2004 Focus ZX3 Commuter - Page 8 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

CigaR007 · 04-08-2015, 06:57 PM

It's all about trial and error for grille blocks until you reach the optimal cooling efficiency.

MisterMundane · 04-08-2015, 07:02 PM

A lot of trial and error for the mpg hunt in general!

spacemanspif · 04-08-2015, 09:32 PM

From what I've read, the focus fans don't turn on until 225F...if at all. These cars have weird electronics for the cooling fans and the resistors (or whatever they are) that are mounted to the fan shroud tend to melt and render the fans useless. Still haven't checked mine for proper function since it's been a cold winter.

How do you like the poly dog bone? Been thinking about getting one so the engine doesn't move as much while bump starting but am worried about idle vibrations.

MisterMundane · 04-08-2015, 09:37 PM

Well it's definitely got some vibrations, not a ton on idle, since I'm a manual trans. Would be worse with an auto.

Its also a lot stiffer. Noticeably. In a good way.

Honestly I'm already kind of used to it. Its not harsh at all. No regrets installing it.

Focus-Ak · 04-09-2015, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterMundane

... My glide mpg isn't as high as I would expect, gliding from 110 km/h down to 85, it's around 250-350 mpg. More so closer to 250. Sometimes jumping around 300. Seems low to me, no?

What is your ambient air temperature these days?

So this is 15 MPH coast-down from about 68 to 53 MPH. And dividing those numbers by the appropriate MPG number, you are idling at 0.21 gal/hr. That is about the lowest instantaneous gal/hr I see on my Focus (on rare occasion 0.2 or 0.19), so I presume your idle is dropping to around 700 RPM or a bit lower.

I suggest setting up a second page of instruments on your UltraGauge, showing 8 instruments (see reason below). You can deactivate the other 6 pages so that you can easily flip back and forth between the page you already have with 6 instruments and a new one with 8.

In one of the two new extra instrument spaces you set up gal/hr. If you don't have a tachometer on your dashboard, you can put RPM in the other new space, and you will find that to be good hypermiling guide too. I watch the gal/hr reading a lot. It tells me how well the engine is warming up, and how well at a given time pulsing and gliding will work for me. I have found that gal/hr at idle does not correspond directly to coolant temperature. The Focus ECU has a mind of its own, a for the temperature of the moment sometimes the idle gal/hr isn't as low as it seeming should be.

Also, on this webpage you can punch in your car model and year and get a list of expected available UltraGauge instruments, in the order they appear in the UG's menu. Handy to have:
http://ultra-gauge.com/ultragauge/su...augelookup.php

As a tool to make setups and setup changes easier I put that list in the A column of a spreadsheet, and use the B and C columns for my two pages of instruments. For each instrument I am putting on the page, I enter my desired position number. Saves a lot of fumbling around and retries.