My 1993 Fleetwood Flair
Updated 11-10-2011
This what my motor home looks like. It's a 1993 Fleetwood Flair
26 foot long. Scroll down for info on my trips, better fuel mileage and towing a
toad.
I have edited this web page for more pages, making them load faster. Click on
links to read the article.
Front of motor home. My toad, the Saturn wagon on the left.
We like the motor home, There is a lot more room than the Dolphin 23 foot mini camper with a Toyota pickup chassis that we had.
Fuel mileage is on everyone's mind these days with gas over $4.00 per gallon and climbing Please follow along to see how I improved the fuel mileage.
The initial fuel mileage was 9-10 mpg. This RV has a huge fuel
tank. The factory chart shows 75 gallons. I didn't know that at first,
so I was
surprised at the $75.00 price of fuel @ 2.669 showed the gas gauge only moved
from 1/4 tank to 3/4 tank. (28.10 gallons)
That is 14 gallons per 1/4
tank, or 56 gallons.
The gas gauge must be a bit Scotch somewhere. Actually there 5 quarters on the
gauge.
The dial pointer goes up 1/4 more on a full tank. I am going to make a new dial
of paper and put it over the original gauge.
The empty point will actually be the 1/4 tank mark. I like a big reserve. About
100 miles.
I slowed down to 50 mph and I think I got more like 12 mpg.
I just installed a K&N air filter. and hope to get 15 mpg or more.
I also want to change the oil to 5W40 synthetic Valvoline oil to further reduce
engine friction and save more gas.
The easy step is to wash and wax the motor home to make it a little slipperier in the air.
AC Power solution.
AC power is a must in an RV. Yes, you may have a generator but that won't help when it's off. I purchased a 2500 watt inverter at a yard sale. It was a real bargain, having power cables and a battery switch. I wired it directly to my coach battery and engine bolt for ground. Once I'm on the road I never turn it off. I run my computer, TV, ac fans, and CD AM FM radio with it. Get the inverter with the highest wattage you can afford, it pays off well. It uses almost no power when all the stuff hooked to it is off, making it easy on the coach battery. I am going to put a cartridge fuse from the battery for protection. Read More here.....
Our trip to Albuquerque, NM July 2010
We had a fun summer of 2010 going to Albuquerque NM for my sisters 50th wedding anniversary. It's a long way and the total fuel burned was $774.00
The fuel mileage was 11.88 mpg. Not bad since we would probably gotten less mileage with the old Dolphin camper. I didn't know what the wind resistance was doing to my motor home but I knew that I had to slow down more.
How much more time it takes to drive 100 miles.
If you had to drive 100 miles it would take 1 hour and 25 minutes at 70 mph.
If you had to drive 100 miles it would take 1 hour and 40 minutes at 60 mph
If you had to drive 100 miles it would take 2 hours and 00 minutes at 50 mph.
So it only takes 35 minutes longer to drive 100 miles at 50 mph rather than at 70 mph.
At today's gas prices I will gladly take some more time if I can get 12-16 mpg any day.
Finding out why the mileage was low.
I didn't check my engine computer for best operation then, but
this winter I went to my favorite Auto mechanic whom I have known for many
years.
(Tejchma's Auto Service, Inc
3220 S Getty St, Muskegon, Mi 49444 (231) 739-7341)
John plugged in his expensive tester and quickly narrowed the
problems down to one. The oxygen sensor was bad.
Now I wish I done that when I
had gotten the motor home. It would have saved me gas, and possibly trouble on
the road.
I tried to remove the sensor myself, but found it frozen in in
place.
Back to Tejchma's and John replaced it. Having an acetylene torch and
special impact wrench tools really helped here.
Once installed I noticed that the idle went down to the 650 rpm
instead of 950 rpm that was there.
Now I hope to get up to 15 mpg. With today's
fuel prices that would be a huge improvement.
My experiences with tire straps is below.
2-28-2011 Off to Florida.
The trip to Florida was fun. I found out that towing a toad cost me a lot of gas. My fuel mileage dropped to 7-9 mpg.
My biggest fill up was 66 gallons. About $216.00 Ouch. But I did
make it back to Sohora, KY a 501 miles drive. That's almost half way back.
Total trip mileage was 8.9 mpg. Not too bad towing my Saturn wagon.
Check Air Pressure.
Oh, Yeah! You should check the tires air pressure! I noticed
that the right rear outside dual looked like it needed some air but I was so busy I
neglected to check it. When I got to Lakeland FL at the camp ground I finally
checked it. Egads! No air pressure! I rode all the way here on the inner tire. I
figured that since I didn't run it flat on the ground the tire would be OK.
There was a Goodyear truck tire business right around the corner from Sanlan's
so I took it there. (I tried to jack up the wheel and take it off but couldn't.)
I think they replaced a bad valve stem.
11-3-2011 After a fall trip to Rockville, IN I was installing new spark plug wires on the motor. I had to crawl under the motor home by the front wheels to access the plug wires. I was on the drivers side and glanced back toward the rear tires. I noticed that the left rear inside tire was flat. I tried to pump it up but it had rolled off the rim. The next day I took it to Ginman's Tire in Muskegon, MI They jacked it up and pulled the wheels off. Inspection showed that a nail had punctured the tread. The repair was completed and back on the motor home. I usually do the wheel take off but the RV big tires makes it difficult. Be sure that you have a road hazard insurance package on your RV. A road call for bad tires can be expensive. The Good Sam Club has an excellent one.
It pays to look at your tires each morning before you start your drive.
One good thing about dual tires is you can keep on driving when one goes flat with no damage to the flat tire. Twice now I have had a rear tire go flat and I drive along merrily on my way, not even knowing that the tire was flat.
The moral of this story is always check your tires before moving on. If you want peace of mind, get road side assistance insurance. Fixing a big RV tire can be costly. The Good Sam RV club has inexpensive insurance available. When I head out to Washington state I will make sure I have it.
I was fortunate, it they repaired it for only $37.00 so that was a relief. I think they changed the air valve stem.
Fun with dolly wheel straps.
I purchased an old car dolly and rebuilt it. I rewired the brake
and tail lights and replaced the old tires with new ones.
The old tires held air
but I wasn't going to trust them on a long road trip. The new coat of paint
makes it look new.
The other thing I found out was that the wheel straps didn't fit the 7 inch wide 16" tires on the car. They kept falling off. ..
The way to have fun on a trip like this is to double check everything. Leave nothing unchecked.
Checking Fuel Mileage
Everyone want to know what a big RV gets on fuel mileage. This is a good question. Fuel is a major part of using an RV. It pays big dividends to improve your fuel mileage. even an improvement of .1 mpg will save you money. Everything you do to improve your fuel mileage will big benefits.
I got my MPGuino!
can't use the new OBD 2 computer interface to get the miles per gallon, since the RV has OBD 1 interface. The old interface to the Engine Control Module (ECM) module was limited and didn't have those signals. So someone invented the MPGuino. It is based on an Arduino computer module with interface circuits to pick up VSS (speedometer) signals and fuel injector signals.
Trip to Dayton, Ohio
On May 19, 2011 Judy and I went to Dayton for the Hamvention there. It was a good weekend for this as the weather was good. Hams like to talk and congregate and visit. Hams also like electronic flea markets and great prices from radio manufactures. Every brand of gear was there as usual. The crowd that gathered was good. We spent all day Friday there. That evening we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for supper. They have great Italian food. I had spaghetti and meatballs, yummy! Their portions were large and we took home a large box full. I like the flea market and it is huge. You will spend all day looking.
My MPGuino has died. I think lightening tickled it and de programmed it. Only the gallon per hour function seemed to work. I now have to box it up and send it back to get it re- flashed I was able to make some use of the Gallons Per Hour function. I could see that 3.80 GPH was at 50 MPH. The GPH would rise to 5.0 at 60 MPH. It was neat to see the GPH go to zero whenever I lifted the gas and coasted down hill.
The fuel usage was good. My first fill up was in Dayton. The price per gallon was $3.669 and was 27.25 gallons The miles driven was 354 miles making 12.99 mpg. I didn't fill it to the top, just to the full mark. There is 1/4 more to the actual top. I stopped at $100.00 when the pump shut off automatically. I could have put in 10 more gallons which would be 9.5 mpg.
The trip included Pittsburgh, PA. The Detroit Tigers were playing there in inter-league play. We arrived Saturday morning and as we exited the e-way the loop around the foot ball stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers on the west side and was jammed with traffic. It took an hour to get around to the entrances for the parking lot. Now it was full. We searched for a place to park and found one at a gas station. The Tigers lost 6-2 but it was a fun game anyway. We left for Michigan up I-71. We stayed over night at a rest area.
We got fuel in Westlake, Ohio. I again put $100 in the tank and
since the price per gallon was $3.659 the gallons were 27.33. the miles driven
was 450, that makes it 16.4 MPG.
This is the best I have seen on the motor home so far. Slowing down 1-2 mph did
the trick. Although 50 mph seems so slow, I enjoy it, since the driving is
easier.
The 16.4 mpg may be a fluke. Who knows?
I'm retired and we can take a little more time to get somewhere, enjoy the scenery and save gas too.
Fighting Friction
Another good way to reduce running friction is synthetic oil for the rear end differential. The grease that is used is 90 weight or more. Slipperier oil would definitely help.
I am checking the costs of implementing the products for engine oil, transmission fluid and differential lube. It looks really good.
One thing is extended mile oil changes. Up to 25,000 miles between oil changes are possible. Even though the oil costs more, it is less expensive to run the synthetic oil.
AMSOIL
Protect your with Synthetic Oil and Lube.
A good rear view camera.
A rear view camera is essential. My old 1992 Fleetwood Flair had
side mirrors with blind spot mirrors and a small mirror on the windshield. I put a wide view mirror on it. That
helps, since I now can see the side traffic. The rear view is very small. My
solution is a GE video camera from Wal-Mart. It costs about $45.00 and has a 60
foot wire from camera to monitor connector. I had an old DVD car monitor with an
AC power supply. I placed it in a cardboard box cut out to fit it. I ran the
small cable back to the rear bed and put the cable under the rug. Now that I
have the camera finished I will try to run it above along the walls. I run
it off the AC inverter.
DVD Monitor in cardboard box. Read More Here
Looking at the camera/mirror with it rotated 180 degrees
so you can see the construction.
More Ideas for Better Fuel Mileage.
My next direction is aerodynamics. I want to put an air dam below the front bumper and see what that will do. I built the Air Dam. It was cheap too. I bought a 5 13/16 wide X 7 foot Vinyl board from Menards and 19 1/4 20 X 1 inch bolts, lock washers and nuts and seven 3X3 inch right angle brackets, Stanley # 038613113442. All this for about $20.00 The Vinyl board was on sale.
Find the center of the board. Mark that. Mark hole locations 14.4 inches from center and 28.8 inches from center. The end holes are set 2 inches from the end. This makes 7 bracket holes.
With the back side up with the ribs on it, set the brackets over the board and drill the holes 1/4 inch diameter each, 2 holes per bracket. Note that the bracket holes are staggered. Once those holes are drilled put the brackets on. Mark the center line of the RV and mark the lower part of the bumper and drill a 1/4 inch hole. Now holding the Air Dam up the the RV bolt up the center hole. Mark one hole on right and drill it 1/4 inch diameter. Bolt that in and go to the left side and drill the next hole. Continue like this until all the brackets are mounted. Go back over the bolts making sure that they are all tightened up. It should only take about an hour.
My new air dam. This shows
the 3 inch angle bracket mounts and bolts.
I hope that this will save me a few tenths of a mile per gallon of fuel. Not much but it all adds up. It was cheap enough to try it. Under $20.00 One afternoon to install it.
On my trip the to Kokomo, IN on 7-1-11 to 7-3-11 the mpg ran about 11.9 to 13.1 on the MPGuino, I was able to run at 55 mph about 4 miles per hour to faster. At least I will get there quicker. I think the gas I got from Sam's Club had Ethanol in it, or it was just crummy fuel. I didn't get much mileage from it. I put $200 of fuel in, 56.5 gallons and burned it all up. I'm back to a 1/4 tank. It showed 9.21 MPG, not so nice. When I fill it up again I will calculate the actual MPG. It's a bummer that I have to spend $200 to get a fuel mileage reading. I think that I will have to do anther calibration run after that to double check my MPGuino.
Synthetic oil and lubricants.
I am now an AMSOIL Dealer.
You can order
products here, and keep your vehicle running longer.
Your car
can go up to 25,000 miles per oil change by using Amsoil Synthetic oil and
Amsoil oil filter.
This saves
you a lot of money!
If you do 8 oil changes per year for $20.00 each for oil and filter ,
that's $160.00.
One oil change for my RV was about $90.00 (I bought extra oil
for top ups)
I think that is a good deal! Besides, I only had to crawl under my
RV ONCE to change the oil, not 8 times.
I had over 11,000 miles on the Valvoline synthetic oil so I replaced it with Amsoil 5w30 Signature full synthetic oil along with a new Ea024 oil filter from Amsoil. Those filters are the best with 98% filtering. Amsoil synthetic oil are so superior you can run extended drain intervals. Your regular auto can go 25,000 miles or one year what ever comes first! Even though the Amsoil costs more, your costs are lower since you aren't changing your oil at 3000 mile increments. Many oil change stations are now offering to install Amsoil so you won't have to change it yourself.
Aerodynamics
Wheel Skirts for better fuel economy
Wheel skirts have been a way that auto manufactures had used to improve on performance for years. They look neat and may get you more fuel mileage. The wheel openings are huge on my Fleetwood Flair RV. I thought of a way to put some on and it did take me two days of work. Great the results but and they look neat.
Total cost was under $20.00 If it saves me 1/2 mile per gallon it would be good money and time spent. I had the 2" X 2" boards on hand so I saved some money there. The hardboard was only $8.79 at Lowe's
The first thing is to consider if the front wheels can be covered. My wheels are 6 inches deep inside from the wheel fenders so that wasn't a problem here. I got some large pieces of cardboard. It was tricky to hold the cardboard up to the wheel wells and draw the shape for the covers. If you can take off a front and a rear cover off then it is easy to draw the shape. Lay the cardboard down on the floor and put the wheel fender over the cardboard. Take a marker pen and trace the shape. Be sure that the wheel well front is facing down to eliminate any angle in the wheel well. Do the same for the other wheel well. Write down the front and rear covers direction they go. It is easy to mix them up.
If you can't take the wheel fenders off. make sure that there is sufficient clearance to put a bolt or a nut and washer through the board and wheel fender. You have to bolt things on well. I put the bolt and fender washer from the inside of the wheel well and tightened the nuts onto the boards. On the front I had to reverse the direction, I put the bolts through the boards into the wheel well and put the fender washer and nut on the inside. Fender washers have a very large outside diameter and a 1/4 inch center hole. I found my washers at Menards. You need fender washers on the plastic wheel fenders so they won't tear up the wheel fenders.
An unpainted wheel cover
I will be heading to Vancouver WA soon so I'll tell you how they work. I tried running with the covers on then off. It didn't show much if any difference. I guess 55mph is too slow to show a great difference. I think they look neat, and may decrease the amount of dirt that sticks to the RV. I am going to leave them on for more testing as soon as the MPGuino gets verified results.
My overall average MPG was 10.49 for the whole trip. Not too bad. I was hoping for 12 mpg.
More adventures later.
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Tags; 1993 Fleetwood Flair 26ft, better fuel mileage, towing a toad. RoadMaster #2150 wheel strap, Amsoil, MPGuino Fuel Meter Computer.