Found a Civic VX; Great Mileage Starts Now!

[NachtRitter]

Woohoo! Scored both a Fed ECU and a "new" OEM 5-wire O2 sensor on fleabay! $35 for the ECU and $175 for the sensor. Definitely will need to plan a visit to the auto dismantler in order to cannabilize the necessary "connector sets".

[NachtRitter]

Another view of the GPS data, but this time it is the "from work" direction and includes my current speed.



Kinda interesting to look at... Looks like the speed kinda lags a bit behind the altitude. Gives an idea of the challenge of getting up the hill with the Maus. Floored in top gear still can't overcome the pull of gravity...
On this trip, you can kind of see that I downshifted to try to keep the momentum up, but even that didn't help much. More recently, I've tried attacking the hill ahead of time (i.e. getting a running start), which helps a (very) little bit... at least it I can stay in top gear the whole way.

The drop to zero mph indicates the begin & end of the freeway (on & off ramps).

GPS data also indicated that the odo shows about 2.6% fewer miles than actual (Odo -> 44.3 miles vs GPS -> 45.5 miles). I figured I was a little off because the previous owner had put slightly taller tires on the car (175/70R-13 vs the stock 165/70R13), but it was interesting to see that the actual odo error is almost exactly the expected odo error; the on-line tire size calculator that I like to use (at Tire size calculator) showed that the calculated odo error was 2.5% too slow. Meaning that the odo would be pretty much dead-on with the stock tires!

Fun stuff...

[NachtRitter]

Well, I'm bummed... Filled up today, calculated my MPG, and I only got ~35mpg... I kinda suspected this would not be a good tank at about half tank (see previous post), but bummed nevertheless. This was primarily a commuting tank, with one "for fun" trip and some errands.

Guess that I'm really going to have to work on my driving style! Obviously the key to that is instrumentation so I know what exactly I'm doing (or not doing) correctly. Unfortunately, it's still going to be about a month and a half before I can afford the time and $$ to add instrumentation.

Besides, the whole point of these first couple of months is to get a baseline according to my driving style and my commute route.

Ah well...

[Clev]

Originally Posted by NachtRitter

Well, I'm bummed... Filled up today, calculated my MPG, and I only got ~35mpg... I kinda suspected this would not be a good tank at about half tank (see previous post), but bummed nevertheless. This was primarily a commuting tank, with one "for fun" trip and some errands.

Guess that I'm really going to have to work on my driving style! Obviously the key to that is instrumentation so I know what exactly I'm doing (or not doing) correctly. Unfortunately, it's still going to be about a month and a half before I can afford the time and $$ to add instrumentation.

Besides, the whole point of these first couple of months is to get a baseline according to my driving style and my commute route.

Ah well...

My trip home includes a 13.7 mile gain from 800 ft. to 4,675 ft. I average about 35 mpg in my Accord including this nightly trip, so you should definitely be able to get better. In my case, I can maintain 40-45 mph in fourth gear, with the vacuum at about 7 inches. The vacuum gauge has allowed me to keep at about my summer MPG average despite the winter weather, wind, rain and snow. If you can't do any other instrumentation right away, a $25 vacuum gauge and 15 minutes of installation time might make an immediate difference for you like it did for me.

[NachtRitter]

Originally Posted by Clev

My trip home includes a 13.7 mile gain from 800 ft. to 4,675 ft. I average about 35 mpg in my Accord including this nightly trip, so you should definitely be able to get better. In my case, I can maintain 40-45 mph in fourth gear, with the vacuum at about 7 inches. The vacuum gauge has allowed me to keep at about my summer MPG average despite the winter weather, wind, rain and snow. If you can't do any other instrumentation right away, a $25 vacuum gauge and 15 minutes of installation time might make an immediate difference for you like it did for me.

Wow!! 35mpg with that kind of climb?!? Very impressive!!

Great suggestion... I will look into doing that. Unfortunately, no wrenching for the next week or two due to planned trips...

[MetroMPG]

Ritter: do you get to coast DOWN that climb later?

[NachtRitter]

Hey Metro: I've been experimenting with that a bit... and that could definitely be part of it.

- On that last tank, I took one long(er) trip (~75 miles) down the hill and back up with the family... Drove more or less "normally" ... no EOC, no coasting in idle, very little "timing lights", etc.

- For the days I commuted, I rarely coasted in idle; instead, I took my foot off the throttle completely while in top gear. The reason I was doing this is because I had read elsewhere that the fuel is cut off if there is no load on the engine over ~1000 rpm. And in fact, I can definitely feel the fuel cut back in right at 1000 rpm. The idea being that if I stay in gear with my foot off the throttle, I would actually use less fuel over the same distance than if I take it out of gear and coast in idle. Of course, the disadvantage being that the engine drag slows the car more than when I am out of gear so I can't quite go as far.

- I've been trying to come up with the best way to get UP the hill... As the altitude plus mph trace shows, I was initially downshifting to maintain speed... lately I've been able to get up even the steeper hills without downshifting provided I pulse at the right time.

So it's been a combination of learning the car's capabilities as well as the best methods for the terrain I commute over. For this latest tank, I've been doing a LOT more coasting in idle along with coasting in gear where it makes the most sense, I'm getting the hang of the right places to pulse on the different commute directions, and getting much better at shifting at lower revs (I'm able to skip over gears much more often now).

The current tank is shaping up to be a bit better than the last tank...

[KJSatz]

I might be wrong here.

I think the accepted wisdom is that it's generally more efficient to coast in neutral than to engine brake. Sometimes engine braking might be better, like:

Coasting in neutral gets you going too fast downhill (try cresting the hill slower so you don't have to engine brake)
You have to stop, and you can engine brake all the way to the stop (if you get into neutral earlier than this point, you save gas by removing the load earlier)

Otherwise, the gains from engine braking (hurrah I'm using zero fuel!) are offset by the (substantial) energy loss to the braking.

[NachtRitter]

Hmmm... I don't know if I should be or or ... I'm at 160 miles but have only used a quarter tank out of a 10 gal tank... Either I'm doing something really well and I'm targeting ~50mpg+ on this tank; or I did something very wrong in my calculations last time (Yes, I do know how to calculate MPG on a tank!) or didn't fill it right (I am certain it was full); or the fuel gauge isn't working right all of a sudden (maybe I'll run dry when it's indicating 1/4 tank... )

Guess I'll know soon enough...

KJSatz: Ya, I agree with what you're saying which is why I mentioned that on this tank I've adjusted to more coasting in neutral vs 'coasting' in gear; I was just trying different things out.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by NachtRitter

Hmmm... I don't know if I should be or or ... I'm at 160 miles but have only used a quarter tank out of a 10 gal tank... Either I'm doing something really well and I'm targeting ~50mpg+ on this tank; or I did something very wrong in my calculations last time (Yes, I do know how to calculate MPG on a tank!) or didn't fill it right (I am certain it was full); or the fuel gauge isn't working right all of a sudden (maybe I'll run dry when it's indicating 1/4 tank... )

Hmm.. I've had gas pumps shut off way too early for whatever reason (I think their vapor return system is pinched or clogged.) I think my last tank (37 mpg, a new high) was partially caused by an early shutoff (the needle barely got above the "full" mark, where normally I'll get 60 to 70 miles before the needle comes down to full.) That's why we take averages. :-)