Hyper-Mileing

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: harry j
How many of you put your automatic transmission in neutral at a traffic light? Or turn the engine off?


I used to do it. Should cut down on heat a little and save a little gas. On the TL, I don't want to add any unnecessary clutch engagements/disengagements so I keep it in D. Idle speed is pretty low and it doesn't roll much in D.

 

[VeeDubb]

Originally Posted By: harry j

I do all but the 1/2 tank thing. Makes good sense though, at what around 8 pounds per gallon, it could save some. Did you ever remove the spare tire and related equipment?


I left the spare tire in the car. I figured I'd regret it big time if I have a blowout.

 

[mpvue]

my mpg avg used to be low 25, like 25.3 most of the time, mostly hwy. I thought I was doing well; the 5 speed VUE is hwy rated 29. all I changed was shifting at the shift light (comes on about 2500rpm) and setting the cruise to 5 below the limit. occasionally coast down a hill. anticipate stops, stay in right lane, no passing. my high mpg is 31.3 now. I checked my tires, seems they were already bumped up (about 40 psi). I'm not going to go w/ 20wt oil; factory says 30wt, and I'm not going to second guess them.
next step is to get a scan gauge, after I get my eibachs installed.

 

[dorkiedoode]

Originally Posted By: harry j
How many of you put your automatic transmission in neutral at a traffic light? Or turn the engine off?

would shifting it to neutral help? my accord is already known for having tranny problems and shifting it too often would make it worst!

 

[BuickGN]

These high gas prices forced me to order my precat delete pipes for the TL. The extra 4mpg should pay these off in a year or even less with the current rise. So much for the high prices forcing me to help the environment...

 

[Audi Junkie]

fwiw, one of the first things you notice when you drive my Accord automatic is how crazy far it coasts.

 

[harry j]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
my mpg avg used to be low 25, like 25.3 most of the time, mostly hwy. I thought I was doing well; the 5 speed VUE is hwy rated 29. all I changed was shifting at the shift light (comes on about 2500rpm) and setting the cruise to 5 below the limit. occasionally coast down a hill. anticipate stops, stay in right lane, no passing. my high mpg is 31.3 now. I checked my tires, seems they were already bumped up (about 40 psi). I'm not going to go w/ 20wt oil; factory says 30wt, and I'm not going to second guess them.
next step is to get a scan gauge, after I get my eibachs
installed.


31.3 MPG, that's impressive. Scangauge should help, probably should be standard equipment on all vehicles. Try the Amsoil SSO 0W-30, this stuff is really slick.

 

[harry j]

Originally Posted By: dorkiedoode
Originally Posted By: harry j
How many of you put your automatic transmission in neutral at a traffic light? Or turn the engine off?

would shifting it to neutral help? my accord is already known for having tranny problems and shifting it too often would make it worst!


I have been shifting to neutral for years, I have 245,000 miles on the original auto tranny now. If there is extra wear or problems, I haven't experienced them yet. It will help with the MPG's very little, but it will help. It is better to turn the engine off if you will be sitting for more than 30 seconds.

 

[harry j]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: harry j
How many of you put your automatic transmission in neutral at a traffic light? Or turn the engine off?


I don't need to do anything at a stoplight -- car automatically shuts itself off during such delays.



What kind of highway mileage are you getting with the Prius, do you keep a MPG book?

 

[Cutehumor]

as far as I know, the prius has a screen that tells you how much mpg your getting. With these crazy gas prices, my next vehicle will be a hybrid of some sort. hope GM slaps a hybrid system in the cobalt.

 

[harry j]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
as far as I know, the prius has a screen that tells you how much mpg your getting. With these crazy gas prices, my next vehicle will be a hybrid of some sort. hope GM slaps a hybrid system in the cobalt.


Hybrid Cobalt, naw, makes too much sense

 

[Bror Jace]

Been doing many of these things for years.

I'm glad Audi Junkie set the other poster straight about putting nitrogen in the tires. Plain air is 80% nitrogen and the other gases, oxygen, traces of hydrogen, CO2, won't make a measurable difference. Maybe in an F1 car .. but there have to be a hundred things you could do to your car and/or driving style before this one to have an effect. I'm not even sure about the moisture. Something tells me little or no moisture in your tires would be better ... but I'd like to see something that makes a case that it would be significant.

Another thing I see people talking about is coasting. If you take your car/truck out of gear and coast, the engine is using enough fuel to idle the whole time and you aren't getting the savings you think. If you 'coast' leaving the car in gear, the newer cars shut off the fuel supply and it's 100% free miles. So, I coast in gear to get the most from my momentum without using additional fuel, even if there is some drag caused by the engine and driveline.

I have a 2006 Civic LX (1.8L - 140hp) 5-speed and get about 38mpg average in the summer in mixed driving. I get over 40mpg in expressway driving .. but my average drops to 34mpg in the winter. Most of the fuel around here is ethanol blended (10%).

Women and bad gas mileage? I'm sure it's idling most of the time. The stereotypical woman driver (a gross generalization, I know) idles for minutes a day without even realizing it. You ask them and they'll say they don't ... because it's something (like checking their oil) that they often don't pay attention to. It has to be something ... and I vote for idling.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
as far as I know, the prius has a screen that tells you how much mpg your getting. With these crazy gas prices, my next vehicle will be a hybrid of some sort. hope GM slaps a hybrid system in the cobalt.


Yes, indeed, the Prius has several screens the driver can use to maximize technique so as to increase mpgs. One is an energy flow diagram that shows in real time what the ICE, motor-generators, and battery are doing. Very useful, and its presence is pretty much a challenge to the driver to always strive to do better. The other major display (ignoring the maintenance screens and so forth) is basically a bar graph that displays average mpgs every five minutes as bars, and an overall tank average below the bars. Not as "dynamic" as the primary screen but helpful too.

All cars should be so equipped...

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: harry j
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: harry j
How many of you put your automatic transmission in neutral at a traffic light? Or turn the engine off?


I don't need to do anything at a stoplight -- car automatically shuts itself off during such delays.



What kind of highway mileage are you getting with the Prius, do you keep a MPG book?


I should book it, but I don't ... And if I did, it wouldn't be much help, since virtually all of my tanks are mixed urban/city, and even worse, to varying degrees.

From the displays, which are pretty close overall, if I decide to trade gas for time and cruise at ~80 mph, with current temps, I'll do roughly 43-45 mpg highway. If I slow down to 70-ish, highway mpgs will approach 50. The "crossover" point (meaningless except on a symbolic level) is about 55 -- that is, 55 mph steady will generate 55 mpg steady.

I'm about 100 miles into my current tank, mostly highway, and I've been pretty relaxed, and it was showing 48.2 mpg tank avg when I parked it ten minutes ago.

 

[ekpolk]

Oh yeah, over the last month or so, I've had a couple instances of mostly urban driving, and when that happens, the displayed tank average quickly rises above 50 mpg.

 

[harry j]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Oh yeah, over the last month or so, I've had a couple instances of mostly urban driving, and when that happens, the displayed tank average quickly rises above 50 mpg.


50 MPG, that's real good! I would like to see if the display is the same as the actual miles/gallons figure. Do you think you could do a couple of tanks manually? That is get a gas receipt, write the trip mileage on it and then calculate the gas mileage from the actual figures. You will have to zero out the trip odo and fill the tank as usual. The second fill will give you an idea if the display is right. Of course it may take 3 or 4 tanks to really get an accurate figure.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Rather than out driving, I'm saving the planet by /cruising/ at Bob's instead.

lol, that's been my punch line for a week now. ANYTHING I am doing selfish I justify it w/ some tortured logic and "I'm saving the planet by"... getting a carbon fibre hood for my car, etc.

 

[BuickGN]

FWIW, the mpg indicator in the TL was so accurate, I quit doing my own calculations. Unlike the old vacuum vs mph "mpg" indicators, new cars' computers know precisely how much fuel is being injected and have the potential to be more accurate than calculating it by fillups. It makes sense to me anyway.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: harry j
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Oh yeah, over the last month or so, I've had a couple instances of mostly urban driving, and when that happens, the displayed tank average quickly rises above 50 mpg.


50 MPG, that's real good! I would like to see if the display is the same as the actual miles/gallons figure. Do you think you could do a couple of tanks manually? That is get a gas receipt, write the trip mileage on it and then calculate the gas mileage from the actual figures. You will have to zero out the trip odo and fill the tank as usual. The second fill will give you an idea if the display is right. Of course it may take 3 or 4 tanks to really get an accurate figure.


Early on I did that, but I quit since the computer is so accurate. It reads slightly optimistically maybe 2/3 of the time, and if so, by only an mpg or so. The other 1/3 of the time, it slightly understates the mileage.

These things are MUCH better than they used to be.

 

[artificialist]

no.

What I have is the factory manifold and catalyst (They will be replaced when I have the $$$) however, after that, I have 2.5 inch 304 stainless mandrel bent pipe, a 304 stainless glasspack, and a 304 stainless Flowmaster Hush Power.