Second, when learning to P&G just compare your avg mpg at the bottom (or top) of each P&G. When pulsing your avg mpg will obviously go down, but note whether the avg mpg at the end of this glide is better than it was at the end of the last glide.
Anyone following me the first time I tried this would have been laughing . . the way I was punching up the overhead readout to re-set it must have looked like I was using a ceiling mounted walkie-talkie conversing with a near-monosyllabic boss asking me constant questions.
the conversion of that fuel to mechanical energy will happen more efficiently (if done correctly, because your engine is at higher load)
Thus the Scanguage (if I am correct) as another has mentioned that this (or similar) gives a readout of engine load as a
percentage. With so much free-wheeling -- or danged close to it -- and all the mass/weight of a 7,400-lb pickup to consider some sort of real-time device is needed.
The usual close-coupling of engine speed against gear selection is missing for tactile driver feedback over longer stretches of pavement.
Just guessing is out the window, IMO, as the forces needed to react to a problem are high, and the distances
never inconsiderable (as one may be loaded, towing heavy; both).
Some read-out to know "where we are" as against other gauges of things (visual, mainly) would provide some relief to the driver, IMO.
So much of this is happening in an in-between state: We are neither accelerating, nor slowing (per se)
but we are not maintaining a steady speed either. It's a conundrum, and it's about
control that a pickup truck (or larger work vehicle) faces that an air-conditioned go-kart driver doesn't face.
On one of those just stare at the brake pedal a split-second, and blink. Full stop achieved. Not so when grossing 26k.
In other words, we've taken one of the moments of uncertainty -- a change of state -- and widened it into a fetish.
I don't want DD to think I'm getting on him (I tried for some clarification on
this post on CF; how to analyze this) as he is doing what I have yet to find elsewhere. That he has a lab (stable commute) to use daily is huge, IMO. I've re-cast what I've been doing as a result of his participating here and elsewhere.
But these trucks, solo/empty/non-revenue is not their highest & best use. Forgive me the need to drag it in. There is a larger context, and FE means even more when tenths of a mpg pay a man thousands of dollars annually on big trucks, and one or two mpg on a pickemup in revenue miles.
When I have 13-speeds to choose from it is easy to find the right one ease along, to glide . . . but when I am relegated to but six foward speeds, it's a heckuva lot harder to make the trade-off. A truck driver has to
literally be able to read the pavement, and to use every foot of it to advantage. Thus, a
longer period of uncertainty (in a manner of speaking) needs an aid for corrections.
Instant mpg is kind of over-rated. Constant current mpg is useful only on a daily or per-load basis (as per linked post). Thus I hope that one of these gauges will show engine load
percentage as I think this is the right step for this vehicle type (not otherwise covered) to cover those long pauses between different states.
Pulse or Glide in 5th Gear
Thankfully the 400-lb transmission in these trucks has a Direct that is capable of handling nearly any road speed above about 30-mph (25 if empty and all other inputs lightest) when not towing much. Even a decent bed load doesn't affect this very much when on the flats.
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