I am planning on a long road trip 1200+ miles(round trip) my oil is still about 1800 miles from due but thinking I might change it before we leave.

If I go with a synthetic oil will that make any diff in my MPG or just do normal oil?

I am getting right at 400 miles on a tank and that is a lot of city driving. My hope is I can get 500 to a tank out on the open road.

 

You may be able to do it if you keep the max speed to 65 mph. Although I have hit 38 mpg on a 425 mile stretch, but got gas and one of my low gas price stops in Virginia. The most miles I have records for is 510 miles and I pumped in 14.7 gallons. I have a couple of others 502 and 508 and put in up to 15.6 gallons.. A 16 gallon tank, I get nervous when the low fuel light is on. I was driving the speed limit on the interstate and got gas at that point.

I use synthetic oil in my 2.4L auto. My average distance between fill ups is 350 miles, but when I'm on the road, I use Gas Buddy to scope out good gas prices along the route, so I'll set up for stops at 400 or so mile intervals which is about a 6 hours in the seat. Unless my brother is along for the ride I don't stop. He on the other hand drinks about four cups of coffee before we leave, so we have to make frequent pit stops.

 

You can probably do it...if you do as Old Lar has suggested. But remember, weather is a big factor right now. You'll need to get 34-35 miles MPG, which is attainable with the proper skills. I've done it.


Oh, and forgot to say....on the synthetic oil question. Yeah, you probably get better mileage by using syntheic. BUT it is not measureable....maybe something like .1 or .2 MPG. I use it for other considerations.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the slightest bit of wind can kill MPG. I live 5.5 hours and 325 miles away from where I grew up, and I drive home on the holidays, birthdays, etc. If it is not windy out, I can get 31-33 mpg doing 70 mph. But if there is even a little bit of wind, I can't seem to get more than 28 mph (also doing 70 mph). I have driven 60-65 mph in the past, but on a long trip, that just makes it seem even longer, so it's hard for me to drive that slow. One thing that also makes a difference is the type of road/speed limit. If I take the 4 Lane 65 mph speed limit freeway, I drive faster so I yield lower MPGs. If I take the 2 Lane 55 mph rural highway, I drive slower and can get upwards of 30 mpg. Best I've done so far is 505 miles on a tank, which figured out to be 35.1 mpg. I did that by driving 55-60 mph the entire trip.

 

Thanks for the info

4-5 hours of pretty flat 55-60 MPH so should do pretty good.
2-3 hours of down thru hills of West Virgina 65-70 MPH hope the down hill will off set the speed
The rest is pretty flat but 65-70 so won't do well but can't be avoided.

The driving home up the hills of WV will suck but again can't be avoided.

 

If I keep mine under 60, 500+ on a tank is easy. Once I break 60, It starts to go down hill. Once I break 70, upper 20's is the best I can get. This time of the year, you shouldn't need A/C, so that helps also.

 

As a rule of thumb, I never do anything to a car immediately prior to taking a long trip. Whatever it needs gets done at least a week prior so that I can drive it around a few days to be sure everything is OK and nothing got screwed up during whatever service was done. Better to find out there is a problem in your driveway or garage than in a rest area somewhere! I drove mine to New Orleans which is a 1200 mi RT over Christmas and changed the oil when I got home with 15% remaining oil life. If you are at 5% or something like that, I would change it before I left. The older the oil is, the faster it gets worn down and its effectiveness diminished. Oil & filter changes are cheap insurance. Remember, it's not just remaining oil life on the DIC but also calendar time since the last change.

 

On my road trips 500 miles would really be at the upper end of the range. I routinely do a drive from Calgary to Saskatoon which is quite flat but does have a few hilly portions. I can easily do just over 450 miles before the fuel indicator starts to get close to the "E" but no "low fuel" indicator at that point. This is usually with the cruise control set at 65 to 68 mph.

The best I've ever managed was 38 mpg over a 375 mile trip when I was following my buddy who was towing a boat when we went on vacation. He was taking it pretty easy so I was getting extremely good fuel economy numbers.

 

So the sweet spot for an auto is probably 55-65mph? With 55 probably being best?

Also Im assuming yall are not using cruise control. Ive always thought cruise control = worse mpg.

 

I always use my cruise if possible.