Monitoring Fuel Consumption/Mileage

[edfrank]

Hello,

Has anyone found any devices that will allow you to monitor fuel consumption/mileage in real time? There are a number of devices like ScanGuage in various forms for cars and light trucks, do any of these work for diesel buses?

Ed

 

[bus-bro]

Not something I really want to know. Dollars per mile might work for me, though. :?

 

[lornaschinske]

Doesn't some of the GPS devices do that... the pricier ones?

I have that ability on my Jeep. It's kinda worthless to me. The overall MPG is more useable.

 

[bus-bro]

You would need a device to measure fuel flow, in addition to measuring distance traveled, for a GPS to give you mpg. Someone, more than likely, makes a GPS unit that can accomplish that, but I would imagine it's pricey.

 

[chev49]

Just toss the magellen in the tank...

 

[bansil]

I still do it the old fashioned way, stop at the gas station fill up / top off the tank then divide the number of miles I traveled since the last fill-up by the number of gallons I had to put in the tank... Viola lack of MPG!

Fixed it for you :wink:

 

[Crazy]

I think you can only do something like that with electronic fuel injection. If your system is mechanical, I'm not sure that it is possible.

 

[edfrank]

The goal would be to monitor the MPG variations as I am driving so that I could learn to modify my driving habits real time to get better diesel mileage.

 

[gbstewart]

I have a scandgauge works great, still trying to figure some things out, but it works well, tell real time, monitors fuel flow, mpg av mpg as well all your gauges are there to. it will tell you your cost per trip if you want to know. i think its worth it, figured out my best speed is about 92-94 kms per hour, average 9 us gals per mile. also learned that my cooling van comes on at 211 deg and shuts down204 deg ever time. may not seem to interesting, but if you start climing around 214deg you know u maybe starting to have a problem, other info things like turbo boost,oil press. etc gooogle it

gbstewart

 

[syke]

Any idea what year they started running OBD2 on the school buses? Just curious.

My bus is all mechanical so the only on board diagnostics I have is between my ears. Needless to say, a scanguage would be cool.

 

[gbstewart]

Any idea what year they started running OBD2 on the school buses? Just curious.

My bus is all mechanical so the only on board diagnostics I have is between my ears. Needless to say, a scanguage would be cool.

In cars they started in 1996. I would think it would be close with buses, in heavy trucks the call it j1208 or some thing like that not OBD2. (same thing) so you have to a scandgauge for diesel the connetion is round, just plug in and your ready

gbsteart

 

[syke]

Any idea what year they started running OBD2 on the school buses? Just curious.

My bus is all mechanical so the only on board diagnostics I have is between my ears. Needless to say, a scanguage would be cool.

In cars they started in 1996. I would think it would be close with buses, in heavy trucks the call it j1208 or some thing like that not OBD2. (same thing) so you have to a scandgauge for diesel the connetion is round, just plug in and your ready

gbsteart

Ya I'm familiar with it in autos but had no idea they called it something else in heavy trucks. And a different shaped plug to boot. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.

 

[chev49]

And try buying one of the newer truck computers... neighbor has one just sitting that needs a computer.. you can almost buy another tractor for what the computer costs...

 

[ol trunt]

Just to add another layer of confusion--my 2005 Isuzu TD has the same computer diagnostic link as found on '96 and newer cars. Same plug and with the proper key card can be read with a standard "Snap-on" scanner. Go figure!?!

 

[browncrown]

The bus I'm driving is a 1976 Crown with a Detroit Diesel 6-71 inline. I have found that when I'm on flat ground, it is a constant 10mpg no matter how I drive it. Go over some mountains and it's 9mpg. Nothing much seems to change that. It is what it is and most diesel engines with the load we are carrying aren't going to change much. Computer monitoring is going to be a nice touch, but in the end, it's not going to do much better for the vehicle and size and weight.