A couple of months ago the mower wouldn't start. Spark? Yep. Fuel? Yep? It couldn't be the air filter, could it? I removed the filter, pulled the cord, and the thing fired right up. Yep, the filter was that dirty. (I know, I'm a horrible small engine owner.)
In reply to David S. Wallens:
BTDT.
David S. Wallens wrote: (I know, I'm a horrible small engine owner.)
Meh. I recently realized that I couldn't remember the last time I checked the oil on my mower, but i think we may be talking on the order of years...Let's just say I wouldn't recommend running your car with the same type of 'dry-sump' that my mower had been running on. 
I do run synthetic in our mower. It's a Honda. It deserves the best.
If ours is lucky enough to get oil, it gets whatever leftovers I can find. This time it was from a partial bottle for the motorcycle we got rid of a few years ago. I figure it should just be happy I haven't given it 10k (although, synthetic
) used oil...Yet. It's a Craftsman. It deserves the abuse.
rslifkin wrote: Diesels and carbed gassers will lose mpg from a dirty air filter. On a fuel injected gas engine, a dirty filter will restrict maximum power output but it won't do a damn thing to mpg.
Pretty much this. Especially on multicarb motors. The difference between a cheap Chinese filter on a set of strombergs and a good set or running open can be 20% total lost HP.
I generally get the K&N forever filters for my vehicles. And generally I notice a small improvement in MPGs and power. An exception to this was in my 2000 Grand Caravan with the 3.8 V6. Apparently the factory air filter is fairly small and due to the thickness of the K&N filter media it just can't flow enough air to work well. It suffered a solid 4 MPG decrease and noticeable loss of power. I swapped back in a paper filter and reversed the problem.
Strange but true.
David S. Wallens wrote: A couple of months ago the mower wouldn't start. Spark? Yep. Fuel? Yep? It couldn't be the air filter, could it? I removed the filter, pulled the cord, and the thing fired right up. Yep, the filter was that dirty. (I know, I'm a horrible small engine owner.)
Heh. Years back, a friend of mine and I were trying to diagnose a non-start issue on a Suzuki GT 380 (one of the 70s two-stroke triples). It clearly had fuel as the plugs were wet, so we heated the plugs with a blow torch to clear off the excess fuel and warm them up for easier starting. It also clearly had good compression that could be felt through the kick starter.
Eventually we pulled of the airbox and found someone had made an "air filter" out of thick carpet underlay. That certainly filtered the air well, but not letting any air or dirt through. Fired up first kick after we removed said air filter.
Oh, and IIRC he got the bike pretty cheap on ebay despite its great cosmetic condition because it wouldn't start.
Everytime I clean to K&N Fitler on the 2004 P71, It triggers a po171 and po174 code. After I clear it, the code clears up.
Clean/ effective filters, clean oil, and good batteries does wonders for big diesels. I am on my first tank with my 7.3, it's running pretty well with a stock intake and a few thousand miles onw221 this oil. When the tank gets near E I'm going to get an upgraded intake filter and do an oil change (Rotella T6). Getting about 16.5 mixed so far.
My mpg on the F350 6.0 diesel hasn't changed in the 163,000 miles I've had it. Rock steady high 15s low 16 in Summer and high 14s in Winter. Gets 18s on the highway with a car trailer behind it. Have not even looked at the air cleaner in some 8 years. Recently got a message on the dash that the air filter was clogged, but it went away. New air cleaner is on my to do list. I'll report back if it makes a bit of difference.
In reply to tr8todd:
You get BETTER fuel economy WITH a trailer than without it??
I do two types of driving. Around town working out of the truck, with short highway burst, I get 515 to 525 miles per tank. The other type is long hauls with the trailer, where I get 600 to 625 miles per tank. Not very often I take the truck on long hauls without a trailer, altho, this coming weekend will be the exception. I have to drive to Philly to pick up a 6' vanity for my dad at a family reunion. This will be the farthest I have ever gone without a trailer by far. Wife isn't happy about the 6 hour drive in my truck instead of her Rover. Seriously doubt there is much difference with or without the trailer because of the diesel engine. You literally forget the trailer is behind you until you glance in the mirror and are confronted with a car right up your butt.
It seemed to my a huge difference on my 500L. Ever since getting it back from the dealer (who had it for 6 months with turbo issues), there seemed to be a hiccup accelerating in anything but full throttle. To the point that I loathed driving the car. On the way home Thursday, I wondered if I had stuff in the filter housing, so I removed it, tore off the foam pre-filter, banged the paper filter on the ground a bit and stuck it back in. Hesitation was almost non-existent. Put a new filter in it yesterday and it's a different car this morning. I assumed that when the dealer was going through all the turbo stuff, they would have replaced it. I guess not. And, it's not a butt dyno change as my wife and son both drove it and came in asking why it drives so much better now.
-Rob
tr8todd wrote: My mpg on the F350 6.0 diesel hasn't changed in the 163,000 miles I've had it. Rock steady high 15s low 16 in Summer and high 14s in Winter. Gets 18s on the highway with a car trailer behind it. Have not even looked at the air cleaner in some 8 years. Recently got a message on the dash that the air filter was clogged, but it went away. New air cleaner is on my to do list. I'll report back if it makes a bit of difference.
My 6.0 got about 21mpg driving from northern California to southern California. It did about a constant 15mpg with everything else no matter if I babied it or drove it hard.
My XJR gets 13mpg 
and 23 highway
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