Fuel consumption is a big thing at any time, especially now with the price of it. What amazes me is the amount of curtainsiders running about with the curtains billowing in the wind like an old schooner.
Probably the worst thing you will pull is a rib sided bulker or a car transporter, even the caravan transporter is in there. But a slab sided trailer like a fridge or dry van will give the best results, especially if tyre pressures are checked regularly and trailers are maintained.
Weight is not so critical in modern trucks as before. My truck although manual is worst with 16 ton giving a gross weight of 30 tonne when carrying JCB excavators, the reason. Because I have to run with the roof open.
Interesting.When you are in eco roll does the engine go to tickover,if so is there not a risk of the engine cutting out on a bad day? If you are in neutal surely you are getting more brake wear ?
Sorry to go on but i like to know the ins and outs.
flying_fenman:
I drive an 05 plate FM12 420 I-Shift, and average between 10 and 10.5 MPG…
…I wouldn’t get that if I ran on the limiter - it’d only be 9.0 - 9.5 MPG. Our assessors tell me I should be getting 9.3 MPG.
What speed do you run at if not on the limiter? I ask as there’s rumour of a fuel bonus being introduced at BB. Does a few mph less really equate to that much of a saving in fuel?
Personally speaking, I think that it does. Most of us have had training from Volvo, either directly or via a company assessor.
At 56mph, ours are turning over at about 1325rpm. If you slow it down to about 52mph, you are running at about 1250rpm, and that is where you seem to get the best economy. The man from Volvo also reckons this is about the best sort of speed to run at.
I think that ours have been ‘knobbled’ a little by Volvo - I’ve driven hired FM12s and they feel different to ours. Our ones seem to hang on to the gear a little longer.
Somerfield operate the world’s largest fleet of FM12s according to man from Volvo, and he also said that ours are going to have the manual mode disconnected.
As far as EcoRoll goes, I try and utilise it as much as possible. It feels odd at first; goes against everything you’ve always been told. But it really does help fuel consumption. I run with the exhauster set to A (automatic).
I would agree that keeping the turbo boost guage in the green helps economy too. if you use the resume function on the cruise control on ours, they take about a fortnight to get back up to 50 after a roundabout. But after doing a bit of experimenting, I’ve found you can get an extra 0.5mpg by using this feature.
Mine has the Economy software but I do have the P/E button, I rarely use the P setting.
Jammy when you say you have the engine brake in position 1 do you mean the first position, A, or actually in the next position, 1? The reason I ask is that on mine I cannot set the over run unless it is in the A position.
