33.7 to .. 4̶6̶.̶0̶ .. 60.6 mpg!

[henshao]

i'm curious and maybe this is the wrong place to ask but do any of u guys use cruise control to help with your pulse&glide assuming engine on, in gear glide

say set the cruise to 55mph then pulse up to the next car and coast back until the car takes offense and begins to accelerate then pulse again

[j12piprius]

Originally Posted by PaleMelanesian

In my experience with this generation of Civic, the radiator fan comes on at 206F. If you're cycling between 205 (or 6) and 195, that's your fan cooling things down. Open up a bit of lower grille to keep it below that mark more of the time. I used to fully open my lower grille every summer.

PaleMelanesian, thanks for that update. The temperature sensor turns on the relay at 185 degrees, and I presume the PCM controls the fan after that; 195 to 205 would be good. My last trip the temperature stayed between 185 and 198, except for the major climbs, with a 70% grill block.

[henshao]

i was actually suggesting the cruise be set to a minimum speed and you pulse and glide above it

[PaleMelanesian]

The problem with that concept is the in-gear "glide" part. In my tests with the automatic Odyssey, pulse-and-engine-brake is worse than just maintaining steady speed. Pulse and glide needs to have a neutral glide, even better if it's engine off.

[renault_megane_dci]

Some cars switch off injection when decelerating in gear so maybe EOC is not that useful if your top gear allow almost no engine braking at lower speed.
I use that technique on mine wich can't be turned off unless at 0 mph anyway ...

[PaleMelanesian]

We're talking about a car I'm very familiar with. EOC is the best way to get mileage out of these. Neutral engine-on coasting is the next best. In-gear "coasting" will give you heavy engine braking and ruin any chance at mileage.

[elhigh]

Somebody here was getting good results with adding the tiniest bit of throttle opening while decelerating, who was that? It was counterintuitive but he was taking advantage of a loophole in the ECU programming.

[renault_megane_dci]

I tend to use à Pull & Hold technique : launch the car then use as little throttle to keep the engine off lugging

[PaleMelanesian]

This is where you get into the fine details specific to a certain vehicle. I've heard of people doing that, but it's not a useful thing on a Honda.

[j12piprius]

60.6 ~
foam sheet, perpendicular to the ground, curving around to the sides;
55.9 ~
old plant pot plastic bumper cover, slanting slightly under, curving around to sides;
55.0 ~
slant back plastic bumper, 3" more forward at the bottom, curving to the wheels.

Based on my highest three trips, a perpendicular bumper shape, no lower than the regular bumper, has resulted in much better mpg than either slant back or slant under. I'm not sure why this is, other than perhaps getting the air to the side of the car as quickly as possible is more important than having a sharp angle that directs it over the hood. I'm going to experiment with this in a couple of days, which might mean trimming the plastic a bit more.