[ZXRANDY]

Ok, anyone got tips for getting better fuel milage? My light comes on around 90 miles and thats just commuting w/o getting all over it.

 

[TMY10ER]

The only tip i've ever had was to get a different map made just for fuel economy and another for street-track use......other than that, i get around the same out of a full tank on my 10 and i'm here in TX too for what that's worth..

 

[shift]

I here the 250s get good fuel milage:wink:

 

[PatrickG]

Ok, anyone got tips for getting better fuel milage? My light comes on around 90 miles and thats just commuting w/o getting all over it.

What is your setup?? Do u have a pc3 and what type of exhaust. I can send you mine. I have a PC3 and a full Akro system, I tuned mine and I get 128-135 before my light kicks on and I have gotten it to 152 miles before. Of course the tank was completely empty..

 

[GoFaster]

Ok, anyone got tips for getting better fuel milage? My light comes on around 90 miles and thats just commuting w/o getting all over it.

It is not necessary to have two different Power Commander maps. It IS necessary to have a single good map that operates the engine in the air/fuel ratio range for best economy (15.5 - 16.5:1) at 20% throttle and below, and transitions to best power (13:1 give or take) at higher throttle settings.

Doing this pretty much requires hooking up a wide-band air/fuel ratio gauge that you can watch while riding, and doing lots and lots of fine tuning. But, there is a HUGE difference to be found. I've gotten consumption during normal riding down to around 5.5 L/100 km (about 43 mpg US), give or take, depending on how heavy the throttle hand is. The low-fuel lamp typically comes on at around 220 km indicated which is about 235 km "on the road" (I have a speedohealer which I have used to correct for not only gearing but also the error in the stock speedo, but the side effect is that the odometer is now wrong). This is around 140 miles to low-fuel lamp.

Don't be surprised if you have to take out 25% or more at part-load settings. There's one area on my self-developed map that takes out almost 40%.

DO make sure you sneak up on a lean-running setting so that you don't go too far with it. 16.5:1 air/fuel at part load won't hurt the engine and will run fine, 17:1 is OK for little spots here and there but expect driveability problems if you have wide regions that lean, misfire is around 18:1.

One thing you should also do is advance the ignition timing by 3 or 4 degrees - no more. I did it by slotting the holes in the ignition pickup coil. Lean air/fuel mixtures burn a little slower - a wee bit more timing advance compensates so that the engine doesn't run too hot.

Also by doing this, the engine oil no longer turns black and smells like fuel come oil-change time ... indicating less carbon build-up and less fuel dilution in the oil.

The stock engine (programmed way rich) will actually run okay on 87 octane fuel. If you do this ... no more cheating.

Driveability is fine once you get it right (but not before!). I was concerned about snatchy on/off throttle ... which was true, when it was running near stoichiometric at 0% and 2% throttle. Once I had it leaned out to 16:1 - 16.5:1 in this range, it felt similar to stock, which I can deal with.

It is A LOT of fine tuning to get it right, but oh boy does it ever run well once you do. I wouldn't rely on copying a map from someone else's bike for this, either. The difference between max economy and lean misfire is too close for that to be reliable.

 

[Kwakkid]

I can't really help with the power commander stuff but can say, i was getting 115 miles till the light religiously. That was/is the same on the two gen3's i've owned. I thrashed the living daylights out of my current one in Germany a few months back (and i do mean thrashed!!) I now get 119-120 out of every tank plus it feels way more powerful.

Maybe you should do a trackday or two on her and really clear the engine out. Gotta be worse things to try....right?!:thumbsup:

 

[dmj120]

Ok, anyone got tips for getting better fuel milage? My light comes on around 90 miles and thats just commuting w/o getting all over it.

Check your tire pressure.

I see a lot about PC maps, not having one, I can't comment. But I notice my mileage starts going to hell with low pressures - the front usually feels heavy too.

 

[GoFaster]

Yes, of course, all the same things that kill fuel consumption on any vehicle are still in effect. Tire pressure, dragging brakes, driving around in an unnecessarily low gear, etc.

Most people didn't buy a ZX10R as an economical run-around vehicle. (I didn't.) But when I threw the air/fuel gauge on there and saw 11:1 air/fuel when puttering along at 90 km/h ... something needed to be done, so I did it.

 

[ZXRANDY]

What is your setup?? Do u have a pc3 and what type of exhaust. I can send you mine. I have a PC3 and a full Akro system, I tuned mine and I get 128-135 before my light kicks on and I have gotten it to 152 miles before. Of course the tank was completely empty..

I have a PCIII and a M4 GP slip on, ive aquired some xtra OEM headers and I am gutting them. Havent had a custom tune b/c theres only one place to do it here in El Paso and its around $500 for a tune.

 

[ZXRANDY]

Check your tire pressure.

I see a lot about PC maps, not having one, I can't comment. But I notice my mileage starts going to hell with low pressures - the front usually feels heavy too.

I run high pressure all the time, 40 rear and 38 front.

 

[ZXRANDY]

I here the 250s get good fuel milage:wink:

Funny one

 

[dmj120]

I run high pressure all the time, 40 rear and 38 front.

Oh, then :dontknow:

Oil change, tune up, dunno... sorry mang.

 

[TMY10ER]

I here the 250s get good fuel milage:wink:

:lol::lol:...or a "vespa":mrgreen:

 

[turtle10]

Before tuning and all that, make sure your airfilter is clean!

Better yet get a replacement filter like a bmc or K&N, next is your spark plugs, then make sure your exhaust system is ok.

An engine not breathing correctly will waste fuel and won't produce good power.

Make sure the engine isn't running rich (using too much fuel). The best air/fuel ratio is around 14.7 to 1. This is the ratio for perfect combustion. Either side of that means you are not making maximum power or wasting fuel.

A tuner will always try to achieve this ratio in all revs. Anyone not doing that is a waste of time and money, not worth going to.