Fleet Taxi Test Part 1

Taxi tests, six cars, all Ford Crown Victorias

Notes on Tests:

All cars were driven by taxi drivers in regular service in good weather. Mileage was tested and hand calculated at the start and compared with ScanGauge readings. The ScanGauge was used for all future readings. The errors were consistent; that is, if it was 4% off, it was 4% off on every tank for a given vehicle. Error rates ranged from 2% high to 7% high for different gauges on different cars and since this test looks for trends, not absolute values, because we were using different vehicles the ScanGauge readings were accepted. One thing in our favor is that the same driver always drove the same car.

All vehicles were serviced every 3,000 miles and conventional 5w-30 oil was used. Each car was driven for 500 miles to get a base line for mileage and then the testing began.

All vehicles were run with 40psi, which is the usual pressure for the fleet.

Mileage varied a great deal between cars and is the result of very different driving styles. All vehicles improved their mileage numbers when the test began over the first four thanks of fuel. At the beginning the worst was 11 mpg and the best was 16 mpg during the 500 mile pretest run. The average improvement over four tanks was 3% from the actual start of testing.

The ScanGauge readings for gallons per hour at idle were recorded and all vehicles read .5 to .8 gph.

All cars were in good working order with odometer readings from 180k to 455k. The 80k vehicle was considered a new car by the drivers and the 455k an average vehicle that would be kept until its first major accident. Other than accidents, these Crown Victorias are kept until about 550k miles before being parked and used for parts. They are only put out at about 550 because there are rules about not using cars over 10 years old.

The point of this test is to see if Auto-Rx^® is worth the cost of the product and taking the time to add it at every PM (preventive maintenance).

The Auto-Rx^® vehicles (1,2,3) received 20 ounces and then 4 ounces every 3k oil change.