[Mod list discussion] Scangauge wiki discussion thread

[saand]

Hi All,
This thread is intended for discussions on the scangauge modification wiki page. For reference the page is located here
ScanGauge OBD-II computer - EcoModder

Everyone is welcome to modify this page as they like however for any significant changes or entering unproven information please discuss in this thread.

[saand]

I have entered in some information gained from the scangauge website and summary info from the ecomodder efficiency mod list and a thread or 2.
I don’t have a scangauge myself so can anyone with experience using the scan gauge please correct the page if you see any issues.

I am a little uneasy putting a efficiency gain of between 0 and 33% as claimed by the manufacturer. Can anyone that has installed a scangauge give any info about their efficiency improvement. Has anyone taken down their efficiency from filling up the tank before the scan gauge and after they installed the scangauge and after they adjusted their driving habits. Looking for someone that hasn’t done any other mods to their car but also had the scangauge installed long enough to change their driving habits significantly.

I would also be interested to hear anyone’s personal experience for particular driving habits they changed due to the scan gauge. For example after seeing the scan gauge readings I started shifting into neutral when stopped at lights because the fuel used was lower. Something along those lines. I am hoping to show the reasons why anyone would pay $150 for it

[dcb]

you could scan the garage for % above EPA cars w/few mods, that will narrow it down to habit/technique a little. Is there a garage export button or url for the excel/calc types?

[saand]

dcb I like the idea, I had not thought about doing that. I am not experience enough with the garage to know how to do this. If anyone knows how to do this without going through the vehicle list manually or if it’s possible or not let us know.
The site admins might be able to give a SQL export (I assume they use SQL) which could then be searched through automatically.
Hopefully we don’t have to go that far, if a few people give their experiences on this thread I can overwrite the manufacturers claims with real data. I guess this also applies for people that have installed the scangauge or just people that have done no other modification than hypermilling.

[Olympiadis]

We got a 28% increase in FE from just changes in driving habits after using the Scangauge2. This was comparing to 3 straight years of "before" MPG data with our 2003 Ford Focus auto. No other changes for the first two tanks after Scangauge2 added.
First tank showed 28.0% increase.
Second tank showed 33.7% increase.

After that I started making changes. The wife had never hypermiled before that point, but now she enjoys it and is pretty good at it.

I'm sure that certain other models of vehicle could see higher gains in FE than our Focus due to driving style changes.

[saand]

olympiadis sounds like a very good improvement and solid measurement data. I have added you into the table in the wiki, hope you dont mind.

If anyone else has improvement data please post, 33% improvement has to be close to best case improvement. It would be good to get a accurate average so anyone with not so great improvements don't be shy. Naturally the improvement depends on changes in driving habits but i assume there are people out there that have installed a scangauge and change some driving habits but not started all of the hypermiling techniques which might get only a 10% improvement.

[Olympiadis]

Originally Posted by saand

olympiadis sounds like a very good improvement and solid measurement data. I have added you into the table in the wiki, hope you dont mind.

If anyone else has improvement data please post, 33% improvement has to be close to best case improvement. It would be good to get a accurate average so anyone with not so great improvements don't be shy. Naturally the improvement depends on changes in driving habits but i assume there are people out there that have installed a scangauge and change some driving habits but not started all of the hypermiling techniques which might get only a 10% improvement.

No, I don't mind. Here's the rest of the information:
Cost $160
Time to perform mod: About 2 hours to read instructions thoroughly and go through and set all of the x-gauge functions.
FE average before Scangauge = 27.312 MPG ( No highway driving )
FE first tank after Scangauge = 34.9755 MPG ( No highway driving )
FE second tank after Scangauge= 36.534 MPG( No highway driving )

The Scangauge made no difference of course while using cruise-control on the highway. Hypermiling on relatively flat highway returns some positive results, but are relatively small. The numbers stated above were from tanks limited to short commute driving where hypermiling makes the most difference. If I combine highway tanks to before and after Scangauge, then the % gain would be less.

My wife had very good results while hypermiling on the highway in a mountainous area, but there's no way to separate that data from the rest of the driving. We live in a fairly flat area.

Two factors that contribute to the level of positive gain with this car is that the idle in-gear uses quite a bit more fuel than idle in-neutral. Also our throttle is very sensitive with poor part-throttle resolution, making it easy to overshoot the amount of throttle necessary. It has to do with the factory design of the throttle blade, and the cable attachment to the throttle lever. I'm working on a solution to that to make hypermiling easier.

One big factor that we're not taking advantage of is that we do not do EOC engine-off coasting.

[Weather Spotter]

I added my results, I had 50k miles at an average of 32.1. Since October of 09 I have seen my average go to 40 or so. Lots of very consistent data and miles!