adjusting the nut did'nt help much.
 

I got my scan gauge, did a partial grill block, and drove by the scangauge increasing speed slowly, staying under 65 mph most of the time, coasting some ,drafting some, after 2 tanks thru my 2002 echo sedan using the gauge. i am dissaponted by my results. only 1-2 mpg more, i was hoping to get up where some of you guys are, i went from 44mpg to 46 one tank and 45 the next,, and i get 42-44 driving with no thoughts for milage. my commute is 105 miles a day to work and back 70% 45mph zone 20% 55-65 mph zone, 10% 25-35 mph slight traffic ,about 10 traffic lights. What am i not getting here,(i tried hard to keep the mpg up high on the scangauge),how do i get over 50 mpg? or can i in this toyota echo 5 speed, no ac no power steering.

You may not have been driving bad in the first place. I don't have the EPA estimates for your car, so I can't tell.

I feel like I'm in the same boat... I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've tried following everyone's advice and it doesn't help noticeably.

from what I have read at another post here, winter gas can contribute to less mpg....maybe 10% worse.....

It's a difficult time of year to test ecomods. Everybody's fuel economy is falling with the onset of winter. Weaker gas, thicker air, thicker oils and greases, colder tires, colder engines, and many other conditions contribute.

One of my favorite add-a-gauges for the SG is the trip fuel consumption gauge, which shows you how many gallons of fuel you burned since you last started the car. My commute would burn 0.35-0.45 gal, and I looked at it every day to see how well I was doing. Overall, monitoring my fuel consumption enabled me to improve it.

This time of year, the goal isn't to increase MPG, but to reduce its decline.

Your commute is mostly 45MPH zone, is there a lot of traffic there? And, what speed do you drive that zone in, and what gear?

Have you tried pulse and gliding, or using EOC?

Also, check your tire pressure, put it up near the sidewall maximum.

I believe you are probably missing EOC, that is the only way I know of to get your FE significantly above epa.

Also what gear are you in during the 45mph zones? You should try to maintain the highest gear possible. Pulse and glide might be applicable in the 10% area below 35mph if you are willing to coast down enough and keep the motor off.

Also you need to allow your speed to increase and decrease while going over hills, try to keep your FE the same throughout hills if you can.

And believe it or not one identical car from another can get significantly different FE depending on the motor, drivetrain and tires, my DOdge crewcab 1500 is rated at 20mpg but I can't achieve more than 18 driving EXTREMELY sporadic and only 15.5mpg driving normally. I am told it needs a tune up though that had no effect.

Cheers
Ryan

EOC is, in my experience, not the only way to get one's FE significantly above EPA estimates. I've never used EOC with any of my vehicles. Nor do I P&G, DWL or draft. The only time I ever got under highway EPA with my Mustang was when I ran it in the "barn" to charge the battery during its first Winter.
YMMV:confused:

moonmonkey -

I have a *hunch* that the Echo could use some aeromods. I think others on the forum will say that cars like the Geo Metro and Toyota Echo are not as efficient at freeway speeds as other cars. They are MPG champs in the city, but not as much on the freeway.

CarloSW2

My guess is that your route is already optimized. 105 miles a day with a majority of it at 45 mph is a good sweet spot. That's not to say you can't do better. Concentrate on techniques with the other 30%. Timing the lights, reading the lay of the land (uphill/downhill) and being at the right speed for the 25-30 mph section.

I've found that the posted speed limits have you at a terrible rpm range for good FE. Plus or minus 5 mph can make a big difference.

Most of all just keep at it. It takes time to figure it all out. Small will eventually turn into big numbers.