Clickbait Title: DOES ESS WORK?! You won't BELIEVE what happened on tank 105! (Fuel Consumption Analysis: 2 years, 122 tanks, 30k miles)

[Zandcwhite]

If mpg was enough of a concern for me to put in the time and effort that went in to the OP’s study, I wouldn’t be driving a Jeep. ESS or not, Jeep and fuel economy are like oil and water. That being said, our 2019 jlur on 37’s is our most fuel efficient vehicle, averaging 17mpg. My 2017 rebel averages 14, although I drive it like the gas pedal is an on/off switch since it’s so much more fun than the work van. The 2007 E350 is the worst of the bunch, averaging 12 mpg. Of course with all the tools, ladder rack, and material it’s the heaviest and least aerodynamic. Our vehicles all serve a purpose that is far outside being mpg driven. If I were buying a commuter car to just get me from a to b it’s not hard to find double the efficiency of a wrangler. It would be interesting to see the difference ess makes on our etorque vehicles, but ours has been off for a year since the tazer went on. It certainly didn’t seem to make any difference when we used it, aside from the AC blowing hot air at stop lights.

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[Reinen]

I respect your opinion but I can’t see how you’d say “lines haven’t drained” at a 45 second red light. You have a point with fully synthetic oil leaving everything smooth but I’m not convinced that’s enough.
Also, there was a member here in one of the ESS debate threads that was a friend of an engineer at Pentastar. He claims the engineer told him if you’re planning to keep your Jeep long term, press the button. Which is what I do every time.

On 2nd thought, I think you may have some valid concerns with the 3.6 since that was designed and released earlier. Before stop/start became a common thing. ESS could very well be a retrofit on the 3.6, which wouldn't be ideal. That could be what the Pentastar engineer is talking about. But the 2.0 was designed when stop/start was clearly on the roadmap. The designers knew about it from the start. That combined with it being a smaller engine makes me much less concerned about ESS on the 2.0t.

I have the 2.0t and sometimes I kinda forget that the 3.6 is still around.

 

[Sean L]

On 2nd thought, I think you may have some valid concerns with the 3.6 since that was designed and released earlier. Before stop/start became a common thing. ESS could very well be a retrofit on the 3.6, which wouldn't be ideal. That could be what the Pentastar engineer is talking about. But the 2.0 was designed when stop/start was clearly on the roadmap. The designers knew about it from the start. That combined with it being a smaller engine makes me much less concerned about ESS on the 2.0t.

I have the 2.0t and sometimes I kinda forget that the 3.6 is still around.

The 3.6 with ESS/ETorque is somewhat reworked from the pre ESS 3.6 from what I understand.

 

[jessedacri]

Conclusions

• Over the course of 30,435.5 miles, the difference between 17.8 mpg and 18.0 mpg is 18.99 gallons, or $54.12 with the current gas prices near me. Not worth it. Going forward I'll go back to disabling ESS like I did on tanks 1 through 61
• ESS really isn't that annoying. The worst part about it is the climate control losing its effectiveness in the heat or cold. But again, not worth it to me, especially considering it may cause unnecessary wear on the starter
• Don't trust the computer to tell you accurate mileage. Most of the time it was overly optimistic, and as stated in the BLUF, it was off by 0.4 mpg on average
• 2-door Rubicon doesn't get good gas mileage
• I reserve the right to edit the shit out of this post if I made egregious errors
• YMMV

Good to know ESS doesn't really do much in the long run. On the upside, I'm regularly pulling 20.5mpg at ~65mph on my 2019 2 door auto V6 (no etorque) Rubicon on 35s now that I regeared to 4.88. With ESS doing its best I can manage to keep it around 19 average running local errands if I'm extremely light on the throttle and it's not gridlocked. Feels good, although the money I spent regearing will forever outdo any financial benefits of being able to consistently hit 20mpg. The 35s are lightweight milestar Patagonia MTs which may contribute to the mileage figures. I should do a few hand calculations to see how accurate it really is, though.

Of course if I'm having any amount of fun, or I'm wheeling, my average mpg for a given tank of gas will drop to around 13-14mpg.

 

[Namakan]

Check out the fuelly.com App if you're not familiar with it. You can also look up similar vehicles to see how you compare.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

@multicam, i couldn't read past this line "No other factory options and no aftermarket mods - the jeep remained completely stock through the entire test period".

It's so sad, i had to stop reading.

 

[EMpunker]

The ESS was much smoother in my 2.0T Sahara. Now it remains disabled in my V6 Rubi.

 

[track.n.trail]

Amazing job! My ESS has been turned off for the life of my Jeep except for the first 500 miles. Tazer Mini FTW!

 

[No IFS]

Facts and government mandated Emissions equipment don’t often agree. Add in the waste of a second battery ESS helps nothing but some people feel better About themselves

 

[DadJokes]

Facts and government mandated Emissions equipment don’t often agree. Add in the waste of a second battery ESS helps nothing but some people feel better About themselves

I guess I leave it on to try to at least help haul it’s own weight at times. lol

I read that a stop needs to be at least 5 secs to save any fuel. I wish I could remember where that claim was made.

 

[LarryB]

First, everyone will have their own opinion on ESS. It doesn’t bother me, but I apparently am in the minority. However, I think that one needs to remember a few things:

1) Automotive engineers have been implementing Start/Stop for years and are aware of the excess wear on starters.
2) Your fuel savings will greatly depend on how you drive. If you are at highway cruising speed (and the system rarely comes on), it will make little difference. On the flip side, if you are in a slow moving traffic jam, you may not idle long enough to balance the fuel needed to start the car. It is in situations in between where it may have an impact.
3) Most people overestimate how much fuel it takes to start a car and underestimate how much fuel they burn while idling. As this video shows, 7 seconds of idling = one start. It also shows some fuel savings.

Again, many people hate ESS. It is a bit annoying and startling.

 

[sf5211]

No matter what the engine I don't believe I'd ever use ESS. Think about it, if a pro ESS guy has his engine shut down 50 times a day and keeps his Jeep 20 years, and uses it 300 days a year. The math would be a whopping 300,000 starts.
A guy like me who shuts his ESS. Same time frame but only start 5 times a day would be 30,000 starts. Many trips are only 2 starts which would lower the number.
No one can convince me that the 300,000 start engine would have the same or less repairs or engine wear.

 

[Sean L]

I'm still waiting on Multicam to tell me which of the two types of Texas Driving Conditions he was in...

or

 

[DWaX]

I can't think of a single thing I care about less than mpg on my jeep. If I cared even 1% more than I do about gas usage, I would own a prius as my daily, but that would require transition to... well let's just say you would need to refer to me with one of the new made up words/pronouns.

I'd recommend ending the experiment and find a trail in the woods, bring a tent, sleeping bag, and food. Use all the notes from the experiment as a firestarter and enjoy nature.

Its a jeep, and I have no doubt if it had a soul its crying for adventure.

WaX

 

[ShaunBJeeps]

I have been keeping track of every fill up for every car I own using an app called Road Trip. If you are dedicated to tracking your mileage, I strongly recommend it! I’m pretty sure it’s free (can’t remember since I’ve had it for so long) and it lets you export your data to a csv. Also let’s you track maintenance, accessories, whatever you want!

I started the process doing Op’s method and then found this app and haven’t looked back!

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