Car for 100 mile commute?

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: 390pi
One thing no one here is thinking about: fuel tank size.



that's because I can do 800 miles easy with a lot of motorway on 1 tank.


You mean Kilometers?


No, miles...


Yep, I'm sure he's getting close if not better than 60 miles per us gallon in that car. As long as it has a 13.3 gallon or about a 50 liter tank, 800 miles is doable per tank.

 

[Jetronic]

60 liter tank.

I won't be breaking any land speed records trying to get 60 mpg though. But it's definitely doable. It's the first 20 minutes or so when the mileage I get is relatively poor, so longer runs really up the MPG.

 

[supton]

My best tank was in my departed Jetta. I had a good idea what I was getting for mpg, and drove deep into the fuel light on / E showing on the gauge. 853 miles, 53mpg, middle of winter with snow tires on. 14.5 gallon tank but it was about 17 total if you filled the filler neck, and more than a few times I put in over 16 (a bit scary on a diesel).

 

[Jetronic]

If you've got an in-tank lift pump, it's not so scary. The Jetta should have one?

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
If you've got an in-tank lift pump, it's not so scary. The Jetta should have one?


Yeah, it had one. I did change the fuel filter one time w/o priming, and it many key cycles to prime. Did that only once.

 

[Jetronic]

That's how to do it though. No harm if you don't attempt starting. Priming a fuel filter is frowned upon. cycle the keys until you've heard the air going back to the tank. Sometimes you can hearthe fuel pump straining as it's building pressure aswell.

Some engines don't have a lift pump, and the engine needs to be cranked until the feed pump on the hp pump sucks the diesel through. That's nerve wrecking, as it easily takes 30 seconds, sometimes closer to a minute.

Others have a manual pump, that just gets you sore fingers.

Some need the diesel pulling up by vacuum, like a brake bleeder...

I prefer a lift pump by far.

 

[supton]

Seemed it took minutes to prime, using the lift pump. IIRC I started it, which probably was my fail. I went back to priming using the engine oil extractor that I had. Simple, easy, and problem free doing that. Lift pump did die at 255k, maybe I took some life out of it, dunno.

 

[Jetronic]

ok, priming with an extractor is fine, filling the filter with diesel before fitting isn't.

Those lift pumps don't have eternal life, that's for sure.

 

[supton]

No, they certainly did not. Thankfully it died in a "good" location--not on the highway, like the turbo. 25 mile tow to my mechanic. Oddly enough, it died about a mile from a friends house--who happened to have an old Lancer that he wasn't using. Which I had used for a couple of weeks the month before, when the turbo went.

That was an expensive summer--clutch, turbo, lift pump. Wife said it was $4k in repairs in 2 or 3 months time.

 

[PandaBear]

How big do you want it to be? and how much is gas in your area?

If you are looking at Camry size, for 100 miles per day I'd pick a hybrid Camry or Prius V, or Fusion hybrid, or Escape hybrid, etc. Mpg will be low because they are big, vs the standard prius' 55mpg you will get around 34-40mpg instead. Do you want this tradeoff?

If she will be making a lot of money then don't worry about mpg, just buy a big nice car.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
ok, priming with an extractor is fine, filling the filter with diesel before fitting isn't.

Those lift pumps don't have eternal life, that's for sure.
It's bad to fill the filter with diesel ahead of time?

I had a 2004 VW TDI like supton and I just poured diesel into the filter and installed, did no priming and it worked good.

 

[Jetronic]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
ok, priming with an extractor is fine, filling the filter with diesel before fitting isn't.

Those lift pumps don't have eternal life, that's for sure.
It's bad to fill the filter with diesel ahead of time?

I had a 2004 VW TDI like supton and I just poured diesel into the filter and installed, did no priming and it worked good.


did you fill it on the clean side, or the dirty side?

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: Jetronic
ok, priming with an extractor is fine, filling the filter with diesel before fitting isn't.

Those lift pumps don't have eternal life, that's for sure.
It's bad to fill the filter with diesel ahead of time?

I had a 2004 VW TDI like supton and I just poured diesel into the filter and installed, did no priming and it worked good.


did you fill it on the clean side, or the dirty side?
I don't remember.

 

[Jetronic]

Exactly. You could've gotten dirt in your fuel pump and injectors.

 

[supton]

IIRC, the thermostatic T was on the output from the engine. There was a line to the tank, and a line to the engine; and then a large opening which the Tee sat into. That opening may or may not have been the output side of the filter... All I know is, I'd connect the tank line, put in the Tee, and suck until D2 came out. No issues.



No my car, ripped the pic off tdiclub, but looks just like the filter Nick and I had.

I think I may have poured Powerservice into that T a time or two, but once I figured I could just use my oil extraction pump for the purpose I never did again.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: supton
IIRC, the thermostatic T was on the output from the engine. There was a line to the tank, and a line to the engine; and then a large opening which the Tee sat into. That opening may or may not have been the output side of the filter... All I know is, I'd connect the tank line, put in the Tee, and suck until D2 came out. No issues.



No my car, ripped the pic off tdiclub, but looks just like the filter Nick and I had.

I think I may have poured Powerservice into that T a time or two, but once I figured I could just use my oil extraction pump for the purpose I never did again.
Aha! I remember now with that pic. The "T" at the top pops out and there's a hole in the filter basically. I poured the diesel fuel into there.

That was at the end of the mowing season when I did it, lawnmower gas can was empty so I filled it up with diesel. Used it for the filter priming and forgot about it. Then next spring I filled the mower with diesel fuel and it did not start. Took me a week until I realized it was diesel from months prior.

 

[CELICA_XX]

Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
I would lease a 7 Series or S-Klasse.


Hilarious recommendation.