Why is my car so bad at coasting

[jayliu1984]

Hello, first time visiting the forum, did quite a bit of reading, lots of helpful folks here. It is awesome to see that so many people care about the efficient driving.

I have been experienmenting the burst and coast technique. I have a 2009 I4 accord, a fairly heavy car and has terriable mileage, 18.6 in the city with grandpa style driving.

One thing I notice that is quite different from my old Civic, is that this car does't seems to roll very far at times. When I accelerate to 60-65 kmh and let of the gas, the car feels like hit a rubber band, and slows down to 40 in 10 seconds. So I end up doing quite a bit of "Bursting".

I have checked online in accord forums and 18.6 MPG is a very low number for any accord, even the V6 are pulling better numbers. Althought I am 100% city driving, I do drive very carefully but it just seem there is a hole in my fuel tank.

Any ideas why a car would not coast far?

[Frank Lee]

Pull up the anchor.

[justme1969]

You diddnt give enough info. on this forum fine details are the rule!
stick v/s auto trans.
Are you physically placeing it into neutral?
Do to have black deposites or rust inside/ outside on rims.
Just too many variables, things like the anchor dropped from trunk etc.
sorry cant help ya.

[JRMichler]

Some things to check:
Tire pressure
Brake dragging
Wheel alignment

[mcrews]

as far as intown mileage....how many miles do you drive aday?
short commute will almost always mean low mpg. (also lots of stop and go)

Ruinning stock size tires?

[PressEnter[]]

A dragging brake caliper or e-brake will do it, but it sounds like you're coasting in gear (aka engine braking) which probably won't take you very far anyway. I'd guess the burst of acceleration will actually hurt you more than just driving at a steady speed (or steady throttle position, depending on hilliness).

[MetroMPG]

Too bad you wrote now instead of a month ago when I was still in Van, or I would have said "c'mon over and let's have a look at that puppy."

[jayliu1984]

Sorry guys I guess I didn't give enough info, but here are the things I checked/done in bullet form:

- auto trans and yes I was coasting in gear
- tires are pumped 5-6 PSI above rated pressure (38psi)
- outside temp is about 2-5 C
- communte is 6km, and 9 possible red lights/stop sighs
- check brake by drove without breaking for a while and the rotor is cold so it is not dragging
- not sure how to check if E-brake is dragging
- not sure how to check alignment, the car has 50k KM on it and no tire change
- just switched to synthetic oil so far didn't obvserve any difference
- anchor in the trunk???? what???
- the front wheel is quite difficult to turn when I jack the car up, but let's assume brake is not dragging, what else could be the cause?

However, I must add, if I put the car in neutual physically, it will coast farrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

[justme1969]

hmm. Ya need a owner of same car to pipe in but if there is a sports switch turn it off.
front wheel??? mabe bearings, or calliper, or mabe not placed into Neutral and you have hands on slip side of transaxle?
I will say you jacked and then placed car into Neutral with key switched on. and vehicle should have no driveline resistance on that wheel.
You have no warning lights on is also what ill say.
Now look into the Malf codes may find anti lock issue or transmission issue there or perhaps it was damaged wheel hub, and bearing drag is cause.
Hope this helps Ya.

Not sure if it has 123dr n r p or 1 2 dr odr n r p but use gear 3 or in second configuration the lower dr.
It could be overdrive lock up.
My r/t is Locked up over 1500 rpm. to coast I must select N myself.
If yours is then its faulty or a sports switch etc.

[Gealii]

Originally Posted by jayliu1984

Sorry guys I guess I didn't give enough info, but here are the things I checked/done in bullet form:

- auto trans and yes I was coasting in gear
- tires are pumped 5-6 PSI above rated pressure (38psi)
- outside temp is about 2-5 C
- communte is 6km, and 9 possible red lights/stop sighs
- check brake by drove without breaking for a while and the rotor is cold so it is not dragging
- not sure how to check if E-brake is dragging
- not sure how to check alignment, the car has 50k KM on it and no tire change
- just switched to synthetic oil so far didn't obvserve any difference
- anchor in the trunk???? what???
- the front wheel is quite difficult to turn when I jack the car up, but let's assume brake is not dragging, what else could be the cause?

However, I must add, if I put the car in neutual physically, it will coast farrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

if it coasts far in neutral than simply put you have a lot of gear reduction and its up to you to figure if its better to use dfco or to coast in Neutral. and anchor in the trunk as items you dont need in the car that are