Wow that's a lot of advice! I love it.
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Originally Posted by 101Volts
I suggest you accelerate slower and keep the load on the engine low; If you have a ScanGauge II or other on-board gauge this is easier/quicker to learn. Try to keep the load under 20, 15-20 at the highest (Though YMMV depending on the vehicle, I'm basing this on the Caravan I drive.) You may also attach pizza pans to the hubcaps though they might start rusting quickly if not painted. Also, 50 PSI may or may not be the most fuel-efficient tire PSI for your car; It may be best to test the FC for various tire pressures.
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I have to say that keeping the load extremely low is one thing I haven't tried. Maybe my engine is so old that compression losses make low acceleration more efficient. I'll have to test that. I'm considering the pizza pans. How do you attach them though? and as for the PSI, I noticed an approximately 5% increase in efficiency at 50 PSI rather than 40 PSI. I may be wearing the tires down unevenly though that way. I have suspension problems so I think they're doing that anyway.
I do not have a scanguage yet, but I plan to get one in the very near future. I noticed that the scanguageE is significantly cheaper than the scanguageII. Any opinions on why the scanguageII is better? Any other gauges I should consider? I got a little obdII reader a while back really cheap that would communicate with an app on a smartphone and read out all the info. If it worked, I think it'd be better than the scanguage because you can customize the environment and save graphs to analyze later, but the thing was a piece of junk and didn't work with my setup. Worked with my brother's setup though.
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Originally Posted by wmjinman
If your route has areas where you'll be driving at 50 mph or so, grille blocking would probably help. Every time I've tried it, there's been a significant improvement (like 2 mpg).
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At your advice, I made a very rudimentary partial grill block, and put it behind the grille. I know it isn't as effective as in front, but I don't want the car to look ridiculous. I'm considering it though. After one day of driving I saw no difference in warm-up time or coasting ability, so any improvement I'm getting from it is probably minimal. And is there a better way to attach it than duct tape?
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Originally Posted by wmjinman
And 50 mph might be too high for your car. I was assuming it would be around 50 mph for my Jimmy - that lower speeds might be "lugging" it. But nope, turns out 40 mph was actually the best speed. (and I checked it a couple times to make sure). Too slow for the freeway (I tried it & got honked at a lot  ), so then I found NON-freeway routes where the speed limit was closer to 40. |
I've found that my tranny shifts into top gear between 45-50 at low loads and I can maintain top gear as low as 42, but you have a point. I could go slower on the freeway. Just today I found a RV thing going 45-50. That was a real gem. But a civic hx got the drafting spot right behind it. I just followed so people wouldn't blame me for the slow speed. I can get closer to 45 without causing a real disturbance though. And I haven't found any good non-highway routes that don't contain a plethora of stops, which I think would decrease my fuel economy, unless if I coasted to a stop which then would take forever.
Olds455 your MPG numbers are impressive! Especially since our cars are very similar. I don't think I have what it takes to do an air dam, but I'll consider it. And a kammback is way over my head. I'm also considering rear fender skirts. I'm not entirely sure how to attach these sorts of things to the car though.
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Originally Posted by cfg83
Oakland is admittedly milder than other parts of the country, but I still think this is an excellent point. I looked at wobombat's fuel log and I see a good start that needs more data.
CarloSW2
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My car has some vacuum problems with the fuel system, where the gas pump will cut off at random points for no apparent reason. It makes it really hard to accurately measure MPG, so a lot of fill-ups have gone unrecorded. Winter here probably has only decreased my fuel economy by about 5%. I've been averaging 20-21 through the winter, but I certainly could do better.