adjusting the nut did'nt help much.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by mtgeekman

The scan gauge doesn't monitor weather you are in lean burn or not. so it bases its calculations on a air/fuel ratio of 14.7:1 and assumes that this number does not change.

Yeah, that's what I said :-) It's not actually measuring fuel consumption, it's making guesses, which sometimes turn out to be wrong. Then there's another issue when trying to drive by its computed number: the response is too slow.

[Arragonis]

The experience of detailed monitoring seems to be one full of crests and valleys IMHO. I am still thinking of an SG to monitor other items (mainly temps) but I will use the built in MPG monitor for, well, MPG. Its hard to gauge how well I may be doing. Last tank (I haven't driven much for the last month or so) is a case in point.

1st half of the tank I hypermiled (as much as you can on country roads in hills) - speed down to under 60, experimented with strong vs gentle hill climbing, glided (engine on, I may ask a question about this in a moment) where possible, no overtaking and so on. After returning (200 miles) my tank showed about 1/3 used - normally it would be 1/2 by this point so I knew I was doing well, but the built-in average MPG for the tank only showed 45 (imp).

2nd half of the tank involved 85+ (disclaimer - not true officer) on the M6 down south to do the in-laws. So it drained the rest of the tank in 230 miles - which I thought was OK as my tanks normally last about 400. (200 + 230 > 400). But my average MPG for the second half of the tank still said 45. Hmmm.

When I filled it was better, > 50.

Still Mrs A was impressed with the fact my tank had lasted longer (hey baby ;-) ) but not convinced of the overall benefits.

As for blending I think Diesel gets some additional anti-waxing stuff over winter which may affect mileage. I've noticed some stations offer a "better" (aka more expensive) version so once I drain this tank down to the beeper I may experiment with a tank of the premium stuff to work out if that works.

Before this though my tanks showed little improvement so it takes practice and lots of it. The more you know the route that helps a lot, and where you don't you get to spot patterns in the junctions and hold-ups which can help a lot too.

Keep at it, I want to get my improvement up too.

[Domman56]

Adjusting the nut.. What exactly do you guys mean by this?

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by Domman56

Adjusting the nut.. What exactly do you guys mean by this?

You are the nut behind the wheel. Make some adjustments to your driving style, and you'll see big fuel economy improvements.

[Domman56]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

You are the nut behind the wheel. Make some adjustments to your driving style, and you'll see big fuel economy improvements.

haha oh nice

[mcrews]

I have to say, I am a visual person and I have done much better on the freeway with the Q45 (4.5L v8) than I did with the 97 Toyota Avalon (3.0L V6). I credit that with the video style mpg display that is part of the car. There is a instant bar graph and a continuous digital dispaly in the same screen. On longtrips, if I'm at 24.8 avg mpg, for example, I'll start trying to get it to 25mpg. In thew Avalon, there was no mpg gauge and i never got better than 26mpg on the road. I have gotten 27mpg on the bigger infiniti. And I probably NEVER would have gotten that without the constant feedback while driving.

[gone-ot]

...statistics upon a "...sample of one..." are notoriously bad.

[moonmonkey]

im on my 4th fill-up thru the newly scangauged echo, it really makes only a small difference no matter how i drive it, maybe 2-3 mpg top's. i am doing some aero mods now, to try to get above 50mpg . maybe 44-46 is all ill get on my particular commute , i live in an outskirt of jacksonville fl, and there is no route option that would get me off of 55-65 highway , i could'nt do it anyway it already takes me from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours to get home so driving slower is not an option, thus the aero mods, but ill also keep tring to learn this scangauge thanks for all the responces.

[slurp812]

Yer still kicking my butt! But I have a Civic Si. I can get anywhere from 28 with a real heavy foot, to around 37 in the summer working hard at it.

[moonmonkey]

slurp you have 750 more pounds and .5 liter larger motor(thats alot more car)
i am just learning this scangauge ,i am now making it a personal challenge to end each trip with 50+ showing ,by tring to always keep the instantanious mpg above the average mpg,,im able to do that on almost all my commutes unless its a very short trip, im half way thru a tank (according to my cars fuel gauge) so by wendsday ill know if the scangauge and actual milage are the same. according to most posts ive seen the scangauge is a few mpg's to optimistic. also 37 mpg is not bad!