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Old 11-26-2008, 11:03 PM   #21 (permalink)
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The fuel readings are driving me nuts. As I suspected before I got the ScanGauge, my tank measures differently at the top, middle, and bottom. After I first calibrated it at 1/4 tank as the manual suggested, it was dead accurate at 1/4 tank, ie. when my fuel gauge read 1/4 tank, so did the ScanGauge. But at fill-up, it was WAY off. Oh well... since I usually fill up near empty, this new calibration should be more helpful. But then I decided to fill up mid-tank this week and it's way off again.

And the real problem is that it's obviously giving screwy MPG readings throughout the week. Last week the SG was off by 15% at fill-up. The other day after my first trip, the Trip Average differed from the *calculated* trip average (from Trip Miles divided by Trip Gallons) by about 15% in the other direction. WTF?!!

Suggestions?


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Old 11-26-2008, 11:06 PM   #22 (permalink)
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Just got the Scan gauge hooked up, really amazing. Really shows a lot of data and I'm not even setting it up yet. I'm impressed
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Old 11-27-2008, 02:51 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akashic View Post
The fuel readings are driving me nuts. As I suspected before I got the ScanGauge, my tank measures differently at the top, middle, and bottom. After I first calibrated it at 1/4 tank as the manual suggested, it was dead accurate at 1/4 tank, ie. when my fuel gauge read 1/4 tank, so did the ScanGauge. But at fill-up, it was WAY off. Oh well... since I usually fill up near empty, this new calibration should be more helpful. But then I decided to fill up mid-tank this week and it's way off again.

And the real problem is that it's obviously giving screwy MPG readings throughout the week. Last week the SG was off by 15% at fill-up. The other day after my first trip, the Trip Average differed from the *calculated* trip average (from Trip Miles divided by Trip Gallons) by about 15% in the other direction. WTF?!!

Suggestions?
Try taking an average over two or three fillups, that should help smooth out any filling inconsistencies/inaccuracies.
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Old 12-14-2008, 07:54 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cfg83 View Post
FunkSkunk -

I have a ScanGauge I. I set the engine to 1.9 Liters, the speed to +2% for my tire/odometer calibration, and the tank to 11 gallons.

I don't use the tank-to-tank fuel calibration function because I don't want to do the fill-up-to-the-top and then drive till it's at E or on fumes. I always fill from 1/4 to 3/4 full, which is about 5.5 gallons. For this reason, my day-to-day current MPG is only a *relative* barometer of MPG for me.
... CarloSW2
I'll suggest a compromise that should give you a way to calibrate the SG without running the tank down to E.

The point of the calibration process is to have the car burn enough fuel in one fill cycle so that it's averaging enough data together to get a good representation of driving patterns. Can you do this:

Fill till the handle clicks off. I don't recommend filling till it spills over out of the fill pipe and I don't think the SG manual recommends that either. Enter the fillup into the SG but - as the manual says for the first fillup - don't enter any correction. Just leave the "gallons" number as the SG shows it, regardless of error. Then drive as much as you're willing to. Maybe down to 1/4 tank or 1/8 tank. You don't have to take it to E. I don't like going to E either, myself. After this 2nd fillup (again till it clicks off, like the first time), enter the correction as the manual describes. If it thought you were going to need 9.6 gal. and you used 10.1 gallons, adjust it up so it says 10.1. You're done. That's the correction. Be sure to hit "Done" and "Save" so your correction is stored.

Do beware of any stupid silly readouts from the SG. I think the data in mine gets corrupted sometimes. Now and then it will say that I've driven thousands of miles in a half day or so, or have gotten ridiculously high or low mpg. When that happens I ignore the data for that tank.
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Last edited by brucepick; 12-14-2008 at 09:11 PM..
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Old 12-14-2008, 09:09 PM   #25 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by akashic View Post
The fuel readings are driving me nuts. As I suspected before I got the ScanGauge, my tank measures differently at the top, middle, and bottom. After I first calibrated it at 1/4 tank as the manual suggested, it was dead accurate at 1/4 tank... But at fill-up, it was WAY off. ...
And the real problem is that it's obviously giving screwy MPG readings throughout the week. Last week the SG was off by 15% at fill-up. The other day after my first trip, the Trip Average differed from the *calculated* trip average (from Trip Miles divided by Trip Gallons) by about 15% in the other direction. WTF?!!

Suggestions?
First off, I've pretty much stopped thinking of a fuel gauge as a "gauge". They're not accurate, and I don't think they ever were intended to be accurate.

And then...
I've been driving my Civic HX with ScanGauge for about a month now. Every now and then it goes kablooie. It will say that I've gone thousands of miles in a short time or some other ridiculous things. It looks like somehow the data got corrupted.

I've been able to reduce the frequency of this happening by waiting at least 3 seconds after an engine shutdown for coasting, before I key the ignition back on again. The SG saves its data after a shutdown and I think that it gets messed up when it's saving data at the same time the car's computer is rebooting.
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Old 12-15-2008, 01:24 AM   #26 (permalink)
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Bruce -- just checking, do you have the fuel setting to "Hybrid"? The SG will stay active when the engine is off, but keyed back on...

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Old 12-15-2008, 04:16 AM   #27 (permalink)
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Angry

You know what hurts?

You have a 75 litre tank but you did the setup as 79 litres and always thought it was 79 litres. Then you go down to under 7 litres remaining on your first tank of winter gas, not knowing when to refill cheapest. Then, just after driving past a gas station and then a short discussion of needing gas you lose power, coast a very long way and safely stop and then realize you should have slammed the brakes right there and saved 3 blocks! LOL

Then you have to buy the little 1 gallon jerry can than dumps ¼ of the gas on the street.

Don't be your ScanGauge's fool!!!
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Old 12-15-2008, 04:41 AM   #28 (permalink)
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Anyone notice their calibration get off when winter hit? I went ahead and re-calibrated mine because it kept getting farther and farther off. The last tank before re-calibrating the scangauge was reading 15mpg when the final calculation came out to be 16mpg's.
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Old 12-15-2008, 06:04 PM   #29 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FastPlastic View Post
Anyone notice their calibration get off when winter hit? I went ahead and re-calibrated mine because it kept getting farther and farther off. The last tank before re-calibrating the scangauge was reading 15mpg when the final calculation came out to be 16mpg's.
Which way was yours off? I had to go from 5% to 8%, sounds like yours was off the other way.
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Old 12-15-2008, 06:11 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Both ethanol and winter-blend rfg have lower energy content than summer gas, with more oxygenates. Both together is a double hit. Since the Scangauge only measures airflow, it doesn't know that the ECU is adding a little more fuel to the mix to make up the difference. You need to INCREASE the fuel offset % to account for this. (ie. without adjusting, it reads higher mpg than reality)


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