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wobombat · 03-20-2013, 10:46 PM

A friend of mine is skeptical of the influence my hypermiling techniques have on my gas mileage, and stated that he wouldn't believe it worked unless I could achieve 26 MPG (45% above EPA) on a tank. I thought, challenge accepted! My problem? So far I can't get better than 22.5 MPG on any one tank (25% above EPA), and I'm out of ideas on how to improve. Here's the situation:

My car is a 2000 Lincoln LS 3.0L V6 Auto Transmission, 213k on the odometer.
EPA: 16 city, 18 combined, 23 Highway.

What I've done:
Tires to 50 PSI
Folded in passenger-side mirror
I don't want to do any extensive ecomods because I plan to sell the car in a few months (when I finish rebuilding my mustang). Any other cheap, easy, reversible ecomods I can do?
50-55 highway speeds, steady speed
minimize brake use in city, timing lights, engine braking when appropriate (e.g. when engine is cold)
Goal to stay in bottom of top gear as much as possible.
coast in neutral whenever I can do so for more than 15 seconds ( my tranny does high rev's when re-engaging to drive mode, and when in neutral, rpm gauge often shows higher rpms than when in drive at the same speed. I think it's to keep the tranny pump at the right speed. Anyway, point is I don't often go into neutral).
Neutral at lights. (I used to turn off the engine, but then once when I did so the electrical system failed and I couldn't restart the engine. After bugging a few dozen cars, I got mine to the side of the road and fiddled with it until it started working. I'm not turning my car off at lights after that)
Low RPM's, try to stay below 2500 at all times.

On a side note, I tested P&G with 75% throttle with 1500-2000 RPM from 50 to 60, then coast to 50, on several tanks, then steady speed on the same routes on several tanks, and I always got 20.5-21 MPG with P&G, and 21.5-22 with steady speed. Perhaps the car is old enough that compression losses at high throttle decrease efficiency. And I can't EOC because of the Auto Tranny.

Do you think it's possible for me to get 26 in combined driving with this car? Is there anything I'm missing that I could do?

03-20-2013, 10:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
wobombat EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 44 Lincoln - '00 Lincoln Ls 90 day: 24.29 mpg (US) Thanks: 10 Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts	Case Study: 45% above EPA? A friend of mine is skeptical of the influence my hypermiling techniques have on my gas mileage, and stated that he wouldn't believe it worked unless I could achieve 26 MPG (45% above EPA) on a tank. I thought, challenge accepted! My problem? So far I can't get better than 22.5 MPG on any one tank (25% above EPA), and I'm out of ideas on how to improve. Here's the situation: My car is a 2000 Lincoln LS 3.0L V6 Auto Transmission, 213k on the odometer. EPA: 16 city, 18 combined, 23 Highway. What I've done: Tires to 50 PSI Folded in passenger-side mirror I don't want to do any extensive ecomods because I plan to sell the car in a few months (when I finish rebuilding my mustang). Any other cheap, easy, reversible ecomods I can do? 50-55 highway speeds, steady speed minimize brake use in city, timing lights, engine braking when appropriate (e.g. when engine is cold) Goal to stay in bottom of top gear as much as possible. coast in neutral whenever I can do so for more than 15 seconds ( my tranny does high rev's when re-engaging to drive mode, and when in neutral, rpm gauge often shows higher rpms than when in drive at the same speed. I think it's to keep the tranny pump at the right speed. Anyway, point is I don't often go into neutral). Neutral at lights. (I used to turn off the engine, but then once when I did so the electrical system failed and I couldn't restart the engine. After bugging a few dozen cars, I got mine to the side of the road and fiddled with it until it started working. I'm not turning my car off at lights after that) Low RPM's, try to stay below 2500 at all times. On a side note, I tested P&G with 75% throttle with 1500-2000 RPM from 50 to 60, then coast to 50, on several tanks, then steady speed on the same routes on several tanks, and I always got 20.5-21 MPG with P&G, and 21.5-22 with steady speed. Perhaps the car is old enough that compression losses at high throttle decrease efficiency. And I can't EOC because of the Auto Tranny. Do you think it's possible for me to get 26 in combined driving with this car? Is there anything I'm missing that I could do? __________________