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Thellra 11-27-2009 12:56 PM

The Alcan Hwy!
 
Hello, me and my girlfriend are going to be driving through the Alcan Hwy in January to get to the lower 48, and when I searched for Gallons per hour, this forum kept popping up,

What we were planning on doing is instead of getting hotels through our trip, we were going to idle through the night (hotels in the middle of nowhere can be above 100 a night and be very gross from what I have heard from friends and family) and we were just trying to figure out an estimate of how much gas we are going to be burning while we slept (Would be bad to wake up with no gas and nowhere near a gas station) and I can't think of a way to measure it on my own, outside of leaving our car at a gas station for several hours What I have is a 1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

2300 mile trip, here I come!

theholycow 11-27-2009 01:06 PM

Welcome.

Please use a carbon monoxide detector while sleeping in the idling vehicle.

Thellra 11-27-2009 01:15 PM

Wow, never even thought about that :(

mochabuzz 11-27-2009 02:56 PM

disturbing

Thellra 11-27-2009 04:43 PM

How so?
 
Are you saying its disturbing that I never thought of Carbon Dioxide being a problem? I know its a problem in a garage, I know its a problem if you can smell it inside, but I never thought about it building up in an otherwise healthy exhaust system,

That and at -47 F (22 miles from where I live) I don't even know how well my block heater would work at that coldness, at -20 its a rough start even with my block heater having been in all night, I was thinking get a tuneup oil change etc and not turning off the car for a week or so

Scariest thing about this drive I think is going to be is Ice Heaves, its where the ice literally makes the road all messed up

R.I.D.E. 11-27-2009 05:02 PM

Carbon Monoxide is colorless and odorless and displaces the oxygen in your bloodstream. First sign is a killer headache. Takes a transfusion or many weeks for it to clear out of the body.

Sounds like a dangerous time to travel, when it's -47 F outside.

Maybe a car cover and a charcoal grille to sit under the oil pan.

I wouldn't try it myself, unless you can dress to survive if the vehicle leaves you stranded.

regards
Gary

Thellra 11-27-2009 08:43 PM

Yeah
 
Yeah, but its actually the best time to do it if you don't want to wait until the middle of summer, if you do it in the middle of winter, you don't have to worry about freezes and thaws, its all just frozen :) and dressing for the weather is a must, where I live now, its a 60 mile drive one way, or 100 the other to get a pack of cigarettes on a Hwy with very little to no traffic, we are at the bottom of the list for the plows and whatnot, cool area to live in though :) my GF has a bunch of pictures up at www.notyourgina.deviantart.com
Not exactly the place to try hypermiling, Have Zero choice in letting your car warm up for 10-20 minutes, unless you want to drive with your windows down :/

GasSavers_JoeBob 11-27-2009 09:52 PM

I think it'd be better to get online and shop for the best motel rates and stay warm and comfortable. That would be preferable to risking death. I understand CO is a nice peaceful way to go, but we are talking death here.

Your car is a 1994 model. Unless the exhaust system has just been replaced, I'm betting there is a leak, or potential for a leak. And your weatherstripping is 16 years old. If you are sitting still, idling, there is a chance of exhaust seeping in that way. Rust-out in the floorboards?

To me, it'd be better to stay at a motel. Or, get some Arctic sleeping bags and sleep outside. Does your G/F REALLY want to spend the night in the car?

Looked at some of the pictures. Really nice place!

FrugalFloyd 11-27-2009 10:40 PM

My 4 cylinder 2.5 L Nissan burns .22 gal/hr at idle when it's warmed up. My 1.5 L Scion burns .15-.17 gph. So, you can assume your Explorer might burn .5 gph, and have a reasonable safety margin.

Traveling the Alcan in the Winter is smooth, but the cold temperatures narrow your safety margin. As an example, we were running low on gas (in the Summer), and should have gassed up in Beaver, but decided to try for the next town on the Alaska side of the border. It turned out to be 50 miles away. When we got there, the gas station was out of gas. We trucked on to the next town, only to find that gas station had burned down, and it was yet another 50 miles to a gas pump. I carried 2 X 5 gallon cans of gas, and could have siphoned more from the truck I was towing, but if I hadn't been prepared, we could have run out under those circumstances.

A friend of mine drove the Alcan in Winter. They just rotated drivers and never stopped. Their old truck's heater didn't heat well, so their clear window area shrank to a 2"X4" hole through the ice.

-50 to -60 F temperatures are no picnic, but I'd probably keep the engine running, or at least restart it every couple of hours. If it fails to start, you're in an instant life or death situation.

shatto 11-28-2009 02:50 PM

I left my Dakota idling for three hour stretches, with the A/C on, and left it idling, but locked, while picking up loads. Doesn't bother a vehicle in good condition, but is a bit hard on the oil.

My MPG on the Dakota always averaged in the high 18's to 19's. Even when I didn't let it idle extensively.

Why not ask Ford what that engine uses at idle?

Calculate your fuel consumption based on the worst you get, then add 10% worser for good luck.

Have a great trip! I'm there in spirit.

bobc455 11-28-2009 03:40 PM

My 455 Buick, which is one of the most inefficient cars on the board, idles at about 2.5% duty cycle. My injectors total 288 #/hr, which is about gallons per hour, and 2.5% of that is about 1.25 gallons per hour.

That is a 455 (7.6 liter) engine with a bit of cam, so I'd guess your car (far more efficient than mine) would consume about 1/2 of that.

-Bob C.

Jay2TheRescue 11-28-2009 04:49 PM

I just checked the Scangauge on my truck, and its using .64 GPH at idle with the heat on high. That's a 1998 GMC Sierra K1500 with a 350 V-8. It has 165,000 miles, but is in excellent mechanical condition. I'd say in a 94 Explorer that is in good enough running condition that the Check Engine light doesn't come on, that there's no way you're using more than that.

Thellra 12-15-2009 02:07 AM

We made it!
 
We made it!

Thank you for all of your help,

We had planned on worst case Scenario of 1 Gallon per Hour, but the longest we idled was for 12 hours (we passed out) and burned around 6 gallons of gas,

It was actually an amazing trip, it was fairly smooth, ice heaves were a bit scary when you weren't expecting them,

2400 Miles in 106 Hours isn't bad though 22 miles an hour, but that includes sleeping :)

It was actually pretty silly crazy at parts of it, we rolled into a town on Just a bit above E at 4:45 AM and fell asleep at a gas pump, thinking we would fill up and go when they opened, and we woke up at 8:30, got our gas, went inside to pay, and asked when they opened, they opened at 5 AM but she thought she'd let us get some sleep :)

That was Watson Lake, Yukon, and that driving stint we made it to Dawson Creek BC

We got gas in Fort Nelson and thought about spending the night, but at -40F we thought if we turned our car off, it wouldn't start, so we pushed on to Dawson Creek BC which it turns out, it was just as cold there, but having driven from 8am, until the following 2am, we fell asleep at another gas station (After having filled up) I was so proud of our 15 year old car, the heat never failed us through the night at -41,

Fun Fact, at -41, if you don't use your power steering for awhile, it feels like you don't have it anymore,

Not so fun fact at -41, if you don't use your brakes for awhile, they get stuck down when you use them, so if you ever do this drive, don't listen to your mechanic and use compression braking as much as possible, because if you go an hour without using your brakes, it can be really scary when they get stuck down

Another fun fact, when you are in the middle of nowwhere, hundreds of miles between gas stations, knowing you wont make it if you don't fill up, it still sucks to pay 8 bucks or so a gallon for gas

Oh, and if you were hoping to get icecream in Toad Yukon in the middle of winter, they laugh at you :(

My GF shot video of us walking 20 minutes to the Liard Hot Springs when it was -35C according to the Camp manager by the time we made the spring our faces had frost on them, and by the time we made it back to the car, it felt like our bodies were actually burning from the cold,

One last fun fact in this overly long post

If you let your cat sniff outside at -41F They will sneeze for 15 minutes, and then run away from open windows for an indefinite period of time (she still flinches when we open them here in Bellingham, WA

theholycow 12-15-2009 02:57 AM

:thumbup: Thank you for the update!

That's funny about the cat. :)

FrugalFloyd 12-15-2009 03:32 AM

It's January already? I must have fallen asleep myself ;). Glad to hear you made it, and thanks for sharing your cold weather trip experience. I've only stayed at one lodge on the Alcan (Actually in Alaska between Tok and Anchorage), but I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. Still, at -40, I'd have left my engine running, too.

GasSavers_JoeBob 12-15-2009 08:43 PM

Glad to hear all y'all survived! And your G/F is still with you! And the cat!

But anyone else reading this...don't try this at home!

BTW...what's the temperature of the hot springs? Did (could) you go in?

rgathright 12-16-2009 09:43 AM

Poor cat! I would get away too.


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