC does to my mileage.

-- John

[Moncha]

Originally posted by Dallas4u
Ok... Scott, how the HELL do you get between 300 and 350 per tank????

Maybe different driving styles... (No I don't drive like an old lady)
My average mpg is 15.357 and I fill up when my light comes on usually around 21gals. You do the math

[Randy]

I usually get to 340-360 before my light comes on and that is mostly 80-85mph interstate driving. I was helping my son move last weekend and had to travel with his moving truck at 55mph and actually got to 420 before that light came on. It took 21.1 gallons.

[hitnrun74]

Wow, I didn't even know we had a fuel light. I'm kind of funny about fuel though. I usually fill up when I'm at about an eighth of a tank. No clue what my gas mileage is. Although if I was concerned I wouldn't have bought the VX.:D

[TDAWG]

1st off Welcome to the family Valenki.
As for ur question Moncha pretty much answered the way I would.
We jsut had a New Emgland meet on 2/15 at Mohegan Sun and froze our ARSE off but it was fun. BBVX and VXMZN are from the MASS area so is ScottinMA and a few others. If you want to increase the front seat for passenger to get in the back do a search I believe someone makes custom brackets for the VX.

[valenki]

Hello to all.

I highly appreciate everyone's input and attention to my questions. I will definately make it to the next New England Meet.

To answer your questions , Valenki is a nik. My e-mail is valenki@aol.com When I got the VX the dealer didnt have a manual or service record or even a wheel lock key. But I really beat them on the price though.

Meanwhile I have been getting worried by my fuel economy. 22 X 17 (average mpg) = 374 . Therefore I should be getting at leats 350 miles before the light goes on. But I am barely getting 250 driving on the highway, and it's killing me cause I have to drive ~150-200 miles every day for work.

When I had my S70 T5 , which had a 300 HP turbocharged engine and a manual tranny, it did 24 MPG on the highway . After I did a tune up ( New magnacore wires, supersonic spark plugs, gas filter, tranny oil change, k&N filter) it was doing 30+ MPG

So here I am trying to find ideas on how to boost my fuel economy. Several Ideas came up

1. Those Tornado gas savers ??? Havew anyone tried those on their VX ??

2. Air intakes. I know HS and Calmani makes those for the VX, anyone seen an increase in mileage with those??

3. Check out this link , I found an "automizer " on e-bay, is this "BS" or truth ?? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2404304058&category=6764

4. I have heard that VX has special wiring and platinum spark plugs that dont need service till 100K , is that true ???

5. Any Ideas on how to make the VX lighter ?

I will try to put up my pictures from yesterday's snow riding. Also, today comming from work I got really pissed at one guy who cut me in my lane getting on the highway. I stepped on the gas and in 2 seconds my VX went from 40 to 70 mph , @ 6000 RPM giving out an airplane-like roar from the engine.......what a rush through my veins.... god bless the "ZIP team"

Mr. Forum moderator, thank you for making my questions more visible. I will reccomend this site to all of my friends and VX fans.

Thanks to everyone again, Val

[Dallas4u]

SPAZZ... we actually have something in common! :)

I couldn't tell you what the deal is, but I just can't seem to pull much more miles per tank than 280 - 300, and that's if I'm on the highway the entire time. Is there someone out there that can think of something internally that can be checked??

The good news is that after moving to Portland I don't have to drive far to get anywhere I need to go. In Dallas I use to drive 20 miles a day (other jobs I had in the past use to be more like 40 miles a day)... so I can save a bit on mileage here.

[SCUDD]

Same hear,about 250...mileage on this thing just plain sucks..it's about the same as my 24 year old V8!! Oh well, just the price to pay for driveing such a COOL vehicle!!
Rodney

[valenki]

Hello again to everyone.

Following up on our discussion, for me personally, having to drive 200 miles per day 250 or 400 would make a big difference for my gas bill. With 17.9 average MPG stated by the manufacturer
22.5 X 17.9=402.75 so ~ 400

So here I am trying to find out why with only 15k miles my 99 VX is so thursty. At Isuzu , they told me that it's cause of the cold weather, but I dont believe it to be the big picture. I realize it's a two ton truck with a 3.5 , but even though , no matter what they tell you, it cant burn as much gas as an89' 8 cylinder ford truck.

Today I tried STP fuel treatment and drove to Fall river, then Brighton, Lynn and then Cape and back. About 290 miles and I still have 1/4 of the tank left , so I reccomend trying it.

I am also going to bid on one of those tornado air systems. I heard that they help some cars.. Anyone tried it ??

Also, is there anyone out there who had tried ultra-sonic spark-plugs on their VX.. Did it save any gas?? When I had the S70 T5, those worked well for me.

Also, those of you who tried calmini or HS air intakes, what kind of result did it have on the power/mileage.??

I have already wrote about the fuel atomiser on E-bay , anbyonw looked into it?

Engine treatment, have anyone tried them, what works well for the VX??

What does Power Drive do ?? Can I apply it on the highway to increase fuel economy??

If anything , what did help improve the gas mileage on your VX ?
Please share your experience with the crowd.... thanks and best regard, Val

[vx69]

I have tried lots of stuff to get the VX to get better MPG and I have found that i can get 19 if I don't drive to sparatackly on the highway and use the cruise a lot. also what helped is changing to synthetic fluids in everything tranny, engine, differentials, and TOD, plus the grease on the proppeller shaft. I also noticed that if I am using 5w 30 synthetic engine oil that helps, but I have heard not to use that weight when the temperature is going to be close to 100. I now have a SC and with that plus all the other stuff I have done, I normaly get between 19 and 21 if I drive concervitavely. Also every time I change my oil I use a motor flush I think mine is from Gunk or liquid wrench.

[Moncha]

To keep the subject where it started I merged the thread.

You are off a little in your numbers. I hope you don't put in 22.5 gals everytime you fill up as that is the capadity of the tank.. With that aside, the posted mpg that the manufacturer states is that of a perfect world.. THe are fule differences and winter in most states does mean different additives like ethanol.. Ethanol is used to reduce emissions but it will decrease performance and mileage.
You do sound as if there is something wrong but a little more info could help.
What brand of fuel do you buy?
What octane are you using?
What's your air filter look like?
What are you driving habits? (Jack rabbit starts, sudden stops)

The power button only changes the points at where the tranny shifts. With it on it lets the engine rev a little more to get higher in the torque curve. I've not noticed a difference as to mileage with or without....

Stay away from the snake oil products as very few of them work.

[andy454]

I f you are getting that low of milage than you need to take it in and have the technician look at the fuel trims. This will tell you if the vehicle is running rich and trying to pull fuel from the cell. Here is how the block learn works. You have a 3d fuel map in the calibration that has values for ms injector pulse time. Based on feedback from the o2 sensors this value can be made positive or negative. Positive means it is adding fuel to that particular cell in the fuel map and the oppisite if the numbers are neg. It should be able to keep the fueling normal unless the trim values max out. You may also want to to take a look at the baro reading and coolant temp reaging. Not the one on your dash, but internal to the pcm. If the coolant temp is wacked it could be reading off of a coolant comp map that would be adding fuel for a really cold situation. Just a few things to try.

[Moncha]

VVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!


That was the sound of that post going over my head!!
I'm not technically challenged but..... :winkg:

[andy454]

Sorry Scott
I sometimes get into fueling a little too much. There are two fuel corrections the pcm can make to the final fueling. One is short term and one is long term. The short term is correcting the fueling right now. The long term value is corrected form the short term value. So if short term is -15 this means that is is taking away 15ms of fuel from the base fuel for that particular cell in the fuel map. If this # stays at the -15 for a calibrated amount of time it will start to change the long term value to a -15. After this happens the short term will count back up and should get back to near 0. Now the long term is -15 and the short term is 0. This would tell you that the enine is running a little rich but was able to correct for it. I would like to see the long near 0.
+- 5. Hope this helps

[Moncha]

There you have it! Take this info to your local technician.. Of course, the tech will freak but at least you have some ammo..

Thanks Andy!

[Zu4two]

I've got a question for you Andy. I have a supercharger on my 3.5, and am worried about running too lean and blowing up the motor. Is there a way to see just how much "headroom" the injectors have by checking the long term trim value you mention above?

A while back, there was some talk about injector size for our engines. Is it true that they are only 200cc units? This seems a little small compared to the 400-550cc injectors they're running on Hondas.

A local tuning shop told me that they could "splice" an aftermarket AFC unit into my PCM and get me the adjustability to run higher boost (more fuel). Is there any way to hack the OEM fuel maps?

I wonder if Isuzu ever thought people would be hot rodding their motors!

Thanks for all your valuable knowledge. :)

Kirk

[Tone]

I’m running 5lbs of boost and still running rich. The 19lb stock injectors can handle boost up to about 10 PSI IF the ECU can be tweaked which is possible with a product called the UniChip that may be included on stage kits in the future from Alpine.

[valenki]

Thanks to everyone for your help, especially Moncha for helping me with the forum.

I use 87 octane gas and I buy it from the same people for over 6 years.
I drive like an old lady, cause I had my license suspended for 1 year and I just got it back feb 14. 1 more ticket and they ''ll have it again . I start off very slowly at the lights and use cruise all the time on the highway set on 64.

With the STP I went 340 miles on 18.7 gallons which means my MPG was ~18 , for me that was a significant gain. I am not sure if STP gas treatment did the job or some other variables are at hand, but there you go.

Also, I have a delema. My air filter looks very new. I am wondering if I should put in a K&N or Calmani?? What will give me better fuel economy?

And to those of you who have an air intake mod, where do you get them, S or calmini and how did it impact you MPG ??

What kind of spark plugs are you guys using?? After changing the factory ones, did you see any change in MPG? Any one tried ultra-sonic plugs on their VX's ???

Thanks for your time guys