Glossary Take II
 

Note 1: I think excessive use of acronyms & abbreviations is a problem that needs to be addressed. Whether used simply to save keystrokes, or as a conscious attempt to invent new jargon for whatever reason, they can be a barrier to easier understanding of the subject matter for newcomers.

I encourage people to use full words rather than acronyms in their forum posts, or if that's too tedious, at least add the full term in brackets once in a while - eg. P&G (Pulse & Glide). Yes, I'm guilty too, and will try to improve.

Note 2: This is a work in progress. Links will be added to posts where relevant. Feel free to request other explanations, or post your own to be added to the glossray.

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A

Area (projected frontal area). Looking at a vehicle directly head on (or directly from the rear), A is the area within an outline traced around the vehicle's extremity. Used for calculating aerodynamic drag. See also: Cd, CdA.

A-B-A

Preferred test method for evaluating modifications/driving techniques under "as controlled as possible" conditions. (A) baseline data is gathered immediately before a change; (B) a change is introduced and further data is gathered; (A) the change is immediately removed and additional data is taken again under identical conditions. Identical results in the two "A" stages supports the quality of the "B" data. Without a second "A" data set, "B" data should be viewed more skeptically.

BSFC

Brake Specific Fuel Consumption. Measurement of how much fuel is required to produce a specific amount of power from a given engine. Every engine has an efficiency "BSFC island" or "sweet spot" where a under specific load and engine speed (RPM) it uses the least amount of fuel per unit of power produced.

CAI

Cold Air Intake. (Generally not thought to be an aid to fuel effiency: more pumping losses are encountered moving denser air through an engine.)

Cd

Coefficient of Drag. A dimensionless number describing the aerodynamic drag of a body - e.g. the Honda Insight's Cd is 0.25; basjoos' AeroCivic is approximately 0.19. Sometimes expressed as Cx or Cw. (See also "A".)

CdA

Coefficient of Drag times frontal area. Total drag is the product of both the shape and size of an object.

CODFISH

Coast On Demand Forced Ignition Shutoff. Same as "EOC" (Engine Off Coasting). A joke acronym made up to poke fun at the ridiculous tendency of hypermilers to create and use an excessive number of acronyms/initialisms. Unfortunately, the person who made it up has since stopped participating in fuel efficiency forums, and taken his sense of humour elsewhere.

DFCO

Deceleration Fuel Cut Off, a condition where fuel injection stops when the accelerator is released and engine speed is above a target determined by the computer. The engine continues turning via the transmission, driven by the vehicle's momentum. Once below the threshold engine speed (1300-1500ish rpm), fuel injection resumes allowing the engine to continue to run.

DWL

Driving With Load. I prefer to call it "target driving" because it essentially means you pick a target MPG figure to maintain, and you adjust the accelerator pedal accordingly to ensure you don't fall below it. IE you lift the pedal on inclines, and depress it again on declines.

EBH

Electric Block Heater

ECU

Engine Control Unit (engine computer). Also known as "ECM" (Engine Control Module)

ECT

Engine Coolant Temperature (see also FWT)

EFI

Electronic fuel injection (see also MFI)

EOC

Engine Off Coasting. See also CODFISH.

EV

Electric Vehicle

FE

Fuel Economy (or Fuel Efficiency)

FWT

Water Temperature (Farenheit) - this is a ScanGauge specific code for coolant temp. (See also ECT)

HAI

Hot Air Intake. See also CAI (Cold Air Intake) and WAI (Warm Air Intake).

HPV

Human Powered Vehicle

IAT

Intake Air Temperature

ICE

Internal Combustion Engine

kWh

kilowatt hours - unit of measure for electricity consumption. 1 kWh is 1000 watts used per hour.

LPK

Litres per 100 KM. "LPK" is improper notation of "L/100 km". L/100 km is the smarter measure of fuel consumption.

LRR

Low Rolling Resistance (tires)

MPG

Miles Per Gallon - measure of fuel consumption.

MFI

Mechanical fuel injection (see also EFI)

OBD

On Board Diagnostics - system of sensors & computer(s) in an automobile. Also known by specific versions, eg. OBD-I or OBD-II, OBD2, etc.

P&G

Pulse and Gluide. An old driving technique popularized most notably by some drivers of the Toyota Prius (but adaptable to nearly any vehicle). It's a repeated regimen of accelerating to an upper target speed under relatively high engine loads, then coasting down with the engine shut off to a lower target speed. The average speed of a Pulse & Glide pattern is often significantly more fuel efficient than cruising at the same constant speed.

RPM

Revolutions Per Minute (engine speed, usually)

RR

Rolling Resistance. See LRR (Low Rolling Resistance).

SG

ScanGauge fuel economy gauge/trip computer for use in 1996 and up North American market vehicles (predominantly). Also "SG1" "SGI" (denoting the first version of the "SG"). "SG2" and "SGII" denote the second version.

SuperMID

Super Multi Information Display. Custom "enthusiast-built" fuel economy/trip computer originally

TPS

Throttle Position Sensor

VG

Vortex Generator - aerodynamic device

VSS

Vehicle Speed Sensor (signal used by the vehicle computer for speed/distance functions - eg. for the speedometer/odometer)

WAI

Warm Air Intake

WOT

Wide Open Throttle. Generally avoided in fuel efficient driving, since it causes a computer controlled engine to enter "open loop" mode, where it burns significantly more fuel than normal.

couple additions:

LPK - also sometimes called LHK, "liters / hundred km"

You might think about including FAS - forced auto stop. I don't really like it, but it's widely used at Cmpg and some here as well.

YMMV = your mileage may vary (for those like me who had to google search it)

L.O.D. = ? (load?)

how about a legend/glossary colum on the left or right side of the screen that can be en/disabled with a checkmark or radial button?

AFAIK - As far as I know.

AFAIC - As far as I'm concerned.

FWIW - For what it's worth.

WYSIWYG - What you see is what you get.

FTW - For the win.

FTL - For the lose. (loss)

IMO - In my opinion.

IIRC - If I remember (recall) correctly.


More later.

ya'll forgot the most important one CIE oh and this one just for comparative purposes ;~> SIE

You'll have to excuse me... my CRS (Can't Remember Sh.... nevermind ;)) is acting up... what are those ones?

CIE compression ignition engine, SIE spark ignition engine.
which as you likely know have lately been wed into one happy family.

i still dont understand why i played with sparkplugs, distributors and MSD boxes for over a decade??

A new, amusing one I saw introduced this week: WAF = Wife Acceptance Factor
:)