How to use scanguage to accellerate? Which guages?
 

I finally broke down and bought a $124 scanguage from JCWhitney.

I know that accelleration is a tough one but since I now drive mostly city and rarely highway (opposite of my former life) I can't figure out how to bloody accellerate without terrible FE.

Anyway the 3 vehicles that I usually end up with (depending on what the other folks here are doing) are a
1. 2002 TDI Jetta 4sp auto
2. 1998 3.8Buick 4sp auto
3. 2001 Dodge Ram crew 5.2 auto
(I love to drive electric but since I drive much less now the electrics are usually out and about without me :(

I have figured out the dodge mostly, I just accellerate harder than normal to get to speed than coast and carefully monitor the throttle to keep high fe, this one is the easiest to improve I can defiantely see how hard I can push before MPGs drop.

The buick is a little tougher but it seems like again push harder than normal, let off to coax a shift, push harder than normal, repeat. Once up to 3rd I gradually let off the accelerator during accelleration and the MPGs actually move up rapidly as compared to the low gears that stay terrible all the time.

Now the one I don't Get the 02 TDI jetta seems to be impossible to accellerate, my mileage is always in the dumps even SLIGHT accelleration causes the MPGs to drop in half, the harder I accelerate the worse the FE but any accelleration cuts FE in half. Low gears cut FE in half. Its like a rock and a hard place I just can't get the car up to speed without a huge FE hit and I don't drive long enough stretches to get FE up.

Any ideas what guages or x-guages might help me make heads or tails as to how to drive these in town? I just can't seem to figure out a pattern or method to accellerate without having very low mpg's. In other words with or without the guage at least in town I haven't been able to improve FE significantly, although for long trips its worked wonders, I should have had one of these years ago.

I know about coasting, the sad part is the Jetta coasts about as far while DOWNSHIFTING as it does in Neutral which is not very far. These blasted autos coast like a brick without wheels.

THank You
Ryan

I'd hazard a guess that LOD would be a good choice.

IMO autos are tricky. Its easy to pin LOD where ever you want with a manual trans, but with an auto you have to learn to balance things. You don't want to loose a ton through the torque converter by loading it up too much. But, you don't want to loose a ton to pumping losses either. You really just gotta play with it until you find what you think works best. Using LOD should definitely help with that.

I'd also use LOD as one of the 4 guages to monitor. For the other 3 it's really a preference and you might end up using different guages for different vehicles depending on how they feel to you. MPG is an obvious one as you need to see that live to know where your sweet spots are. If your cars don't have an RPM guage then RPM is a good one to monitor as well. I never accelerate past 2000-2100 RPM unless I'm straight uphill and have to do it to keep up to speed.

For acceleration, the SGII is going to be invaluable to you. When I first got my SGII I tended to baby the acceleration because I didn't want to peg the RPM but I found that moderate acceleration to get it past the first couple "gears" in the automatic and up to 30-35 mph was best for FE. When I started doing that I was able to use P&G more often in my commute and saved alot more fuel than dragging up to 30-35 mph.

How did you get it for $124?

Actually it was $127.XX they have/had a 20% off and free shipping coupon for JCWhitney.com online orders, just lookup JC Whitney 20% off coupon and you should eventually find the coupon code.

I figured out the Jetta, I finally took the diesel on the highway and it says I am getting 27mpg which means the Scanguage is WAAY off, I had it set for Diesel A, Diesel B ended up worse accuracy wise (not to mention the throttle doesn't go up like diesel b anyway). The funny part is I can sustain around 46mpg per the scanguage in town at lower speeds but at highway speeds its always around 27mpg which is very very wrong.

Not sure how I correct/tweak very very inaccurate readings with the Scanguage on my Volkswagon Diesel.

The Buick was quite accurate out of the box, Dodge was very close but apparently the SG doesn't like diesels much.

Sad part is if I do a lot of tweaking I will need a way to reset the SG often as I move it from vehicle to vehicle often; as the other drivers won't use or look at it.

Cheers
Ryan

Your best bet would be to use the SGII for a couple tanks in a row in one vehicle and then record the % adjustment for that car before moving the SGII to another vehicle and repeating the process. After a few tanks in each car you will have your % adjustment for each vehicle and you can plug that in when you move the SGII from vehicle to vehicle.

There is a thread on ecomodder where guys have posted their % adjustment for their cars so maybe you can find your cars in that thread and use their % adjustment values if you don't know what they are already.

Common problem with SG and diesel. Not much to do about it, unfortunately.

Thanks for the coupon idea.

Yeah, the SG assumes you're in closed loop all the time. It has no way of accounting for different air/fuel ratios unfortunately.

I'd advise learning from the SG on the other vehicles, and then applying the same to the TDI. That'll get you close.

LOD'n it Up
 

I have the same question about automatics...

If I'm accelerating up to 45mph+, I traditionally just give it a brisk acceleration, foot-lift-shift at 2500, get up to speed, and level-out at efficient cruise / DWL. It's worked well for a long time, but there has to be a better way.

2-Things: I often start in second gear (on level, slow starts or downhill). This obviously loads up the TC. Is this a good idea? Otherwise, I force-shift to second at 2000 RPM.

Also, So what number on LOD to shoot for? It seems to fluctuate quite a bit :confused:

Thanks...
RH77
:thumbup:

I typically run 80-85 LOD in my manual. It's hard to get that in an automatic. Instead, I aim for high-ish load (maybe 60) while still keeping it at about 1800 rpm, but especially below 2000. With the auto, I let the rpm dictate things more than the LOD.

Once it locks up in top gear, it's more like a manual. 90-95 LOD is where it unlocks, so I can push it right up to that limit. (at least in my Ody)

I have a SGII on my F250 6.0 diesel. I watch
Air temp,
instant mpg,
boost pressure, and
horsepower.

I think I x-gauged the boost, which is just barometric pressure in psia. HP is x-gauged too, I think. Between the horsepower and boost, it helps a lot on keeping the MPG in check.

My 99 Metro with the SG1, I watch IAT, TPS, MPG and the last varies depending on what I want to watch. Mostly LOD, MAP, MPH or coolant temperature.

I watch rpm very closely on my SGII and never let it go over 2000 rpm (30-50 mph) unless I'm going uphill and need the extra power to maintain safe speeds in traffic. I tend to drive about 3-5mph under the speed limit so I rarely need any high rpm's unless I'm on the highway and even then I'm in the 2100 range at 60-65 mph.

If I rev to 2300-2400 rpm I'll take my foot off the gas and then reapply and the rpm will go from 2300 down to 1800-1900 while still maintaining the same speed. Not sure if there is a term for this but when I explain it to my friends I call it "resetting."

I did this in my 4runner and now in my Prius. The 4runner ran a little higher rpm but I still was under 2000 rpm at all times...even when accelerating up to speed.

I call it "coaxing an upshift". Or sometimes, "@!#!$# why won't you shift already?!" ;):p

This is good advice -- I'll have to keep an eye on the TC unlock vs. LOD. The throttle-shift cable is a bit tighter, so the LOD might be a bit lower. I'll try it tomorrow :thumbup:

I get there often too -- especially with the darn "Hill Logic Control". D3 overrides the 2-3 shift logic, but 4th is completely up to the computer.

In normal driving, I just lift, it shifts, and give it the gas. Sometimes the process is too quick and it engages a bit hard on the next gear up. :o

RH77

Since you have a Honda automatic, this might work for you.

My '04 Ody will shift into 5th (top) gear at 45 mph, with no exceptions. That's just the way it's programmed. However, it will hold it in top gear down to about 41 mph before downshifting. I can get it into that "limbo" territory by doing a quick D-N-D shift anywhere in the 41-45 mph range, and it'll drop right into top gear.

Mine is a 4-speed, so it hits 4th/Full TC at 35 mph on the dot and unlocks at the same point -- not a whole lot to do there. I'll try the D-N-D trick when it gets picky with the hill logic.

I tried The LOD numbers today and TC unlock happens at about 93 -- otherwise, the number fluctuates so much, I gave up on the number and went back to RPM/TPS-based acceleration. :o

The '06 TSX is a manu-matic 5-er that acts much like your Ody. I use the slapshift to hold 5th and give it about 80 TPS on hills (a bit under WOT -- likely it's electronically and changed to some other value).

It has an aggressive TC that tends to lock-up (and stay locked) with more throttle in M5, but unlocks at exactly 41 mph (and stays in 5th/unlock unless you're in full auto or level the load/speed). Slowing to 30-something forces down to 4th. I like that you can force high loads and low RPMs in that car with the slapshift.

Comaring our gear ratios:

Odyssey ... TSX
1st 2.563 ... 2.652
2nd 1.552 ... 1.517
3rd 1.021 ... 1.082
4th 0.727 ... 0.773
5th 0.520 ... 0.566
Final 4.428 ... 4.440

They look pretty close. Does yours have the electronic throttle? Nevertheless, in that car, I just force it into the higher gear ASAP. Since I drive the car 5-10% of the time, there's always a re-learning curve when I hop in. For short errands, I just take Teggy anymore despite my previous rogue intentions to maximize the Integra's mileage :cool:

RH77

I'm pretty sure mine's a cable throttle. '05 was the new Ody, and ours is the older '04 model. 5th gear hits 2,000 rpm at about 70 mph.