Help. I must be doing something wrong.
 

Ok so I have gone through every thread on this forum and yet my MPG isnt what everyone else is getting.

I drive a Honda Civic EX Coupe 2007. I dont carry anything in it except a few items(backpack and a few other small items). I have Torque for Android on my phone and I watch it religiously. I use LOD, Insta MPG, Trip MPG, MPG AVG, Trip Cost, Throttle Position, Intake Manifold Pressure and Torque.

I have been messing around with different techniques and none of them are giving the gains that everyone else is getting. I usually accelerate (starting in 1st but now trying 2nd) at 60-85% LOD depending on the situation. Im in 2nd by 9mph 3rd by 19mph 4th by 25mph and 5th by 35mph.

I always coast if I can to stop signs or redlights and anytime that Im able to maintain speed.

I have tried Pulse and Glide but i only see my MPG dropping and never going up. I usually do 10-15mph P&G again accelerating at about 70-80% LOD.

I DWL all the time.

An odd thing that I find is when I drive highway at 55mph I get about 32-38 mpg depending on wind. But in the city im able to bump my trip mpg up to 40+mpg. Why is this. You would think Highway would be better MPG than City

Doing this only gets me 12% over the combined EPA MPG. I get about 33-35 mpg vs 31 combined.

Reading from everyone else Im getting very frustrated that I feel like Im doing everything right yet very small gains.

For mods I just recently installed a lower grill block to help with getting my engine temp up faster.



If anyone is able to shed some knowledge on why this may be happening or possible suggestions that would be great.

Also Im wondering what PSi I can pump my tires up to. Im in Northern New York and temperatures are about to drop fast and the snow will hit soon. I have snow tires on and I think they are at 30 PSi. Can i pump them up any more or should I stay since the snow is about to hit?

Thanks

For a start:

Where in the U.S. are you? My MPG changes by almost exactly 1 MPG per 10 degrees F. Cold kills mileage. So does head winds.

How long are your trips? Hills? How fast do you drive? How far between stop signs / lights?

And starting a gas log would be good.

Sorry, I guess I should have listed all that info.

Im currently in Northern New York. Like 30 miles away from Canadian Boarder.
To and from school is about 17 miles and I then head to town after I get home from school so I guess to and from home to town is 20 +/- 5 miles. I drive speed limits. On the way to school is about 35 until about 1/4 to school and then the limit goes to 55 and I drive it.
From home to town (depending what way i go) its either 45, 55, or 65(I go 55).

For school - most stop signs are close and lights very far away from each other.
-Home to School(Back roads) - 6 signs and 2 lights.
-Home to School(Mainroads) - 4 signs and 5 lights
-Home to School(Mainroads#2) - 5 signs and 3 lights

For town most signs are close and lights some what spaced out
-Home to Town(back way)- 3 signs and 5 lights but very spaced out
-Home to town(highway) - 1 sign 7 lights.
-Home to Town(middle way) - 1 sign 4 lights

Bummer.
Welcome to ecomodder though.

That's lower in 4th and 5th than I'd take my 5-speed diesel.
Make sure you aren't lugging the engine.
Low revs are OK, but don't overdo it.
Does the engine still sound happy that low in the rpm range ?


Does that also mean you lift off the right foot early enough ?
We use coasting as a (aerodynamic) braking technique, so you have to start way far further out than engine braking (lifting the gas pedal while staying in gear).

If you have to brake, coasting is the best way to do it - more so if you also switch off the engine (which is a step too far for my liking).

10-15 mph below what your usual speed is, or glides down to 10-15 mph ?

On board displays aren't always correct when you start things like coasting an P&G - what's the situation with actual fill-ups ?


Lower speed - and aerodynamic drag ?

Try the backroads @ lower speed, and see what that gives.


Mine are at the tyre manufacturer's limits - that's 49-50 psi or thereabout.
Check what the max. pressure is for your tyres.

Anyway, 30 is low.
Winter tyres usually don't help MPG either.

Timing lights is important. One red light from 30 MPH costs me about 0.2 MPG on 60 mile trip. City MPG better than highway suggests that you are pretty good at timing lights.

See if you can increase tire pressure to maximum sidewall. My truck rolled noticeably easier at 50 PSI than at 35.

Yeah only time i see were getting into 5th at 35 could be some what bad is if the road isnt completely level then i get a very tiny vibration but other than that its fine. Like I said engine is fine with it.

I find coasting to be somewhat difficult. Being on a military base we have a very few select roads that will get me to school or to the town. I try to coast as much as I can but dont want to interfere with the other drivers as well. Saying that I do see that most of my increase is from coasting. I also use engine breaking a lot (even though its wasting gas but at least im not idling with breaks on).

I usually go from 55-40 on the highway or roads that are 55, that is if other drivers permit. On most roads ,as long as I can, I try to do a 10-15 mph range (eg. 45-30, 45-35).
What do you mean whats the situation with acutal fill ups?

Well on mine they say max pressure is 44PSi. Im thinking about airing them up to there but I just worry about how that will effect my car is the snow. Right now there isnt any but with the lake still unfrozen I foresee a heavy snow when it finally hits. Do you think this will cause problems at all

Sounds like your headin in the right direction driving and mod wise...wonder if your mpg readings are off by chance. Have you checked your overall mileage per tank using the odometer and pump readings? Keep on it, itll pay off eventually...this place is extremely helpful and will get you sorted out in no time!
Matt

Every time I get my MPG from car mileage and pump, it always shows about 35 mpg which isnt what i want seeing as im trying so hard and only getting a 12% increase T.T

It is possible that it is the car and not you. If you air up the tires, you can always let some out if you find the car is not handling well when you actually get snow. Depending on the tires, RR may be quite high. Do you have a GPS to check that your odo is reading accurate. If your snow tires are larger than stock, you may be doing better than your odo is showing. Have you checked your brakes and wheel alignment? Both can affect mileage if they are causing drag and may show up more at higher speeds. Is the engine possibly in need of a tune up? Do you have a block heater? it may not make a lot of difference since your drive is fairly long, but it get's cold enough there to be worth your while IMO. If you have a digital temp gauge,(one on the dash is not good enough) I would suggest that you shroud in your engine as much as possible. I've found that I need very little air flow to keep my engine cool below freezing. A simple front belly pan will help keep your engine warmer and help reduce air drag on the highway as well. My mileage is always terrible in the winter (lots of short trips) so I know it can be frustrating. Keep at it, you'll get it figured out eventually.

DEF. check a few things like stated above. Are your tires stock size? If not, your odometer reading will be off. Use a GPS or good ole fasion mile markers on the side of the interstate and figure out how off it is, then use that when you calculate your mileage to get a closer to right number. Both my truck and Escort read low so when I recalculate I gain a smidge! Also, check plugs, wires, airfilter, fuel filter, bearings, brakes (are they dragging), Parking brake etc. The Escort wouldnt warm up in weather cooler than 40*, even on a long drive it would barely warm up enough to get any measurable heat thru the heater. A simple thermostat swap made that go away!!! Vacuum leaks can wreak havok as well. Keep on it, dont loose faith. Another thing you might try is to drop all your techniques for a couple tanks and see how much lower your MPG is. Keep your head up!!!
Matt

Welcome to the site david.

I too am from upstate NY - winter kills mpg's, so don't feel bad if you can't improve this time of year. Keep practicing technique, check the odo vs mile markers, pump the tires up to max sidewall, and wait for spring.
I once calculated the air is something like 10% heavier at 20* vs at 80*, if I'm remembering the numbers right. I believe the formula for drag is proportional to the fluid/air density... so a car has 10% more drag at 20* than a nice summer day, all else being equal (ignoring longer warmup times, stiff cold tires, and oil/grease/lubes stiff after sitting overnight).

As the weather warms up you will see improvement. Also remember the 10% ethanol now in gas is likely hurting your mpg's. Good luck!

Yes, very good point...winter SUCKS for MPG. Bad gas and cold air can kill your numbers, I bet you will feel like a hero when spring comes back around LOL.
Matt

So I have a question. I use Torque for Android. I have been testing a new feature out. Absolute Load. I dont understand it exactly. I have both Load and Absolute Load on my screen. I hear that accelerating at about 85% LOD is best . So I do. Well Ive started accelerating at 85% Absolute Load. My Trip went sky high. 50mpg on a road i usually get 35-40 but my Average MPG dropped down to 29.5mpg usually at 35-40. Am i doing something wrong here?

That's what I meant with the actual fill-ups. ;)

Try accelerating more briskly. I normally use gear 1 to get rolling, then gear 2 up to target speed, and then directly to gear 5. This is on a -98 Civic Aerodeck. You can also use other patterns but skipping gears is a good way to reduce losses.

Tuck in the right mirror. If possible, do the same to the left mirror temporarily while on highway. That is good for a few % at highway speed.

By coasting, I assume you mean what we call free wheeling over here. It is bad practice and if your vehicle is fuel injected (from its age, I guess that it is), it does not save any fuel. Take your foot off the throttle and you use no fuel with FI; carbs are another matter of course. Coast in neutral or with dissengaged clutch and your engine will be using fuel to tick over. That could be at a rate of a litre per hour for you car. It is worth measuring engine tick over consumption so that you know where some of youe fuyel is going.

Moffiler, David is driving a 2007 Honda Civic, and is new enough to have DFCO. Coasting in gear, or using "engine braking" will take advantage of that and most definitely save fuel. See tip #44 in the "100+ Hypermiling Tips" (link at the top of the page).

David (Welcome to EM!); I echo what others have said about winter sabotaging your efforts. Although 12% is nothing to sniff at! Keep at it, and come spring you'll surely be rewarded with better results.

Make an entry in the garage (see link at the top of the page) for your car and start logging fill ups. It really helps to see it graphed out. Good luck!

Yes.
Gliding along with the transmission in neutral, with the engine either stopped or running.

It sure does save fuel ;)

That's right.
They call it DFCO - Deceleration Fuel Cut Off - on here, but in my neck of the woods we call it engine braking as it means you also slow down considerably.

That's also why it is less efficient.
Unless you want or need to brake as quickly as engine braking allows for, it's more efficient to coast along, even with the engine on.

The trick is to not accelerate to too high a speed, so you don't have to brake when you arrive at the next transition point (traffic lights, a turn, sharp corner, speed limit, downhill grade, ... anything requiring a speed reduction)
You only accelerate to a speed that will allow you to glide to the next transition point.

That means you also gain by reducing the fuel gulping acceleration phase.


Engine braking is obviously a lot more efficient than staying on the gas too long and then slammin' on the brakes at the last moment.


Equally obvious, having the engine tick over @ idle means it's still using fuel.
That's why some users shut their engines down during coasting.
But not everyone is happy to do so - I for one won't shut the engine down.


Sure.

Sure.
But it is still less than what you'd consume per hour if you drove the distance you coasted.


I was an avid user of DFCO / engine braking before joining ecomodder.
Coasting - and driving slower - is what has bumped up my mileage.